Slide on Riverbend Perimeter Berm

First there's a leachate leak.  Now there's been a slide on the berm that separates Riverbend Landfill from the South Yamhill River and its associated wetlands.

As reported here last month, leachate leaked from the landfill into McPhillips Creek during winter storms.  The cause?  Landfill operatives closed pipes into leachate collection tanks because trucks that pump out excess leachate couldn't negotiate snowy roads, and the operators worried that the tanks might overflow.  The result?  Leachate that would normally flow to the tanks diverted into the creek instead.

Now we learn there's been a landslide on the 4,500-foot long "perimeter" flood control berm.   This berm, which surrounds the existing landfill, has not been studied to current earthquake standards -- magnitude 9.0 -- although portions, including the section that failed, were engineered to withstand a 7.25 earthquake.

That a berm engineered to 7.25 should fail during a good rain should concern everyone given that river flood waters routinely lap up to this berm.  Moreover, this is not the first time that there have been stability problems with the perimeter berm.  A portion of the berm failed and was repaired in the past.

If trucks essential to landfill operations cannot reach the landfill during a snow and ice storm, what will happen when the next big earthquake knocks down all of our bridges?  If the perimeter flood control berm fails during a heavy rain, what will keep it standing during an earthquake?  February's leachate spill is just a hint of continuing problems to come.  DEQ should fine Riverbend (and we hope they do), but make no mistake:  This problem does not have a solution, and will continue as long garbage remains on the river bank -- which will be hundreds of years.

Unfortunately Yamhill County has just exacerbated this unsolvable problem, voting to rezone the landfill as a first step toward a twenty-year expansion that will will add nearly 3,000 more feet to the flood control berm.

For more information about the leachate leak, check DEQ's Riverbend website, www.deq.state.or.us/nwr/RiverbendLandfill.htm.  An investigation of the leak and photos of the muddy work areas are described toward the bottom of the site under "Other Issues."  While it's investigating the leak, DEQ should also order Riverbend to clean up the filthy roadway at the entrance to the dump, repair and rebuild the perimeter berm to withstand the expected 9.0 Cascadia earthquake, and handle daily cover and erosion issues in accordance with law.


Leonard Rydell contributed to this article.

Beyond Waste

Last week, Fred Stemmler, General Manager of Recology, spoke on the topic "Beyond Waste" at the McMinnville City Club.  Recology, an employee-owned company headquartered in California, handles garbage and recycling pick-up in McMinnville and west Yamhill County.  Leonard Rydell was present at the meeting and gives us this report:

I have not seen such enthusiasm for recycling since the late 1970's and early 1980's.  That's when a group of women started Yamhill Valley Recyclers, a recycling program in Yamhill County.  The YVR opened a recycling drop-off center at the old Hubbard Shoe Grease building and obtained a tipping fee for garbage deposited at the then new Riverbend Landfill.

Recology has far exceeded the efforts of the Yamhill Valley Recyclers.  At its McMinnville facility, Recology recycles not only the typical metal, paper, cardboard and glass, but also organic compost, clothing, shoes, hardback books, CDs, motor oil, window glass and electronics on a daily basis.  Recology's ultimate goal is "Zero Waste," and they have even ordered a machine that will compress Styrofoam into compacted blocks that can be reused to make new Styrofoam.

Although I live in Newberg, I find myself taking most of my non-donatable recyclables to Recology, located at 2200 NE Orchard Avenue in McMinnville, because the recycling center located at the Newberg transfer station has offered reduced services since it was acquired by Waste Management.  I raised the issue with the Newberg City Council, and one council member responded that, "They do more than we ask" -- meaning, apparently, that we shouldn't ask for anything.

