by Susan Meredith, Riverbend Landfill neighbor
November 24, 2016
Once again, the South Yamhill river is flooding. The fields next to Hwy 18 southwest of Riverbend Landfill were flooded by Thanksgiving Day. From my house I can see the floodwaters as they pile up against the perimeter berm at Riverbend, and the river has not even crested yet; that will not happen until tomorrow (Friday) night. This flooding has become nearly an annual event; in some years the river water rises several times during the same year.
An important consequence of this flooding is a concomitant rise in the groundwater table beneath the dump, especially in the area of the original unlined cells. These cells, on the dump's river side, are not lined with the now-required high density polyethylene (HDPE) liners, only poorly compacted soil. This provides no barrier to the floodwaters, which now will be HIGHER than the lower level of the waste in these cells.
As a result, floodwaters are now, and for the next several days, will continue to "flush through" the decomposed waste in these cells, carrying whatever toxins are in the waste downstream. Tim Steiber, the former Executive Director of the Yamhill County Soil and Water Conservation District, first pointed this situation out to the state Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) more than 6 years ago. The problem was further confirmed by Mark Yinger Associates, the hydrologist who authored the Yinger Hydrology Report on Riverbend in July 2015.
This situation is unconscionable; it impacts every farmer, person, and animal using this river water downstream, and will continue forever because the only remedy is to remove all the waste in these cells and close them off permanently.
Neighbors, the Stop the Dump Coalition, and our allies have repeatedly raised this issue to Waste Management (WM), Riverbend's Texas-based corporate owner, but our concerns have fallen on deaf ears. WM is not about to do anything about water contamination, and, apparently, neither is DEQ. What ever happened to "using best practices" as required by the landfill's DEQ operating permit?
Update: Leonard Rydell, Engineer of Record for Riverbend Landfill during the time Cells 1, 2, and 3 were under construction, has notified us that those cells were not "poorly compacted" as author Meredith believed; the soil lining those three original landfill cells was in fact not compacted at all. DEQ was aware of this but gave the landfill's owners a pass.
Editor's note: Contact DEQ (Bob Schwarz at schwarz.bob@deq.state.or.us) and Waste Management (Nicholas Godfrey, current Riverbend District manager, at NGodfrey@wm.com) to let them know that this situation is intolerable.
Sunday, November 27, 2016
Wednesday, November 23, 2016
Thanks to YOU!
Even though ...
* Waste Management (WM) last week asked the state Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) to allow it to dump 490,000 additional tons of waste atop the dump -- without notifying neighbors;
* WM asked the Yamhill County Planning Department to send DEQ a Land Use Compatibility Statement (LUCS) approving the additional garbage;
* Both the County and WM are parties to a lawsuit brought by the Stop the Dump Coalition (STDC) and its allies that challenges, among other activities, adding new garbage to old cells atop the landfill;
* The Oregon Court of Appeals has yet to rule on appeals in the lawsuit;
* State law, ORS 215.296, requires a County to find that some uses, including garbage dumping, will not force changes in or increase costs to surrounding farm practices before approving those uses;
* Per STDC's lawyer, Jeff Klein, "[I]t would be improper to sign off on or transmit a LUCS when [the County does] not have a new land use application before [it] or essentially the same subject matter remains under appeal, much less both. Accordingly, the new application for LUCS must be denied or at least held in abeyance until [the County has] legal authority to process it."
* The County granted WM's request anyway -- with no notice, no hearing, no findings.
Even though ...
* We must still continue to fight....
We have a lot to be thankful for this Thanksgiving, namely that the 96-acre expansion WM originally proposed in summer 2008 will never be built!
THANK YOU to all the neighbors, businesses, community leaders, County residents, tourists, and visitors who have made this victory possible! We're almost there!
* Waste Management (WM) last week asked the state Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) to allow it to dump 490,000 additional tons of waste atop the dump -- without notifying neighbors;
* WM asked the Yamhill County Planning Department to send DEQ a Land Use Compatibility Statement (LUCS) approving the additional garbage;
* Both the County and WM are parties to a lawsuit brought by the Stop the Dump Coalition (STDC) and its allies that challenges, among other activities, adding new garbage to old cells atop the landfill;
* The Oregon Court of Appeals has yet to rule on appeals in the lawsuit;
* State law, ORS 215.296, requires a County to find that some uses, including garbage dumping, will not force changes in or increase costs to surrounding farm practices before approving those uses;
* Per STDC's lawyer, Jeff Klein, "[I]t would be improper to sign off on or transmit a LUCS when [the County does] not have a new land use application before [it] or essentially the same subject matter remains under appeal, much less both. Accordingly, the new application for LUCS must be denied or at least held in abeyance until [the County has] legal authority to process it."
* The County granted WM's request anyway -- with no notice, no hearing, no findings.
Even though ...
* We must still continue to fight....
We have a lot to be thankful for this Thanksgiving, namely that the 96-acre expansion WM originally proposed in summer 2008 will never be built!
THANK YOU to all the neighbors, businesses, community leaders, County residents, tourists, and visitors who have made this victory possible! We're almost there!
Friday, November 18, 2016
Pink Martini v. The Dump!
On November 16th, at a Portland concert promoting the band's wonderful new album Je Dis Oui, Thomas Lauderdale of world-renowned band Pink Martini spoke out forcefully against the expansion of Riverbend Landfill.
