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Thursday, February 27, 2014

Coalition Appeals Dump Decision

The Stop the Dump Coalition, representing fifty local business Partners and hundreds of additional individuals and businesses, today filed its Notice of Intent to Appeal Yamhill County's decision to rezone Riverbend Landfill as farmland.

The appeal comes just days after leachate leaked from the dump and contaminated neighboring farm fields.

Yamhill County Commissioners voted on February 12, 2014, to rezone the landfill to Exclusive Farm Use (EFU).  Rezoning Riverbend, a man-made stinking mountain comprising more than 12 million tons of trash, is the first step on what the County and Waste Management, the dump's owner (WM), hope will be a path to landfill expansion.

Waste Management proposes to extend the landfill onto 37 farmable acres next door, an expansion that would dump another 20+ years of garbage alongside the County's major tourist highway and the banks of the South Yamhill River.  WM sought the rezone because state law allows only "existing" dumps in EFU zones to expand onto high-value EFU soils.

The Commissioners' contempt for Oregon land use law is blatant.  To justify this rezone, the Commissioners had to call the landfill (which will endure hundreds of years) a "temporary" non-farm use and to pretend that a dump is a farm in order to convert an actual farm next door into a dump.  This kind of nonsensical reasoning flies in the face of Oregon's land use law, which is designed specifically to preserve farmland.

The Commissioners also ignored the voices of thousands of citizens they are supposed to represent, citing a lack of evidence about the dump's negative impacts despite contrary testimony from neighbors and area farmers.  The County's shortsightedness overlooks the real economic and environmental impacts of an enormous regional dump in a popular tourist area and shows the Commissioners' utter lack of concern for the health and safety of future generations.

- photo design by Marilyn Higginson
To stop this madness, the Stop the Dump Coalition is taking the case to the state Land Use Board of Appeals (LUBA).  They are joined by the Willamette Valley Wineries Association, Friends of Yamhill County, and landfill neighbor McPhillips Farms, Inc.  The City of McMinnville, the Oregon Wine Board, the Yamhill County Farm Bureau, the County Planning Commission, and hundreds of individuals and businesses who signed an ad in the News-Register or testified at public hearings are also on record as opposing expansion of this growing pile of unsorted waste.

The appeal will ask LUBA to find that a landfill cannot be zoned a farm under Oregon law.  LUBA has the power to throw out the County's decision entirely, which would mean the dump could not be expanded.  Alternatively, LUBA could send the case back to the County with instructions to reconsider specific findings.

You can help the Stop the Dump Coalition and its fellow petitioners derail Riverbend Landfill's expansion plans.  Use our "Donate" button to send your contribution to the Coalition's legal fund.  The Coalition recently received $5,000 from anonymous donors to help pay up-front LUBA filing fees and attorney fees.  Though this is a terrific start, the estimated cost to fight dump expansion and take the appeal to LUBA is $20,000

If you wish to donate but prefer not to use Paypal, contact Coalition President Ilsa Perse at ilsap@earthlink.net.

The Stop the Dump Coalition is grateful for the support of all donors, large and small.  Every dollar is needed and appreciated.  Please contribute today!  We can't do this without you.

Saturday, February 1, 2014

McMinnville Weighs in Against Dump

After hearing from Waste Management, Yamhill County planners, and dump expansion opponents, the McMinnville City Council has informed the County that the city "does not envision Riverbend Landfill being part of our vision for a vibrant McMinnville and Yamhill County for the long term."

The letter, written by Mayor Rick Olson but expressing a City Council consensus, was delivered to the County last week.  Mayor Olson pointed out that an ever-growing dump is "contrary to sustaining a high quality of life for the current and future citizens and children of McMinnville."

What impact the City's letter might have on the expansion process is unclear.  County Commissioners voted in January to rezone the landfill to Exclusive Farm Use -- the first step in a process that Commissioners and Waste Management believe will allow the landfill to expand onto 37 acres of prime farm land next to the existing dump.  A final vote on the ordinance that will implement the change is scheduled for Thursday, February 13, 2014, at 10:00 AM in Room 32 of the Yamhill County Courthouse.

One condition of the rezoning approval requires Waste Management to add a "green technology" component to the landfill.  In the waste biz, "green tech" means utilizing waste to create a useful product such as energy, fuel pellets, or compost.  In the run-up to its application for the rezone, Waste Management touted a plant that would turn plastics, cardboard, and paper into fuel pellets that could replace coal.

Mayor Olson's letter encouraged the County and Waste Management to put green tech on the Riverbend site "as soon as is possible."  The Mayor also urged the two parties to significantly reduce the amount of garbage imported to Riverbend from outside Yamhill County and to reduce the amount of local solid waste entering the waste stream in the first place.  The latter effort, the Mayor suggested, could be funded from fees Waste Management pays to the County for its landfill license.

Finally, the letter also urged fast-tracking of efforts to control odor and litter, two of the seemingly intractable problems Waste Management insists it is on top of but which never go away.

The Stop the Dump Coalition is grateful for the City's willingness to step into this fray and to open a dialogue about ways to handle waste other than dumping it on the banks of the South Yamhill River.  To thank the City for its vision and, yes, its courage, contact Mayor Rick Olson at mayor@ci.mcminnville.or.us.

News-Register subscribers can read the paper's article here. Ask for a copy of the City's letter here.