OK, now you know why the rezoning hearing, November 7 at 7:00 pm in front of the County Planning Commission, is such a big deal (if you don't, see Why You Need to Tell the Planning Commission: No Rezone for Riverbend! below).
But why is
landfill expansion
such a bad idea?
Let me
count the ways....
The dump damages the County
economy. The dump sits between Highway 18 -- the
busiest tourist highway in the state -- and the South Yamhill River. Everyone driving along Hwy 18 can see the dump, and at least half the
time can smell
it. Not the best advertisement for
stopping in Yamhill County to enjoy the scenery (or local businesses).
The dump threatens our water. The river itself is in jeopardy. At least once a year river floodwaters lap against the landfill.
Given that some of the early garbage cells are unlined and improperly
compacted, it is highly likely that the landfill is contaminating the
Yamhill River and groundwater.
In fact,
DEQ and Waste Management (Texas-based corporate owner of the landfill) concede that leachate, liquid contaminant
from waste, is leaking from the dump into the ground water. DEQ won't do anything, however, because
the seepage rate has slowed over the years. Not stopped, mind you -- slowed.
The
dump is a huge magnet for birds and vermin. The
likely cause of this attraction is failure by past dump managers to properly
cover the waste. The landfill's
permit requires all waste to be covered with 6" of soil or equivalent
daily. But until recently,
landfill operators routinely ignored this requirement. Consequently, birds, rats, coyotes, and
other scavengers have gotten used to feasting at the dump.
Birds then
leave their droppings in the river (pushing harmful E.coli readings above legal limits) and
on neighboring crops. Birds,
including hordes of seagulls and starlings, also "rest" on
neighboring farmland, eating young plants and contaminating soils.
Scavengers
harass neighboring farm animals and infest neighboring homes and farm
buildings. Next-door-neighbor
Ramsey McPhillips has killed nearly 50 rats in his farmhouse just this year
(2013). Scavengers also damage
other crops including hazelnut trees.
The
dump stinks. Waste Management claims it controls
odors at 50 of its 52 Western dump sites -- and Riverbend is one of the two
where noxious odors roam free.
Current dump managers blame their predecessors for not properly cutting
up the "decks" where trucks park to dump their loads. In the past, we've been told, the decks
were simply covered over with new waste.
Those flat areas, which truck traffic compacts, collect water that fill
wells drilled to capture landfill gas.
Gas that can't use the water-filled wells finds other ways to escape
from the dump, creating the awful odors that routinely gag neighbors and passersby.
The
dump serves Metro, not YC. Yes, our waste goes into
Riverbend, but only about a third of what's dumped at the landfill is generated
in Yamhill County. A full 40% is
trucked in from Metro, and NW Oregon counties send their waste to
Riverbend. None of this waste is sorted for
recyclables,
except what individuals do themselves at home. If sorting for recycables was required before a load could
be dumped, or if the landfill served only Yamhill County, no expansion would
ever be required.
The
dump is noisy and intrusive. Current landfill
management has changed the hours at the dump, but operations still begin before
dawn and end well after dark in winter.
This means bright lights that shine into homes in the neighboring hills
and truck noise and beeps that wake neighbors.
The
dump means trucks! Big semis full of garbage pound down
our County and city roads, bringing tons of waste (1700 tons daily!) to
Riverbend, lining up before dawn.
These trucks commonly spew litter and dust and kick up landfill dust as
they leave the dump. The city of
Carlton has already appealed to Metro and ODOT to control the trucks that have
damaged sewer and other sub-surface infrastructure in Carlton's downtown. Lafayette Highway in McMinnville may be
next.
The
dump will fail in an earthquake. Our region will experience a magnitude 9.0 -- ie,
HUGE -- earthquake within the lifetime of the dump, if not our personal
lifetimes. The existing landfill
has NOT been studied for resistance to such a huge earthquake. In 1993, two cells were studied for
vulnerability to a magnitude 7.25 earthquake, a pipsqueak compared to 9.0. The berm, or wall, that DEQ approved
earlier this year, was engineered to only a magnitude 8.5 earthquake, and
though that study claimed the wall would withstand such a trembler, experts
have found deep flaws with the study.
Waste
Management laughs this danger off, telling people that the earthquake will
cause so much damage, "no one will worry about the dump." That is exactly the point: With no one worrying about gas and
leachate breaches at a failed dump, contaminants will escape to pollute the
soil, air, and water for years.
This is
the wrong location for a dump. The
neighborhood surrounding the landfill has changed dramatically since the dump
was originally approved in 1980.
Relying on the understanding that the dump would reach capacity and
close in 2014, many homes have been built on small (50-80 acre) farms that
contribute to the County's wine and agricultural economies. In fact, the County has identified more
than 500 taxpayers
owning land within 3 miles of the dump.
Businesses,
many tourist-dependent, have also cropped up. A prominent B&B overlooks the landfill, and wineries,
produce stands, florists, and other businesses are sited within sight, sound,
and smell of the dump. Back in
1980, the neighbors were turkey farms and a go-cart race track. The Riverbend neighborhood is no longer
the type of site that is desirable for a landfill.
Moreover,
the original 1980 dump approval called for a maximum height of 7' above
ground level at Hwy 18. Each 20-acre cell of waste was to be
returned to farming when full. By
1993, however, the County had rejected its own conditions and allowed the
landfill to grow sky high and to completely fill the parcels zoned PWS (Public
Works Safety). Monitoring was so
lax that the first three cells were improperly compacted, allowing contaminated
liquids (leachate) to flow out of the landfill into the river and groundwater.
That
original approval was, ironically enough, based on a land use exception to
State Goal 3, which protects farmland.
Riverbend's first owners convinced the County that farmland was not needed at the site, which was then
rezoned to PWS to allow creation of the landfill. Thirty years later we have come full circle.
Please come to the hearing or
email, mail, or fax your opposition to rezoning Riverbend to the County
Planning Department by November 7 (hearing will be held at 7:00 PM at McMinnville Civic Hall, corner Baker and 2nd in McMinnville)
Yamhill County Planning &
Development Department
525 NE 4th Street
McMinnville, Oregon 97128
Phone: (503) 434-7516
Fax: (503)
434-7544
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