Commissioners to Decide Expansion on August 6th

The Yamhill County Board of Commissioners has set Thursday, August 6, 2020, as the date it will debate and vote on expanding Riverbend Landfill.

Riverbend first filed this particular expansion plan in 2014, after its earlier "twice as wide, twice as high" plan failed in the courts.

The current plan, as amended by various court decisions, the County, and Riverbend itself, would add 29 acres to the 88-acre dump, adjacent to Highway 18.  A steep 80' berm topped with a roadway would run along the Highway, with only a 50-foot buffer between the roadbed and the foot of the berm.  The RV court that once existed south of the landfill has already been removed; that space would be used for "operations support."  An area between the old RV court and the Highway has been reserved for a future "green" waste processing technology that may or may not ever be built or even invented.

(Map from Riverbend materials; note that the 8-acre area to the north has been removed from the plan.)

The Commissioners have already gotten an earful from citizens opposed to dump expansion.  Now it is Riverbend's turn to try to persuade them that it can safely handle the additional waste without adversely affecting area farms.  The Commissioners have given themselves until the 6th to digest all the new material, as well as five and a half previous years of evidence and court decisions.

One question hovering over the proceedings is whether an expansion of any size is warranted.  Data from 2015 showed that well over 500 years of landfill capacity already existed in the NW Oregon area.  Clearly, there is no need to add more.

Landfill opponents plan to meet outside the County Courthouse (where the Commissioners meet) at 9:15 AM on the 6th.  To learn more, contact info@stopthedumpcoalition.org.