Safety Still a Big Concern at Landfill

by Leonard Rydell

As readers of this blog know, I have long been concerned about the stability of the existing landfill.  In the weeks before the County voted to approve the proposed landfill expansion, I submitted my concerns to the County once again.  County Counsel responded by entering my engineering stability concerns into the planning record for the land use hearing on the expansion.

The actual vote came after a delay to address ethics concerns regarding inappropriate ex-parte contact.  As the author of the seismic safety memo, I was singled out as one of those who had engaged in such contact.  When the vote was finally taken, each commissioner addressed the landfill.  One of the carefully crafted comments made was that the Commissioners could not consider my “seismic safety issues because they are not zoning issues!”

What a great way for the Commissioners to avoid addressing environmental and zoning problems!  Refuse to respond to safety complaints because a land use hearing is underway, and then refuse to consider those complaints because they do not address land use.  After being involved in land use planning for 42 years, I knew that this would happen, and indeed the County has followed this pattern for years.

If you remember, I asked for an apology for being publicly named as making “ex-parte contact” over the seismic issues.  I have not received one.

To date, Yamhill County has not addressed my seismic concerns nor the fact that Riverbend Landfill generates over 19 million gallons of leachate a year (2013) [about 9 tanker truck loads a day], yet it is still being touted as a “modern lined landfill”.

When the next big earthquake occurs, this leachate, plus several more million gallons of rain water infiltrating the pile of garbage due to damaged top liners, will need to be pumped and hauled somewhere out of Yamhill County for treatment across bridges that likely won't be standing.  If leachate can't get hauled off for treatment, it has two places to go:  1) the South Yamhill River to the Willamette to the Columbia to the ocean, or 2) into ground water.

Of course, the DEQ is not addressing this problem, and the landfill is already approved by the County.  There is no plan.

After the next earthquake, the landfill itself will probably not be standing.  Cells 1, 2, and 3 of the original landfill do not have bottom liners (liners are part of the structural design of the landfill), nor am I aware that the perimeter berm around Cells 1, 2, and 3 has ever been studied for earthquake stability.  None of that stopped Yamhill County from approving stacking tons more garbage on top of those cells.

Cells 4 and 5 have been lined and are designed for a 7.25 magnitude earthquake.  The design is based on side slopes of 4 horizontal to 1 vertical and a height of 95 feet above the perimeter berm elevation of 145 feet.  However, the current landfill slope is steeper (3.5 horizontal to 1 vertical) as well as 46 feet higher than the original design.  I have never seen documents verifying that the new design will withstand an earthquake of any magnitude, let alone the 9.0 quake we are expecting in Western Oregon.

I asked the DEQ permit engineer if I could see the documents that formed the basis of approval of these slope and height increases.  His response was that a 3.5 to 1 slope was allowed by Oregon Administrative Rules.  This is akin to approving a five-story addition to a 20-year-old skyscraper because 25 stories are allowed by the current zoning height limit.

I was told that if I wanted more information, I had to submit a public records request form and then go to DEQ's Portland office to look up the records myself”.  This stunned me.  Shouldn't the DEQ know the basis of its decision before increasing the height?  Apparently, they don't.

Fortunately, the County's approval has been appealed by the Stop the Dump Coalition and others.  Meanwhile, however, DEQ has begun to review Waste Management's application for environmental approval of the expansion.  To let DEQ know that seismic and water safety are important to citizens of Yamhill County, contact Greg Svelund at DEQ at svelund.greg@deq.state.or.us.  Greg is the official Riverbend point person.  Don't expect a response, however.

- by Susan Watkins

Here Come The Judge!

The Stop the Dump Coalition today filed a Notice of Intent to Appeal Yamhill County's approval of Riverbend Landfill's expansion.  The NITA (as the Notice is called) was filed with LUBA, the state Land Use Board of Appeals.

By law a copy of the NITA must be mailed to everyone who testified or submitted written testimony in the hearings the County held on the landfill's application.  The County must now prepare a "record" of those proceedings, which attorneys and LUBA judges can refer to in arguing the case.  Once the record is complete, Stop the Dump will have 21 days to file its opening brief.

Stop the Dump was joined in the NITA by the Willamette Valley Wineries Association and McPhillips Farms, Inc.


Even before the NITA was filed, however, Waste Management presented its expansion application to the state Department of Environmental Quality, DEQ.  At 824 pages, the application will make good bedtime reading for a good many bedtimes.

