Where Are The Regulators??

I would like to register my displeasure at the failure of regulators to understand and deal with the risks associated with raising the level of the berm at the Riverbend Land Fill. 

While it may be argued that the berm may withstand one type of natural disaster (say, flood), it is often a combination of disasters that lead to structural failure.  While the response is typically "That will never happen," the reality is that such events happen all too often.  Last week's natural gas explosion near Hermiston is only the most recent example, where a gas explosion (itself of unknown cause) resulted in shrapnel puncturing a nearby gas storage tank, which then began leaking and continued to leak throughout the week.  The Oso slide in Washington is another example, where an already slide-prone area may have been compromised by clearcut logging.

Similarly, this year's heavy rains meant that the haul road at the Riverbend fill could not be used, leachate could not be hauled out, and there resulted a slide and an overflow of leachate into the nearby creek.  Adequate erosion control measures might have prevented some of this, but where are the regulators to enforce such measures?  And what if some other natural event occurred at the same time?

As the deputy sheriff at the gas facility near Hermiston said, "The tank is still punctured, it's still leaking and there is chemical in the area.  We're still in the middle of the game.  Actually, I have no idea where are in the game.   Experts are still determining that."  The trouble is, the regulatory experts are all too often swayed by the "experts" hired by the owners of the facility that ultimately fails.  I hope this is not the case with Riverbend.

-- Submitted by Charlie Harris, Newberg, Oregon