DEQ has made it official: Riverbend Landfill must close within eight years, no later than August 31, 2030.
Unless it expands.
The Permit
DEQ--the state Department of Environmental Quality--issued a Closure Permit to Riverbend in late August. The Permit sets out parameters governing the landfill's final years. DEQ estimates it will take eight years for Riverbend to close, considering the time required for closure construction, availability of contaminated soil for disposal, availability of materials and contractors, and balancing of the advantages (like reducing odors and leachate generation sooner) and disadvantages (increased stress on the final cap from less waste settlement) of closing sooner.
To begin the closure process, Riverbend must submit its "final engineered closure plan and a post-closure plan(s) [and] obtain DEQ approval of the plan(s)" within 120 days after permit issuance (ie, by December 29). Riverbend must also submit a new operations plan in the same time frame. DEQ has promised to post these plans on its Riverbend Landfill website after it completes its review. However, whether DEQ will accept public comment on the plans is not guaranteed.
In its response to comments asking DEQ to submit Riverbend's proposed plans to the public for comment, DEQ pointed to state rules that appear to require an opportunity to comment only when a closure permit is renewed or modified. If DEQ does not consider approval of a closure plan to be a modification, then the Department will not make the plans available for public comment.
According to DEQ, the final engineered closure plan will describe how the landfill will be
closed (grading, cover system, etc.), and the post-closure plan will describe how the landfill will be
maintained after it closes. (Note that Riverbend is not considered closed now even though it stopped accepting waste in June 2021.) The operations plan details how Riverbend runs the landfill, for example, by not taking waste.
The closure permit also requires Riverbend to submit detailed engineering design plans and specifications to DEQ for approval at least six months before closing any section of the landfill. At the public hearing on the permit, DEQ told participants that Riverbend intended to close at least one cell of the landfill this past summer. There is as yet no indication on the DEQ website that this has occurred.
Environmental Impacts
A big issue raised by public comments reflects concern that the landfill is an environmental disaster waiting to happen, with respect to ground water quality, air pollution, leachate management, and seismic vulnerabilities. DEQ rejected all such concerns based on reviews undertaken by the agency in past years.
In its response to public comments on the draft permit, DEQ noted that "[c]losure of the landfill does not release the owner of responsibility to maintain the landfill, monitor groundwater, leachate, and landfill gas, manage leachate appropriately, and respond to any groundwater contamination issues that may come up."
Moreover, DEQ also promised to keep the Yamhill County Solid Waste Coordinator "apprised of significant issues at the landfill." We will be watching to ensure DEQ and Riverbend live up to all its promises.
Expansion
The real elephant in the room, however, is expansion. DEQ is emphatic that issuance of a closure permit does NOT prevent Riverbend from expanding. That decision will depend upon land use approvals by Yamhill County government, not DEQ.
Any new effort to expand would have to solve the litter problem that sank Riverbend's last application. And the issue of "cumulative impacts" on accepted farm practices--one of the tests an expansion must pass--has never been decided in court.
Eight years is a long time. But eight years of an expanded Riverbend would be an eternity to local farmers, neighbors, businesses, and tourists. Under the newly-adopted Urban Growth Boundary for McMinnville, the city will only grow closer to the landfill. That reality on the ground, not land use laws or DEQ promises, may ultimately be what closes Riverbend.
