by Sid Friedman of Friends of Yamhill County
We are battling the gigantic Waste Management corporation (WM) in its plans to expand what is already the largest regional garbage
dump in western Oregon. This huge
Texas-based multi-national wants to dump an
additional 15 billion pounds of waste on Yamhill County farmland
next to the South Yamhill River near McMinnville.
Most of the garbage comes from out-of-county. Portland Metro is the largest source.
As many of you already know, Friends of
Yamhill County (FYC) and its partners in the Stop the Dump Coalition suffered a
significant setback in May when our attorney’s office missed a key filing
date.
FYC, the Coalition, the Willamette
Valley Wineries Association, and McPhillips Farms, Inc. had appealed the County’s
rezoning of the dump from Public Works/Safety to Exclusive Farm Use (EFU). The rezoning was
part of a complex scheme to abet expansion of the growing mountain of garbage
between Highway 18 and the riverbank.
WM wasted
no time in requesting that the case be dismissed. Now, at the urging of our attorneys, an appeal of
the dismissal has been filed. The
argument to reinstate our appeal of the rezoning decision will be heard at the Oregon Court of Appeals
in mid-August.
The Land Use argument was (and is) a
very strong one, though, of course there was no guarantee of a reversal of the
County decision. But the zone change appeal is only one way we are fighting
expansion of this mountain of out-of-county garbage piling up at Riverbend. The Department of Environmental Quality’s
permitting process and the County’s review of the actual expansion application are
other key leverage points that present additional opportunities to stop the
expansion.
Despite this brief setback, we have extremely
strong arguments and are slowly gaining traction and turning the tide. With your help, your participation, and your support
we and our partners will continue working as hard as ever to finally enter the
21st century and close the dump.
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