This view to expect less is apparently shared by at least one Yamhill County Commissioner.  At the January 2014 meeting where Commissioners voted to rezone Riverbend Landfill so it can expand onto good farmland next door, Commissioner Kathy George stated that she wanted to keep garbage bills low for poor people.  Apparently, she does not realize that one can almost eliminate their garbage bill by recycling as I have done since moving into my new house in 1977.  Riverbend Landfill accepts a small amount of garbage for free when predominately recyclables are dropped off.

I encourage all Yamhill County Residents and the Newberg City Council to stop by Recology in McMinnville to see what they recycle and learn that you don't need to pay to keep having your cast-offs pile up on the mountain of trash  in the flood plain of the South Yamhill River.

-- Leonard A. Rydell

Leachate Leak -- donations

Friends,

As has been reported in the press, leachate from Riverbend Landfill leaked into a neighboring creek and then into the South Yamhill River during the snow event of several weeks ago.  According to Bob Schwarz of DEQ, ".. two of the chemicals found in the downstream sample were acetone and methyl ethyl ketone." Neighbors have been told there is no reason to worry as "dilution is the solution to pollution."

Waste Management has pledged to explain the leak at a Pizza Event on Wednesday, March 19th, at the Red Lion Inn on Highway 18 (near the hospital).   Of course, other topics can be addressed (think berm, alternative waste handling methods, earthquake safety), especially if all of you ask questions!  Several Stop the Dump people will be out of town, so we are hoping that the public in general will be there to get pertinent information from Waste Management.

WHAT:-Waste Management Meeting to discuss Leachate Leak

WHEN: Wednesday 19 March; 6;00 PM for Pizza; 7:00 PM for Meeting

WHERE:  Red Lion Hotel near the Hospital on Highway 18

APPEALING COUNTY DECISION:

As many of you know, Stop the Dump Coalition, in conjunction with the Willamette Valley Wineries Association, Friends of Yamhill County, and McPhillips Farm, has filed a Notice of Intent to Appeal the County ordinance to rezone the dump to farmland with LUBA, the Land Use Board of Appeals.

When we mailed out our Notice of Intent to Appeal, we included a donation envelope in order to collect funds for this legal fight.  THANK YOU to all of the people who have returned those envelopes with checks inside of them!  If you have not already done so, we hope you will be able to donate soon.  

If you are not on our mailing list and would like to donate,  you can do so through our website, right here: http://www.stopthedumpcoalition.org/Legal.cshtml

OR

You can mail a check to:

Stop the Dump Coalition

PO Box 1744

McMinnville, OR 97128

MANY MANY THANKS!

See you on the 19th at the Red Lion

Ilsa

for Stop the Dump Coalition

Coalition Appeals Dump Decision

The Stop the Dump Coalition, representing fifty local business Partners and hundreds of additional individuals and businesses, today filed its Notice of Intent to Appeal Yamhill County's decision to rezone Riverbend Landfill as farmland.

The appeal comes just days after leachate leaked from the dump and contaminated neighboring farm fields.

Yamhill County Commissioners voted on February 12, 2014, to rezone the landfill to Exclusive Farm Use (EFU).  Rezoning Riverbend, a man-made stinking mountain comprising more than 12 million tons of trash, is the first step on what the County and Waste Management, the dump's owner (WM), hope will be a path to landfill expansion.

Waste Management proposes to extend the landfill onto 37 farmable acres next door, an expansion that would dump another 20+ years of garbage alongside the County's major tourist highway and the banks of the South Yamhill River.  WM sought the rezone because state law allows only "existing" dumps in EFU zones to expand onto high-value EFU soils.

The Commissioners' contempt for Oregon land use law is blatant.  To justify this rezone, the Commissioners had to call the landfill (which will endure hundreds of years) a "temporary" non-farm use and to pretend that a dump is a farm in order to convert an actual farm next door into a dump.  This kind of nonsensical reasoning flies in the face of Oregon's land use law, which is designed specifically to preserve farmland.

