DEQ Promises to Correct Website Regarding Leachate Leaks

UPDATE:  The website has been corrected.

Department of Environmental Quality representative Janice Leber has apologized for an error in managing the DEQ Riverbend website (www.deq.state.or.us/nwr/RiverbendLandfill.htm).  The error resulted in removal of information about a leachate leak that occurred in January 2014, a month before snow and ice allegedly prevented landfill personnel from avoiding a second leachate leak.

As January was an unusually dry month, snow and ice cannot be blamed for that leak.

Leber promised to correct the website posting, and she assured Ilsa Perse, Stop the Dump Coalition president, that she is "working with Bob Schwarz to make sure the information on the web site is accurate and complete."  Schwarz is the DEQ employee with on-the-ground responsibility for oversight of most aspects of Riverbend operation.

The McMinnville News-Register reported this week that Waste Management plans to prevent leaks like the one in February, which resulted from overflow from on-site leachate storage tanks, by adding additional storage capacity.  However, no mention was made of any plan by Riverbend operators for safe removal of leachate when that additional storage fills up during the next big storm.

Although it called environmental harm resulting from the two leaks "minor," DEQ has stated that it is considering "enforcement" action against Waste Management for the leaks because they violated the landfill's permits.  We'll see if that enforcement results in better planning and better -- how about any? -- communication with the neighborhood about permit violations in the future.