7/25/2013 6:24:26 PM
The Stop the Dump Coalition has joined with McPhillips Farms, a 150-year-old family farm on the South Yamhill River next to Riverbend Landfill, to ask the Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) to reverse its May 30, 2013, decision to approve the construction of the MSE berm. If constructed, the berm will allow Waste Management to pile another 1,000,000 tons of garbage on the banks of the South Yamhill River and keep the dump open an additional two years, through 2016.
In filing a Request for Reconsideration, the Coalition contends that DEQ ignored, overlooked, or dismissed out-of-hand compelling evidence that the MSE Berm as designed is unsafe, unnecessary, and inconsistent with state and federal law. The Request points to serious errors DEQ committed in relying on data and analyses that appear to have been cherry-picked to ensure the berm would meet DEQ criteria.
Errors DEQ committed include:
1.Failure to demonstrate a need for additional MSW (municipal solid waste) capacity, as ample landfill capacity exists in other Oregon landfills including at Coffin Butte Landfill only 37 miles from Riverbend;
2. Reliance on data and analyses that do not meet state or federal standards for assessing seismic stability;
3. Ignoring the state’s adoption of magnitude 9.0 as the standard for assessing the earthquake resilience of facilities built in western Oregon;
4. Ignoring evidence that the engineering reports supporting berm approval relied on inadequate data regarding crucial information about liquefaction and used inappropriate values for critical calculations regarding peak ground acceleration, distance from the likely Cascadia Subduction earthquake, integrity of the landfill liners, and other considerations that would have ensured public safety;
5. Ignoring potential Clean Water Act violations;
6. Misapplying federal law by incorrectly determining that construction of the MSE berm does not result in a “lateral expansion” that requires a seismic stability analysis of the entire landfill system.
These errors do not comport with the Oregon State Board of Examiners for Engineering and Land Surveying (OSBEELS) professional standard of practice to “protect the safety, health, property and welfare of the public.”
The Stop the Dump Coalition and McPhillips Farms have also asked DEQ to prohibit depositing waste behind the berm until the Request for Reconsideration is decided.
Contact us at maczenith@onlinenw.com to request a copy of the Request for Reconsideration and Stay.
In filing a Request for Reconsideration, the Coalition contends that DEQ ignored, overlooked, or dismissed out-of-hand compelling evidence that the MSE Berm as designed is unsafe, unnecessary, and inconsistent with state and federal law. The Request points to serious errors DEQ committed in relying on data and analyses that appear to have been cherry-picked to ensure the berm would meet DEQ criteria.
Errors DEQ committed include:
1.Failure to demonstrate a need for additional MSW (municipal solid waste) capacity, as ample landfill capacity exists in other Oregon landfills including at Coffin Butte Landfill only 37 miles from Riverbend;
2. Reliance on data and analyses that do not meet state or federal standards for assessing seismic stability;
3. Ignoring the state’s adoption of magnitude 9.0 as the standard for assessing the earthquake resilience of facilities built in western Oregon;
4. Ignoring evidence that the engineering reports supporting berm approval relied on inadequate data regarding crucial information about liquefaction and used inappropriate values for critical calculations regarding peak ground acceleration, distance from the likely Cascadia Subduction earthquake, integrity of the landfill liners, and other considerations that would have ensured public safety;
5. Ignoring potential Clean Water Act violations;
6. Misapplying federal law by incorrectly determining that construction of the MSE berm does not result in a “lateral expansion” that requires a seismic stability analysis of the entire landfill system.
These errors do not comport with the Oregon State Board of Examiners for Engineering and Land Surveying (OSBEELS) professional standard of practice to “protect the safety, health, property and welfare of the public.”
The Stop the Dump Coalition and McPhillips Farms have also asked DEQ to prohibit depositing waste behind the berm until the Request for Reconsideration is decided.
Contact us at maczenith@onlinenw.com to request a copy of the Request for Reconsideration and Stay.
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