Fortunately, DEQ estimates that it will take several months to complete its own review of the application.  In the meantime, Stop the Dump and its allies will be busy parsing the massive document and securing experts to review it, as well.  The work ahead will be time-intensive and expensive.

You can contribute to this effort.  If you have environmental expertise and are willing to review and comment on the application, contact Susan Watkins here to receive a copy of the application (on CD-rom).

If you have an interest in Stopping this Expansion, please contribute!  Many of you have already donated in response to the fund-raising letter Stop the Dump recently sent out.  THANK YOU so much.  We have been amazed at your generosity.

If you did not get a fund raising letter, but would like to donate (gentle hint) , please take advantage of the easy-to-use donate button at the top of this page!

To all of you, thank you so much for the continued support.  We couldn't do any of this without you.

DEQ Names Contact for Riverbend Questions

Tired of fielding questions about Riverbend Landfill from people concerned about their health, their environment, and the health of their community, the state Department of Environmental Quality has decided to funnel all inquiries about the landfill to -- Bend.

The individual who will now serve as DEQ's "point man" for Yamhill County's huge regional dump is Greg Svelund, whose office is in the Central Oregon community.  Svelund can be reached by email at svelund.greg@deq.state.or.us or by phone at 541-633-2008.

Lissa Druback, DEQ Solid Waste Manager and supervisor of Bob Schwarz, the permit writer for Riverbend, explained Svelund's appointment in an email to a Stop the Dump board member:

"Because we expect to receive many inquiries about this permit modification that cover multiple programs at DEQ, we have identified a single point of contact for questions about Riverbend from here on out.  That person is Greg Svelund in our Bend office....  We will answer the questions received as our workload allows.  If you have any additional questions about the public comment process, please contact Greg."

The permit modification Druback refers to is the 29-acre expansion recently approved by Yamhill County.  Although Waste Management has already submitted an application to DEQ for its approval, Yamhill County citizens have not had access to that application because DEQ is moving some offices, putting all public records requests on hold for several weeks.  Stop the Dump is working with DEQ to release the application anyway and hopes to have the documents available for review soon.

Riverbend Files for DEQ Permit

Riverbend Landfill has wasted no time moving forward.  The company, which received its Yamhill County expansion permit April 23, has already asked the state Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) for an environmental permit to allow it to expand.

The County permit depends on issuance of a DEQ permit and also depends on DEQ to enforce many of the most important provisions the County wants to see in the expanded dump, including earthquake safety and water quality protection.

But DEQ has proven in the past that it is loathe to enforce rules against the landfill.  Permits requiring preservation of air and water quality are loosely drafted, allowing Riverbend to police itself as well as to decide how to comply in many cases.  When an apparent violation occurs, DEQ allows the landfill to redraw the rules.

This Thursday evening you can see for yourself how lax DEQ oversight of the dump actually is.  DEQ will be holding a hearing on the landfill's Air Quality permit.  Anyone can review the permit and offer comments to make it more stringent and reasonable.  In fact, DEQ needs to hear from you!

Hearing details

When:    Informational session at 6 p.m. Hearing at 7p.m., Thursday, April 30
Where:   McMinnville Public Library Carnegie Room, 225 NW Adams St. McMinnville, OR 97128

Send written comments by mail, fax or email to (Comments due 5 p.m., Friday, May 8):

Patty Hamman, Permit Coordinator DEQ Western Region, Salem Office, 4026 Fairview Industrial Drive, Salem, OR 97302
Fax:    (503) 378-4196 Email:    hamman.patricia@deq.state.or.us

Get a copy of the hearing notice, which explains what the permit is supposed to cover, here.

This Just In!

At 7:20 PM tonight (Monday, April 20) Waste Management sent out this meeting notice:


Bring questions to Riverbend air permit meetings April 21 and 30:
Riverbend's Title V air permit will be the topic of two public meetings in April:

• Riverbend Community Meeting - Tuesday, April 21, 6 pm free pizza, 7 pm program, McMinnville Senior Center. This meeting is a regulatory requirement. There will be time for questions and input.

• DEQ Public Hearing - Thursday, April 30, 6 pm information session, 7 pm public hearing, McMinnville Public Library. The DEQ has conducted a preliminary review of our air permit renewal application. This meeting is part of the public comment process. For information, call 503.378.8240.

Nice of them to give the community notice of a meeting required by their permit!  But don't feel bad if this notice didn't come to you personally.  Many people on the air quality meeting community mailing list didn't receive it, either.  Think WM really wants to hear from you?