Yes, Riverbend Landfill is hosting its semi-annual air quality meeting Tuesday, April 16, at Chemeketa Community College in McMinnville. Landfill personnel will present information about well-drilling and gas collection at the dump and answer audience questions. DEQ -- the state Department of Environmental Quality -- will also have a representative at the meeting.
Big questions for the landfill center on the Odor Nuisance Study conducted there by DEQ in 2017. After spending a year sampling the air (by smelling it, using individuals trained to detect different odors and to judge odor strength), DEQ took another full year to "analyze" the data.
Mind you, this was not a lab analysis; the only data to analyze were notes on pieces of paper.
Yamhill County expected to receive the results this past winter, only to learn that the study had been put on hold after the federal Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) took an interest in Riverbend. Neither the EPA nor DEQ has been forthcoming on the exact nature of the EPA investigation, and there is as yet no word on when either agency will complete its work. Perhaps Riverbend or DEQ will have more to say at Tuesday's meeting.
DEQ has been under the gun lately after a series of articles in the Oregonian highlighted problems with the agency's oversight of industries it regulates, including those belching foul odors. You can read about these problems here.
To attend the air quality meeting:
Tuesday, April 16, 6:00 pm for pizza and chat; 7:00 pm for the presentation
Chemeketa Community College
288 NE Norton Lane, McMinnville
Building 1, Room #105
Monday, April 15, 2019
Sunday, March 31, 2019
Landfill to Star on Small Screen?
With its future shrouded in uncertainty as a result of the recent Oregon Supreme Court decision calling the dump's expansion into doubt, is Riverbend Landfill looking to the Small Screen to keep its coffers full?
Little birds (mainly seagulls and falcons) have dropped serious hints lately that our lowly mountain of a dump may soon be streaming on a screen near you!
Imagine twenty hardy women and men, provisioned with nothing more than machetes, canteens, hefty bags of rice, nose plugs, and the clothes on their backs, living off the land for six weeks. You've guessed it! Survivor: Landfill is expected to begin filming at the dump in November.
Sources tell us that CBS Television decided to go with a winter format to maximize contestants' misery, a hallmark of the show. Contestants can expect floods, snow, hordes of seagulls and vermin, falcon attacks, miasmic odors, and thousands of tons of garbage. They will have to dodge coyotes and well-drilling rigs and watch for toxic leachate leaks.
While participants will be forced to flee from the waste while it's being dumped, they will also be competing with mighty bulldozers, tractors, excavators, compactors, grapples, and loaders for the precious foodstuffs and textiles buried in the dumped trash. From the looks of things, they won't want for comfy furniture, protection from the elements, soft beds, or even personal waste disposal!
Photo of dump in snow by Delahanty; bottom, dump runoff enters McPhillips Creek
Contestants will be able to augment their food supplies with fish, including delicacies such as six-legged frogs, they catch themselves in the South Yamhill River across from the old leaking Whiteson dump. They can also snare the critters that frequent the landfill, including the aforementioned birds and vermin.
Participants should not lack for shelter, however, as the dump is covered with tarps they can use for tent material. And numerous methane leaks will provide a ready fuel for fire.
We're told that the winner -- the Sole Survivor -- will be honored with a special reward for surviving this ordeal: a year's free waste disposal! Of course, he or she will have to bring the garbage to the landfill themselves.
We look forward to this amazing show -- or would, if Survivor: Landfill weren't an April Fool!
Little birds (mainly seagulls and falcons) have dropped serious hints lately that our lowly mountain of a dump may soon be streaming on a screen near you!
Imagine twenty hardy women and men, provisioned with nothing more than machetes, canteens, hefty bags of rice, nose plugs, and the clothes on their backs, living off the land for six weeks. You've guessed it! Survivor: Landfill is expected to begin filming at the dump in November.
Sources tell us that CBS Television decided to go with a winter format to maximize contestants' misery, a hallmark of the show. Contestants can expect floods, snow, hordes of seagulls and vermin, falcon attacks, miasmic odors, and thousands of tons of garbage. They will have to dodge coyotes and well-drilling rigs and watch for toxic leachate leaks.
Contestants will be able to augment their food supplies with fish, including delicacies such as six-legged frogs, they catch themselves in the South Yamhill River across from the old leaking Whiteson dump. They can also snare the critters that frequent the landfill, including the aforementioned birds and vermin.
Participants should not lack for shelter, however, as the dump is covered with tarps they can use for tent material. And numerous methane leaks will provide a ready fuel for fire.
We're told that the winner -- the Sole Survivor -- will be honored with a special reward for surviving this ordeal: a year's free waste disposal! Of course, he or she will have to bring the garbage to the landfill themselves.
We look forward to this amazing show -- or would, if Survivor: Landfill weren't an April Fool!
Monday, March 18, 2019
DEQ Not Doing Its Job -- Surprise, Surprise
According to in-depth reporting in the Oregonian newspaper, DEQ, the Oregon Department of Environmental Quality, is not the heroic protector of Oregon's ecosystems that it makes itself out to be.