The Commissioners also ignored the voices of thousands of citizens they are supposed to represent, citing a lack of evidence about the dump's negative impacts despite contrary testimony from neighbors and area farmers.  The County's shortsightedness overlooks the real economic and environmental impacts of an enormous regional dump in a popular tourist area and shows the Commissioners' utter lack of concern for the health and safety of future generations.

- photo design by Marilyn Higginson

To stop this madness, the Stop the Dump Coalition is taking the case to the state Land Use Board of Appeals (LUBA).  They are joined by the Willamette Valley Wineries Association, Friends of Yamhill County, and landfill neighbor McPhillips Farms, Inc.  The City of McMinnville, the Oregon Wine Board, the Yamhill County Farm Bureau, the County Planning Commission, and hundreds of individuals and businesses who signed an ad in the News-Register or testified at public hearings are also on record as opposing expansion of this growing pile of unsorted waste.

The appeal will ask LUBA to find that a landfill cannot be zoned a farm under Oregon law.  LUBA has the power to throw out the County's decision entirely, which would mean the dump could not be expanded.  Alternatively, LUBA could send the case back to the County with instructions to reconsider specific findings.

You can help the Stop the Dump Coalition and its fellow petitioners derail Riverbend Landfill's expansion plans.  Use our "Donate" button to send your contribution to the Coalition's legal fund.  The Coalition recently received $5,000 from anonymous donors to help pay up-front LUBA filing fees and attorney fees.  Though this is a terrific start, the estimated cost to fight dump expansion and take the appeal to LUBA is $20,000. 

If you wish to donate but prefer not to use Paypal, contact Coalition President Ilsa Perse at ilsap@earthlink.net.

The Stop the Dump Coalition is grateful for the support of all donors, large and small.  Every dollar is needed and appreciated.  Please contribute today!  We can't do this without you.

McMinnville Weighs in Against Dump

After hearing from Waste Management, Yamhill County planners, and dump expansion opponents, the McMinnville City Council has informed the County that the city "does not envision Riverbend Landfill being part of our vision for a vibrant McMinnville and Yamhill County for the long term."

The letter, written by Mayor Rick Olson but expressing a City Council consensus, was delivered to the County last week.  Mayor Olson pointed out that an ever-growing dump is "contrary to sustaining a high quality of life for the current and future citizens and children of McMinnville."

What impact the City's letter might have on the expansion process is unclear.  County Commissioners voted in January to rezone the landfill to Exclusive Farm Use -- the first step in a process that Commissioners and Waste Management believe will allow the landfill to expand onto 37 acres of prime farm land next to the existing dump.  A final vote on the ordinance that will implement the change is scheduled for Thursday, February 13, 2014, at 10:00 AM in Room 32 of the Yamhill County Courthouse.

One condition of the rezoning approval requires Waste Management to add a "green technology" component to the landfill.  In the waste biz, "green tech" means utilizing waste to create a useful product such as energy, fuel pellets, or compost.  In the run-up to its application for the rezone, Waste Management touted a plant that would turn plastics, cardboard, and paper into fuel pellets that could replace coal.

Mayor Olson's letter encouraged the County and Waste Management to put green tech on the Riverbend site "as soon as is possible."  The Mayor also urged the two parties to significantly reduce the amount of garbage imported to Riverbend from outside Yamhill County and to reduce the amount of local solid waste entering the waste stream in the first place.  The latter effort, the Mayor suggested, could be funded from fees Waste Management pays to the County for its landfill license.

Finally, the letter also urged fast-tracking of efforts to control odor and litter, two of the seemingly intractable problems Waste Management insists it is on top of but which never go away.

The Stop the Dump Coalition is grateful for the City's willingness to step into this fray and to open a dialogue about ways to handle waste other than dumping it on the banks of the South Yamhill River.  To thank the City for its vision and, yes, its courage, contact Mayor Rick Olson at mayor@ci.mcminnville.or.us.

News-Register subscribers can read the paper's article here. Ask for a copy of the City's letter here.