County Goes To Bat for WM - Again

by Ilsa Perse, President, Stop the Dump Coalition

Today the Yamhill County Commissioners voted 3-0 to "re-approve" Riverbend Landfill's application for expansion.

Last November's remand from the state Land Use Board of Appeals (LUBA) included details about what the County needed to do to justify its original approval last spring.  LUBA ruled that the County had not given area farmers a "fair shake," but had instead tilted the playing field in favor of Waste Management (WM), the multi-national corporation that owns Riverbend.  In essence, LUBA told the Commissioners to re-examine the evidence.  Instead of farmers having to prove that the dump harmed their nearby farms, it was up to WM to prove that the dump did not harm the farmers.  Because there was so much evidence in last year's record that the Commissioners disregarded, LUBA said, "Take another look."

Once again, the county chose to disregard the evidence and re-approve the application.  The remand orders from LUBA were almost completely disregarded. 

As Stop the Dump Coalition attorney, Jeff Kleinman, wrote in a letter to the Commissioners last week:  Waste Management’s case "is necessarily premised upon the inference that farmers are liars." 

Today's meeting was surprising only in its brevity.  It took 4 minutes from the time the motion was made to approve the application to the actual vote itself.  No deliberation.  No discussion.  No back and forth.  It was such a fast a vote that Waste Management's own attorney missed it! 

Just when you think it can't get any stranger ... it does.

Next Thursday, February 25, the Board of Commissioners is scheduled to vote on "findings" to support today's decision.  We'll keep you posted.