Riverbend Tells Its Side of the Story

Riverbend Landfill representatives Jackie Lang and Jim Denson told Yamhill County's Solid Waste Advisory Committee today that the landfill was actually in compliance with state and federal regulations when the Environmental Protection Agency slapped it with a fine and detailed compliance order.  (See story below.)

Those penalties arose out of a 2018 EPA inspection at Riverbend.  During the inspection, which Lang and Denson characterized as a training exercise, EPA personnel used a new technology to visualize gases seeping from cracks and penetrations in the landfill cover, at sites that Riverbend's own contractors missed.

Lang and Denson did not dispute that the EPA detected unlawful emissions.  However, they asserted that the leaks did not violate either their permits or applicable regulations because those regs contemplated that the landfill would use a different technique for detecting leaks, and Riverbend had in fact used the required technique.

Oregon has recently tightened its regulations, though the technology to be used in detecting leaks has not been updated.  Instead, landfills will now be required to cover far more of their surface area when searching for wayward emissions.  And new federal regs require that all penetrations be inspected for leaks.  Denson told the Committee that Riverbend began checking penetrations before the new regulations took effect.

Though some Committee members expressed surprise that a landfill could be cited for failure to properly manage emissions when its inspections met the letter of the regulations, other members agreed that language in the permits should be tightened to make clear that unlawful emissions are to be managed and minimized, whatever methodology inspectors use.  The goal, after all, is to protect the air, not to meet the written standard.

EPA Fines Riverbend (Finally)

The federal Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has fined Riverbend Landfill more than $104,000, the agency announced Thursday.  The fine stemmed from the landfill's failure to properly monitor and correct methane leaks as required by air quality regulations.

According to the EPA, Riverbend is required by the Clean Air Act to capture the emissions generated as garbage breaks down.  To ensure emissions are captured adequately, Riverbend is supposed to survey the surface of the landfill for leaks at least four times per year, using an instrument that measures methane present in the air.  If the landfill detects methane emissions above 500 parts per million, Riverbend must take corrective action to ensure those emissions are captured.  

In 2018, an inspection by EPA discovered nine separate instances of methane emissions greater than 500 ppm at different areas of the landfill. Riverbend's own records from 2015 to 2018, however, showed no areas with emissions above 500 ppm, including surface emission monitoring studies conducted both before and after EPA’s inspection. Based on these results, EPA determined that Riverbend failed to conduct adequate surface emission monitoring. 

EPA further determined that the landfill also failed to monitor cover integrity monthly, as required, and failed to perform required monthly monitoring in an onsite well.

The fine, part of EPA's stated efforts "to protect unfairly burdened communities and address the climate crisis," was levied as part of a settlement with the landfill.  According to the settlement, Riverbend neither confirmed nor denied EPA’s findings.

In addition to the fine, the settlement requires Riverbend to submit a new surface emission monitoring plan to the Oregon Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) by November 7 -- and to actually carry it out as required by law. Apparently because the dump has now proven itself to be untrustworthy, Riverbend must also use a GPS system to track and record the route its monitors take when measuring surface emissions.

The EPA's Compliance Order goes into great detail regarding means and methods the landfill's monitoring crew must employ, including the use of "brightly colored pin flags" at areas exceeding the 500 ppm cap and the specific time the monitors must take to examine the cover at any leak, to see what repairs it might need. Monitors' work must be verified by technical staff not involved in the actual monitoring, and an outside agency must be brought in to observe the monitors at work.

The detailed Compliance Order indicates the extent to which Riverbend violated the trust the law puts in a landfill operator to self-police. The law places primary responsibility for compliance in the hands of the operator, who is expected to report its own violations.  Riverbend promised to live up to those expectations when it applied for and received its air quality permit. Unfortunately, it comes as no surprise to the local community that Riverbend has not honored that promise.

What is perhaps more disheartening is that DEQ did not catch Riverbend's deceit itself. Instead, DEQ appears to have accepted Riverbend's reports at face value. The community has indeed been "unfairly burdened" by the shenanigans of the landfill and the indifference of the agency that is supposed to protect that community.