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.

Landfill Proposes Lopsided License Extension

"Fifty thousand a year or nothing."

That was how Waste Management PR specialist Jackie Lang described the "deal" that Riverbend Landfill offered the County last week:  Give us what we want, and we'll pay you a flat fee of $50,000 a year -- or we will pay nothing.  Nevermind that the current license agreement requires the landfill to pay upwards of a quarter million dollars a year on a sliding scale.

What Riverbend wants is a complete giveaway by the County:  a 20-year agreement, the flat fee, and Riverbend to have both total control over what waste it accepts, including volume, kind, and source, and the exclusive right to terminate the agreement.  The County and its residents get nothing.  Oh, except more litter, crop-ravaging birds, noise, dirt, heavy truck traffic, and polluted water and air.

The Board of Commissioners questioned Lang and WM attorney Tommy Brooks closely about the landfill's decision to refuse waste from self-haulers.  Riverbend had told the state Department of Environmental Quality that it would be accepting ordinary municipal solid waste from time to time, but Lang and Brooks explained that the waste would come only from Waste Management's hauling subsidiary in Newberg -- not from locals or from Recology, the other hauler in the County.

Lang and Brooks also dangled the elusive "green tech" that Waste Management has promised the County for years, although Brooks admitted that no specific green tech would be identified until Riverbend expands.  When pressed by Commissioners, they refused to identify any successful technology developed or implemented by Waste Management on a large scale, pointing only to decades-old investments in InEnTec (pyrolysis) and Agilyx (reverse engineering plastics into oil), both of which operate on small scales.

Lang and Brooks also touted the renewable energy Riverbend provides by processing methane, a climate-threatening landfill byproduct, into electricity.  McMinnville Water & Light uses the electricity the landfill generates, but, according to Riverbend officials, has in the past refused to accept more even though the landfill could produce more.  Excess methane is flared away.

Riverbend also emphasized its investment in its physical plant, $18 million over many years plus a claimed $1,000,000 recycling area (which consists of a concrete platform people drive onto and then toss their recyclables into bins down below, usually with no assistance from Riverbend personnel).  This actually seems puny, far less than a modern landfill requires to function well.  A 2005 study of landfill construction costs estimated that costs could run as high as $800,000 per acre on flat, cleared ground, which would require a minimum $64 million investment at Riverbend.

No mention was made of the timing of Riverbend's request, with the Court of Appeals' ruling on its expansion denial appeal due within weeks.  Nor did the Board consider sending the proposed amendment to SWAC, the County's Solid Waste Advisory Committee, for comment and recommendation.

The Board of Commissioners eventually asked County Counsel Christian Boenisch to negotiate a proposal with Riverbend.  They hoped he could bring one back to the Board at its July 29th meeting, but the matter is not included on the Board's posted agenda.

Citizens can weigh in by sending written comments to BOCINFO@co.yamhill.or.us or by US mail to 535 NE Fifth Street, McMinnville, OR  97128.

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.

Commissioners Revise SWAC Ordinance

The Yamhill County Board of Commissioners (BOC) held a workshop Tuesday, October 22, to consider revisions to the ordinance that governs the Solid Waste Advisory Committee (SWAC).  Most of the proposed revisions address SWAC membership.

SWAC is a combination of two state-mandated committees for counties hosting regional landfills.  One of the committees monitors the landfill, while the other is a citizens committee focused on solid waste in general.  Currently SWAC has seven members, two of which represent the two solid waste companies that serve the County, Waste Management and Recology.

The proposed revisions would expand citizen membership by two, with one of the additional slots reserved for a student.  Other members called out in the proposed revision include business and recycling representatives, in addition to the two County franchisees.  Citizen members are to be selected with "due regard" to geographic representation.

The proposed ordinance amendments would also require SWAC to make its minutes and agenda available at least 72 hours before meetings, which would now be monthly instead of quarterly.

The proposed amendments were not made available to the public, but interested persons in attendance were invited to address the Commissioners.  Both Susan Watkins and Maggie Cross urged the BOC to make industry representatives non-voting.  Commissioners, however, noted that the ordinance already prohibits the two members from voting on matters that "directly" affect their companies' bottom lines.

Though Watkins and Cross both pointed out that everything SWAC does affects waste haulers and the landfill in some way, the BOC expressed the hope that the addition of two community members would dilute industry's dominance on the committee.

The BOC also relied on the fact that SWAC is an advisory committee, with no power to take action on its own.  However, as Watkins pointed out, industry members have dominated the process for nominating new SWAC members, thus retaining a strangle hold on the committee.

County Counsel was asked to revise the proposed amendments and return them to the BOC for action at a meeting in early December.  The BOC will vote on the measure as an emergency ordinance, ie, one that will take effect immediately, allowing new members to be appointed to SWAC in early January.

In the meantime, five candidates' names have been on hold since last spring.  No one from the County has contacted them, though Solid Waste Manager Ashley Watkins said she would soon.

County Board to Review New SWAC Bylaws

On Tuesday, October 22, the County Board of Commissioners (BOC) will hold a work session to review proposed new bylaws for the County's Solid Waste Advisory Committee (SWAC).  SWAC, a citizens' committee mandated by state law, advises the BOC about waste hauling and disposal rates and other matters related to solid waste collection and disposal.

Currently, SWAC operates under provisions in state and County law.  The new bylaws are expected to "fill in the gaps" between those statutory requirements and operational practice, such as filling vacancies.  In the past, the County has often filled SWAC vacancies by soliciting recommendations from industry members on the committee.  This has led to a committee weighted in favor of industry interests.

By local ordinance, industry representatives fill two voting positions on the committee.  The other five positions are reserved for citizens, who must fit into one of several broadly described slots, such as "local organizations" whose members are electors or property owners in the County or "residents residing near or adjacent to a regional disposal site."  Nothing in the ordinance requires citizens to have demonstrated any knowledge of or interest in solid waste issues.

In fact, when members of Stop the Dump Coalition, a local organization whose members are County electors who own property in the County, applied to fill SWAC vacancies, industry representatives led a move to reject their applications precisely because they know a lot about solid waste issues.

Other membership issues that bylaws could address are holding over and attendance at meetings.  County ordinance calls for three-year terms, but members are often allowed to remain in office for many years beyond that.  And members who seldom show up for SWAC meetings (only four a year, one of which traditionally is a tour of Riverbend Landfill or other waste-related facility) are not called to task for their absences.

Adopting bylaws could encourage SWAC to move more aggressively to recruit candidates with a demonstrated interest in SWAC's agenda and to populate the committee with citizens who oppose as well as support industry measures.  The BOC could also be asked to amend the ordinance to make industry representatives ex officio rather than voting members.

With changes like these, SWAC could become the serious, thoughtful review board that state law contemplates.

The work session on the proposed bylaws will be held Tuesday, October 22, at 1:30 in Room 32 of the County Courthouse at the corner of 5th and Evans in McMinnville.  Note:  This is a discussion session only, and public testimony is not normally allowed.