Riverbend Hit with Fines, Violation Notices

Riverbend Landfill has been hit with a flurry of violation notices and fines from federal and state environmental agencies.

In October 2019, the Oregon Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) found the landfill in violation of its permit for failing to measure harmful emissions from one of its landfill gas wells. According to DEQ, Riverbend had failed to monitor the well for at least two years. This failure resulted in use of inaccurate data to determine whether the landfill's overall gas collection system complied with federal law. DEQ referred the matter to the federal Environmental Protection Agency for action.

Two months later, in December 2019, DEQ again chastised Riverbend for failure to properly monitor and maintain two other gas wells. DEQ issued a "pre-enforcement notice" to the landfill and again referred the matter to the EPA.

In January 2020, the EPA issued a Notice of Violation (NOV) to Riverbend regarding not the wells DEQ had called out, but the landfill's failure to identify and capture methane leaks from cracks, seeps, and "areas of distressed vegetation" in the material covering the landfill. This failure continued for at least two and a half years.  The NOV also noted that Riverbend had failed to operate and maintain good air pollution control practices for at least five years.

Finally, DEQ recently fined Riverbend $8,400 for failure to collect and control leachate. Leachate is created when rainwater falling onto the landfill becomes contaminated from garbage and subsequently flows into ground water or nearby streams and rivers and becomes a hazard. This was not the first time the dump had allowed leachate to escape collection.

Landfill opponents have for years pointed to lax attention to regulatory duty at the landfill as a threat to area farms, water wells, irrigation sources, and recreational opportunities.

Opponents have also frequently chided the landfill and regulatory agency for failing to keep the County apprised of its violations.

Riverbend's license from Yamhill County expressly requires the landfill to "advise the County" whenever it receives notice of "any intent" from a governmental agency to "initiate a process leading to the issuance of a regulatory order." However, County Commissioners were shocked to learn about the EPA's NOV during the May 2020 hearing on Riverbend's expansion request. Certainly the citizens advisory committee on solid waste (SWAC) had never received notice of the violation.

The County cannot properly oversee the landfill if Riverbend continues to violate its license by withholding required information. The County needs to call Riverbend to account.