Safety Still a Big Concern at Landfill

by Leonard Rydell

As readers of this blog know, I have long been concerned about the stability of the existing landfill.  In the weeks before the County voted to approve the proposed landfill expansion, I submitted my concerns to the County once again.  County Counsel responded by entering my engineering stability concerns into the planning record for the land use hearing on the expansion.

The actual vote came after a delay to address ethics concerns regarding inappropriate ex-parte contact.  As the author of the seismic safety memo, I was singled out as one of those who had engaged in such contact.  When the vote was finally taken, each commissioner addressed the landfill.  One of the carefully crafted comments made was that the Commissioners could not consider my “seismic safety issues because they are not zoning issues!”

What a great way for the Commissioners to avoid addressing environmental and zoning problems!  Refuse to respond to safety complaints because a land use hearing is underway, and then refuse to consider those complaints because they do not address land use.  After being involved in land use planning for 42 years, I knew that this would happen, and indeed the County has followed this pattern for years.

If you remember, I asked for an apology for being publicly named as making “ex-parte contact” over the seismic issues.  I have not received one.

To date, Yamhill County has not addressed my seismic concerns nor the fact that Riverbend Landfill generates over 19 million gallons of leachate a year (2013) [about 9 tanker truck loads a day], yet it is still being touted as a “modern lined landfill”.

When the next big earthquake occurs, this leachate, plus several more million gallons of rain water infiltrating the pile of garbage due to damaged top liners, will need to be pumped and hauled somewhere out of Yamhill County for treatment across bridges that likely won't be standing.  If leachate can't get hauled off for treatment, it has two places to go:  1) the South Yamhill River to the Willamette to the Columbia to the ocean, or 2) into ground water.

Of course, the DEQ is not addressing this problem, and the landfill is already approved by the County.  There is no plan.

After the next earthquake, the landfill itself will probably not be standing.  Cells 1, 2, and 3 of the original landfill do not have bottom liners (liners are part of the structural design of the landfill), nor am I aware that the perimeter berm around Cells 1, 2, and 3 has ever been studied for earthquake stability.  None of that stopped Yamhill County from approving stacking tons more garbage on top of those cells.

Cells 4 and 5 have been lined and are designed for a 7.25 magnitude earthquake.  The design is based on side slopes of 4 horizontal to 1 vertical and a height of 95 feet above the perimeter berm elevation of 145 feet.  However, the current landfill slope is steeper (3.5 horizontal to 1 vertical) as well as 46 feet higher than the original design.  I have never seen documents verifying that the new design will withstand an earthquake of any magnitude, let alone the 9.0 quake we are expecting in Western Oregon.

I asked the DEQ permit engineer if I could see the documents that formed the basis of approval of these slope and height increases.  His response was that a 3.5 to 1 slope was allowed by Oregon Administrative Rules.  This is akin to approving a five-story addition to a 20-year-old skyscraper because 25 stories are allowed by the current zoning height limit.

I was told that if I wanted more information, I had to submit a public records request form and then go to DEQ's Portland office to look up the records myself”.  This stunned me.  Shouldn't the DEQ know the basis of its decision before increasing the height?  Apparently, they don't.

Fortunately, the County's approval has been appealed by the Stop the Dump Coalition and others.  Meanwhile, however, DEQ has begun to review Waste Management's application for environmental approval of the expansion.  To let DEQ know that seismic and water safety are important to citizens of Yamhill County, contact Greg Svelund at DEQ at svelund.greg@deq.state.or.us.  Greg is the official Riverbend point person.  Don't expect a response, however.

- by Susan Watkins