Air Quality Meeting Wednesday, October 23

This fall's air quality meeting, hosted by DEQ's Gary Andes and Waste Management (WM), will take place this coming Wednesday, October 23, at the Senior Center, 2250 NE McDaniel Lane in McMinnville.  WM provides pizza at 6:00 with the meeting starting at 7:00.

Federal environmental law requires landfills to meet standards in an air quality permit issued under Title V of the Clean Air Act.  Last December many members of the community testified at a DEQ (Oregon Department of Environmental Quality) hearing regarding proposed changes to Riverbend's air quality permit.

At Wednesday's meeting, Gary Andes will discuss these changes to the permit and take questions and comments.  WM will try to wow us with their super-duper upgraded odor management, which doesn't seem to have made a difference out in the neighborhood.  The dump is just too darn big!

One issue that neighbors have recently raised with DEQ and WM is "odor training."  People who live and work near the dump and others who must drive by would be offered the opportunity to learn the different odors the dump gives off:  garbage, gas (rotten egg smell), exhaust from the LandFillGasToEnergy plant (a hint of diesel), leachate, and perhaps others.  We can raise this idea at the meeting.

Another topic to raise is the effect -- if any! -- DEQ's new Odor Nuisance Strategy might have on Riverbend's operations.  Odor is defined as a nuisance in Riverbend's air permit, but DEQ has refused to enforce this condition.  In 2013, following complaints about compost sites around the state, DEQ finally redefined its policy.  You can judge for itself whether it is any better.  Check out the Strategy at http://www.oregon.gov/deq/Pages/index.aspx; look under Quick Links on the right-hand side of the page.

We wish we could have warned you about this meeting earlier, but it was set at the last minute.  Andes explained that the delay was due to the federal government shutdown.  DEQ had asked the federal Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to approve changes in WM's air quality permit that would have moved the fall meeting to November.  The shutdown prevented the EPA from commenting on that change, so the meeting had to be scheduled quickly to comply with Riverbend's current permit, which requires a meeting in October.

See you there!

Where:  McMinnville Senior Center
              2250 NE McDaniel Lane
              McMinnville
When:  6:00 - pizza and mingling
              7:00 meeting begins
             Wednesday, October 23, 2013