Neighbors of Riverbend Landfill, people who pass the landfill on the highway, and others who have been fighting Riverbend's expansion for years have long known what the Oregonian and the rest of the state are just waking up to: DEQ's "clients" are the industries it monitors, not the people -- or the land, water, air, and wildlife -- of Oregon.
Oregonian reporter Rob Davis notes that "[f]or years, the agency’s No. 1 internal performance measure has been providing 'good' or 'excellent' customer service to the industries it regulates."
The Oregonian's reporting focuses on money in politics, emphasizing that industries and their lobbying associations easily influence decisions at the agency by funneling campaign contributions to key legislators. These legislators in turn use DEQ's budget to keep the agency in line. As a result, the paper reports, a "deep culture of deference" to regulated industries has developed at DEQ.
Yamhill County has felt the pressure corporate money can bring to bear. Over the years, at least some pro-expansion Commissioners have accepted handsome contributions from Riverbend or its owner, Texas-based corporate giant Waste Management. And the company offered grants of $15,000 each to cities in the County. No strings attached, of course, but subsequently, only McMinnville, which rejected the grant, publicly opposed dump expansion.
Moreover, those who have long battled Riverbend and Waste Management know that campaign money is not the only fly in DEQ's ointment. As DEQ operations are currently structured, regulated industries provide key monitoring data to DEQ. And industry, not DEQ, chooses and hires the consultants DEQ relies on to ensure that regulations are followed.
The people and environment of Oregon would be better served if state policy required DEQ to pre-qualify and hire consultants. Industry can continue to foot the bill, but the consultant's client would be the State, not industry.
To read all of the Oregonian and Rob Davis' fascinating reporting, click here. You can select Parts One, Two, Three, or Four at the top of the web page.
Neighbors of Riverbend Landfill, people who pass the landfill on the highway, and others who have been fighting Riverbend's expansion for years have long known what the Oregonian and the rest of the state are just waking up to: DEQ's "clients" are the industries it monitors, not the people -- or the land, water, air, and wildlife -- of Oregon.
Oregonian reporter Rob Davis notes that "[f]or years, the agency’s No. 1 internal performance measure has been providing 'good' or 'excellent' customer service to the industries it regulates."
The Oregonian's reporting focuses on money in politics, emphasizing that industries and their lobbying associations easily influence decisions at the agency by funneling campaign contributions to key legislators. These legislators in turn use DEQ's budget to keep the agency in line. As a result, the paper reports, a "deep culture of deference" to regulated industries has developed at DEQ.
Yamhill County has felt the pressure corporate money can bring to bear. Over the years, at least some pro-expansion Commissioners have accepted handsome contributions from Riverbend or its owner, Texas-based corporate giant Waste Management. And the company offered grants of $15,000 each to cities in the County. No strings attached, of course, but subsequently, only McMinnville, which rejected the grant, publicly opposed dump expansion.
Moreover, those who have long battled Riverbend and Waste Management know that campaign money is not the only fly in DEQ's ointment. As DEQ operations are currently structured, regulated industries provide key monitoring data to DEQ. And industry, not DEQ, chooses and hires the consultants DEQ relies on to ensure that regulations are followed.
The people and environment of Oregon would be better served if state policy required DEQ to pre-qualify and hire consultants. Industry can continue to foot the bill, but the consultant's client would be the State, not industry.
To read all of the Oregonian and Rob Davis' fascinating reporting, click here. You can select Parts One, Two, Three, or Four at the top of the web page.
Sunday, March 3, 2019
Supreme Court Dumps Dump!
After more than 15 months of waiting, Yamhill County farmers, residents, and businesses finally got the message they'd been waiting for: The Oregon Supreme Court declared last Thursday that the County had applied the wrong standard in approving Riverbend Landfill's expansion plans. The decision now goes back to LUBA (the Land Use Board of Appeals) for further action.
If you have a long memory, you might recall that the County Board of Commissioners (BOC) voted in 2015 to approve a 29-acre landfill expansion that would bring garbage right up to Highway 18. By law, the expansion could be approved only if the County found that expanding the dump would not impose "significant impacts" on surrounding farms.
The County found no "significant" impacts, but just in case, it added conditions of approval that required Riverbend to pay some farmers for the harm their farms incurred as a result of landfill activities. LUBA upheld most of the County's decision, and landfill opponents appealed.
The Supreme Court ruled, first, that a "significant" impact is an impact that is greater than merely "measurable" but less than "major." It is not at all clear that the County applied this standard.
Next the Court held that each "accepted farm practice" on each impacted farm must be analyzed separately. Any one significant impact is sufficient to preclude approval.
Finally, the Court also held that a nonfarm use like the dump cannot get around the significant impact rule by compensating farmers for impacts or by paying them off ("pay to play").
The Supreme Court's rejection of "pay to play" is particularly important. If the Court had ruled that a nonfarm use could buy its way onto farmland, farms throughout Oregon would have been in jeopardy. There are 27 different nonfarm uses, from resorts to golf courses, that could have used this option to expand onto farmland.
What's next? LUBA could re-analyze the County's 2015 factual findings itself, or it could send the entire case back to the BOC for a fresh look under the newly-defined rules.
Stay tuned!
