Waste Management (WM), the Texas-based corporation that owns Riverbend Landfill, will hold a "community meeting" November 15 at Chemeketa Community College. The public is invited.
WM is required by the landfill's Title V Air Quality Permit to hold semi-annual meetings to inform the public about activities at the dump that affect our air. The McMinnville area has relatively clean air. This means, unfortunately, that industries like landfills are allowed to pollute it.
The waste decomposing at Riverbend emits a variety of gases. Some of these, like methane and carbon dioxide, are harmful to the environment (both methane and carbon dioxide are greenhouse gases, with methane being about 20 times more damaging than CO2). Others, like hydrogen sulfide, contribute to Riverbend's horrible odor. Though hydrogen sulfide makes up only about 1% of the gas produced by landfills, it is the primary culprit behind a landfill's foul, rotten egg smell. Another chemical, sulfur dioxide, is toxic, with a pungent, irritating smell.
Riverbend captures methane to burn, converting it to electricity that is sold to McMinnville Water & Light. For decades now, the landfill has tried to reduce the odor by capturing more gas with wells and pipes embedded throughout the waste. Anyone who lives or works nearby (ie, within, say two-plus miles) or who commutes past the dump knows how well Riverbend's efforts have worked: not at all.
In fact, Riverbend's odor is so bad that the state Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) is currently investigating it. Yet, the landfill is about to begin installation of "additional gas collection infrastructure," which requires excavation of existing waste cells, allowing even more odor-producing gas to escape.
Come to the meeting to find out how WM plans to "control" odor this time! Bring your questions about other topics, too, including seagulls (yes, they are back!), the vertical expansion that DEQ just approved (the one that will add a year's worth of waste to the top of the original unlined, non-seismically engineered cells), the recent leak from the leachate holding pond, and so much more!
Title V Community Meeting
Wednesday, November 15, 2017, at 7:00 PM (come at 6:00 for pizza and chitchat!)
Chemeketa Community College
Building 1, Room 105
288 NE Norton Lane
McMinnville, OR 97128
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