The Dirty Handprint Writing on the Wall

As most readers no doubt know, Oregon state law protects farmland throughout the state, and especially "high value" farmland.  The way we know which land is "high value" is by examining the topsoil.

The federal Natural Resource Conservation Service (NRCS) acts as the nation's "Keeper of the Soil."  Periodically the NRCS maps out the soil in a given area and releases these maps to the public and to decision-makers.

One of these maps led the Oregon Department of Agriculture to argue last year to our County Board of Commissioners that the existing dump could not be rezoned to EFU (Exclusive Farm Use) because the placement of waste on that land had changed the soils from usable farm soil to "miscellaneous area - essentially no soil and support(s) little or no vegetation."

The land next to the dump is high-value soil, however -- the best stuff for farming.  Last year's rezoning was an effort to green light expansion of the landfill onto this valuable dirt.  When this land too is buried in garbage, it will also be reclassed "miscellaneous" and a precious treasure will be forever lost. 

But what protects the soils next to the area next to the dump?  Waste Management hasn't (yet) proposed expanding the dump onto this dirt, but it does own the land, which is also largely "high value."

Turns out there is no law or rule in Yamhill County that would prevent Waste Management from "mining" that good topsoil and carting it away, or up onto the dump.

Leonard Rydell, an engineer who worked for the landfill in the early days before resigning over the shoddy quality of the work done out there, puts it this way:

"Landfills create a certain amount of dirt by excavation.  However, there also are landfill operational needs:

1.      They need clay to build the perimeter berms and topsoil on the surface for vegetation.

2.      They need dirt for daily cover.

3.      They need three feet of dirt for final cover.

4.      They need dirt to build the road across the wetland [proposed in the expansion application].

5.      They need a place to store dirt, as the [landfill's] footprint uses all of the available land.

6.      The proposed SDR [Site Design Review] design approval doesn't leave extra room for storage or contain information as to the dirt needs and farm land impacts.

"[Yamhill County Planning Director] Mike Brandt has confirmed that Yamhill County does not have a process to keep people from moving dirt around, and no regulations at all regulating grading or protecting farm land from dirt mining.  As far as the County is concerned, if you wanted to buy property, harvest the topsoil and leave, the County has no ordinances that stand in the way.

"Waste Management, if allowed to proceed, will continue taking dirt from where they see fit, and the cheapest place to get it is across the highway [Highway 18] or across the fill in the wetlands next to the RV Park.  Riverbend has already strip mined about ten acres for the current landfill...."

Leonard finishes,"You can see the handwriting on the wall."  Yeah.  In dirty handprints.