Another Day - And Way - To Stop the Dump!

This Thursday, May 18, the Portland Metro Council will hold a public hearing on Ordinance 17-1401, which would prohibit dumping Metro garbage at Riverbend Landfill.

Metro is the agency that collects garbage in Clackamas, Multnomah, and Washington Counties and then sends a hefty percentage of that waste to Riverbend.  Metro prides itself on being "green."  Ordinance 17-1401 targets landfills that must expand or be built in order to take Metro's waste.  The Ordinance is based on the fact that already-existing landfills near Metro hold nearly 500 years capacity among them.

Current hauling contracts end in 2019.  The Ordinance would prohibit new contracts that allow dumping at any landfill that expands or is constructed after May 25, 2017.

Texas-based Waste Management Corporation (WM), the owner of Riverbend, has paid lobbyists to vigorously oppose the ordinance.  WM's hauling contract, which guarantees it gets to haul most of Metro's waste, expires at the end of 2019

Riverbend sits on prime EFU farmland along the banks of the South Yamhill River -- which flows to the Willamette and then on through Portland.  The South Yamhill River contains listed runs of endangered steelhead and salmon and regularly floods. The oldest cells in the dump are unlined, leak, and extend below the winter water table.  Most of the garbage in this leaking, regional dump on the South Yamhill River is from Portland Metro, especially Washington County.

If you live within the Metro boundaries, you can testify at the hearing in support of the ordinance.  Tell Metro that, as a resident of the Metro area, you do not want your garbage going to Riverbend Landfill.  Say you support Ordinance 17-1401 -- in fact, put that in your subject line.  Ask your friends to do the same.



ATTEND THE HEARING IN PERSON:  Thursday, May 18, at 2PM in Metro Council Chambers at the Metro Regional Center, 600 NE Grand Avenue, Portland.

CAN'T ATTEND THE HEARING??   Email your comments to:   metrocouncil@oregonmetro.gov

Not a Metro Resident???  PASS THIS INFORMATION ON TO METRO RESIDENTS YOU KNOW and URGE THEM TO EMAIL their support of Ordinance 17-1401.

Your email must be received before the hearing!  So send it in right now!