If you have a long memory, you might recall that the County Board of Commissioners (BOC) voted in 2015 to approve a 29-acre landfill expansion that would bring garbage right up to Highway 18. By law, the expansion could be approved only if the County found that expanding the dump would not impose "significant impacts" on surrounding farms.
The County found no "significant" impacts, but just in case, it added conditions of approval that required Riverbend to pay some farmers for the harm their farms incurred as a result of landfill activities. LUBA upheld most of the County's decision, and landfill opponents appealed.
The Supreme Court ruled, first, that a "significant" impact is an impact that is greater than merely "measurable" but less than "major." It is not at all clear that the County applied this standard.
Next the Court held that each "accepted farm practice" on each impacted farm must be analyzed separately. Any one significant impact is sufficient to preclude approval.
Finally, the Court also held that a nonfarm use like the dump cannot get around the significant impact rule by compensating farmers for impacts or by paying them off ("pay to play").
The Supreme Court's rejection of "pay to play" is particularly important. If the Court had ruled that a nonfarm use could buy its way onto farmland, farms throughout Oregon would have been in jeopardy. There are 27 different nonfarm uses, from resorts to golf courses, that could have used this option to expand onto farmland.
What's next? LUBA could re-analyze the County's 2015 factual findings itself, or it could send the entire case back to the BOC for a fresh look under the newly-defined rules.
Stay tuned!
Wednesday, January 30, 2019
Calling all garbage hounds....
SWAC -- Yamhill County's Solid Waste Advisory Committee -- is looking for new members. The Committee currently meets just four times a year, for about an hour a meeting. The three-year appointments are volunteer and unpaid.
SWAC is actually two statutory committees rolled into one: a regional disposal site advisory committee and a local citizens advisory committee for solid waste issues in general. The Committee advises the County Board of Commissioners (BOC) about garbage hauling and dumping. Duties include reviewing requests for rate increases, listening to citizen comments, questions and concerns about the local dump (Riverbend Landfill), and preparing an annual written report.
The Board of Commissioners makes actual decisions, although, by statute, the state Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) is supposed to consider SWAC's annual reports when renewing a landfill's license. In practice here in Yamhill County, it's not clear that SWAC actually prepares annual reports.
With a new-look BOC and new staff in the person of Ashley Watkins (no relation to this writer), SWAC appears headed for an upgrade, with more attention paid to its work. In short, this would be a good time to apply to the Committee!
SWAC membership is dictated by statute. Members include a resident from the area near the dump; a property owner near the dump; another County resident or property owner; a representative of a local organization composed of County property owners or electors; and employees of the dump and local haulers. Other, unrestricted, members are allowed under state law, but Yamhill County has not added any.
One and possibly two positions are currently open: County resident or property owner and (possibly) property owner near the landfill.
In the past, SWAC staff have been criticized for nominating only members who support the dump and haulers. Critics are hopeful that this year may prove different. However, when the only two applications received were from landfill opponents, the landfill employee on SWAC requested and was granted additional time to scare up new applicants.
People who are concerned about the dump's potential expansion (and longer life) or garbage rates and service may want to apply. Applications are available online at https://www.co.yamhill.or.us/content/board-commissioners-committees or from 434 NE Evans Street in McMinnville. Completed applications must be returned by February 6th to 434 NE Evans Street, McMinnville, OR 97128, or by email to hintonk@co.yamhill.or.us.
SWAC is actually two statutory committees rolled into one: a regional disposal site advisory committee and a local citizens advisory committee for solid waste issues in general. The Committee advises the County Board of Commissioners (BOC) about garbage hauling and dumping. Duties include reviewing requests for rate increases, listening to citizen comments, questions and concerns about the local dump (Riverbend Landfill), and preparing an annual written report.
The Board of Commissioners makes actual decisions, although, by statute, the state Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) is supposed to consider SWAC's annual reports when renewing a landfill's license. In practice here in Yamhill County, it's not clear that SWAC actually prepares annual reports.
With a new-look BOC and new staff in the person of Ashley Watkins (no relation to this writer), SWAC appears headed for an upgrade, with more attention paid to its work. In short, this would be a good time to apply to the Committee!
SWAC membership is dictated by statute. Members include a resident from the area near the dump; a property owner near the dump; another County resident or property owner; a representative of a local organization composed of County property owners or electors; and employees of the dump and local haulers. Other, unrestricted, members are allowed under state law, but Yamhill County has not added any.
One and possibly two positions are currently open: County resident or property owner and (possibly) property owner near the landfill.
In the past, SWAC staff have been criticized for nominating only members who support the dump and haulers. Critics are hopeful that this year may prove different. However, when the only two applications received were from landfill opponents, the landfill employee on SWAC requested and was granted additional time to scare up new applicants.
People who are concerned about the dump's potential expansion (and longer life) or garbage rates and service may want to apply. Applications are available online at https://www.co.yamhill.or.us/content/board-commissioners-committees or from 434 NE Evans Street in McMinnville. Completed applications must be returned by February 6th to 434 NE Evans Street, McMinnville, OR 97128, or by email to hintonk@co.yamhill.or.us.
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