Thomas asked everyone in the audience who lives in the Metro region to email or call their Metro Councilor. Tell them, Thomas said, that you don't want your garbage going to a leaking landfill sitting on a river in a seismic hazard zone.
Metro trash makes up 70% of the waste that comes to Riverbend Landfill -- 70% of the garbage that covers the best farmland in the Willamette Valley, which means in the world.
One impact that Riverbend has on its Yamhill County community will soon be studied by the Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) -- the horrendous odor. Riverbend will be only the third odor emitter in the state to be investigated by DEQ since Oregon adopted its Nuisance Odor Strategy a couple of years ago. Unfortunately, the study is expected to take a full year.
Once investigators establish that the dump does, indeed, smell, then a panel will determine the steps Waste Management, Riverbend's Texas-based corporate owner, must take to reduce or eliminate that smell.
However, other key metrics are not being studied: (1) how well the landfill will fare when the Big One -- the 9.0 Cascadia Subduction Zone quake -- strikes (some of the landfill was built to withstand a 7.25 quake and some without regard to seismic considerations at all); (2) the affect of leachate leaks on ground and river water; and (3) the full character of the gases emitted by the dump.
The Stop the Dump Coalition has urged DEQ and the Yamhill County Board of Commissioners again and again to look into these matters. They aren't listening -- but you can ask Metro to listen! Ask your friends in Washington, Multnomah, and Clackamas Counties to contact their Metro Councilors now!
And a HUGE THANK YOU to Thomas and to Pink Martini!
Thomas asked everyone in the audience who lives in the Metro region to email or call their Metro Councilor. Tell them, Thomas said, that you don't want your garbage going to a leaking landfill sitting on a river in a seismic hazard zone.
Metro trash makes up 70% of the waste that comes to Riverbend Landfill -- 70% of the garbage that covers the best farmland in the Willamette Valley, which means in the world.
One impact that Riverbend has on its Yamhill County community will soon be studied by the Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) -- the horrendous odor. Riverbend will be only the third odor emitter in the state to be investigated by DEQ since Oregon adopted its Nuisance Odor Strategy a couple of years ago. Unfortunately, the study is expected to take a full year.
Once investigators establish that the dump does, indeed, smell, then a panel will determine the steps Waste Management, Riverbend's Texas-based corporate owner, must take to reduce or eliminate that smell.
However, other key metrics are not being studied: (1) how well the landfill will fare when the Big One -- the 9.0 Cascadia Subduction Zone quake -- strikes (some of the landfill was built to withstand a 7.25 quake and some without regard to seismic considerations at all); (2) the affect of leachate leaks on ground and river water; and (3) the full character of the gases emitted by the dump.
The Stop the Dump Coalition has urged DEQ and the Yamhill County Board of Commissioners again and again to look into these matters. They aren't listening -- but you can ask Metro to listen! Ask your friends in Washington, Multnomah, and Clackamas Counties to contact their Metro Councilors now!
And a HUGE THANK YOU to Thomas and to Pink Martini!
Tuesday, November 15, 2016
Riverbend, O Riverbend
As anyone who has driven near Riverbend Landfill lately (or, Heaven forbid, lives or works nearby) knows, the dump smells even worse than usual this fall. While we wait for the Court of Appeals and Metro to act (the Court is considering appeals by both landfill opponents and owners, and Metro must soon decide whether to continue pumping waste into our County), a poetic reminder of why we fight:
Riverbend, O Riverbend
by Arnie Hollander, landfill neighbor
If they build it, it will come: garbage and trash and junk galore
From Portland and Tillamook, Japan and more.
Up from the Valley Mt. Trashmore grows where sky and clouds do meet.
Gone is our farm land. Polluted our air. This is not good. This is not neat.
What is black? What is brown? What consumes our precious ground?
Riverbend, O Riverbend, up so high with views unbound.
Don’t let them build it nor have it grow with garbage and trash and junk galore.
Protect our farm land. Protect our air. Keep them from sending in even more.
To file a report about the landfill smell:
Call Waste Management directly. They promise a response within 30 minutes:
1-855-888-6800
Or email the dump's environmental manager, Jeff O'Leary:
JOLeary@wm.com
File a written form with the state Department of Environmental Quality:
http://www.deq.state.or.us/complaints/mcomplaint.htm
Contact Yamhill County Solid Waste Coordinator Sherrie Mathison:
Mathiss@co.yamhill.or.us
Let the Stop the Dump Coalition know you reported the smell!
Riverbend, O Riverbend
by Arnie Hollander, landfill neighbor
If they build it, it will come: garbage and trash and junk galore
From Portland and Tillamook, Japan and more.
Up from the Valley Mt. Trashmore grows where sky and clouds do meet.
Gone is our farm land. Polluted our air. This is not good. This is not neat.
What is black? What is brown? What consumes our precious ground?
Riverbend, O Riverbend, up so high with views unbound.
Don’t let them build it nor have it grow with garbage and trash and junk galore.
Protect our farm land. Protect our air. Keep them from sending in even more.
To file a report about the landfill smell:
Call Waste Management directly. They promise a response within 30 minutes:
1-855-888-6800
Or email the dump's environmental manager, Jeff O'Leary:
JOLeary@wm.com
File a written form with the state Department of Environmental Quality:
http://www.deq.state.or.us/complaints/mcomplaint.htm
Contact Yamhill County Solid Waste Coordinator Sherrie Mathison:
Mathiss@co.yamhill.or.us
Let the Stop the Dump Coalition know you reported the smell!
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