THE FLOODPLAIN: Annual flooding picks up landfill toxins and debris carrying them downstream.
OUR WATER SUPPLY: The first cells of Riverbend Landfill are not properly lined and have already leaked. Even the best technology cannot prevent the inevitable...
"New technology, according to DEQ staff, will not eliminate risk, merely delay the long term effects."
Deficiencies in Subtitle D Composite Liners: The US EPA Solid Waste Disposal Criteria (August 30 1988) stated:
"First, even the best liner and leachate collection system will ultimately fail due to natural deterioration, and recent improvements in MSWLF (municipal solid waste landfill) containment technologies suggest that releases may be delayed by many decades at some landfills."
BIRD FLU: The landfill has been designated as a repository in the case of an outbreak of bird flu.
TOURIST INDUSTRY: The new Yamhill County Historical Musuem is in the shadow of the landfill and the view from many of our vineyards is destroyed by the 240 foot garbage mountain.
NATURAL RESOURCES: Waste going into the landfill could be recyclable at a waste processing transfer center. Our highways are packed with hundreds of out-of-county garbage trucks coming from as far away as Seattle.
WIND-BLOWN TRASH: Brought in from over 10 counties destroys our tourist routes and is carried from the landfill into the Yamhill River and surrounding areas.
Stop the Dump---FAQ
Q1. What's wrong with a dump on the South Yamhill River?
Well, it's on a river! Waste Management claims the liners used on most (but not all) of the landfill will "never" leak, but the same liners have leaked in other places and no one has tested them for the thousand years the garbage will remain buried by the river. Already the landfill must haul its "leachate" (liquid leaking from the dump) miles away to Washington County for disposal, because it's against the law to let leachate escape into the river and the on-site leachate pond is full.
The dump, in the middle of prime farmland, attracts vectors -- birds and animals that carry disease that can contaminate not only river water but also crops growing nearby like cherries, grapes, blueberries, and hazelnuts.
The landfill sits on Highway 18, a major highway carrying tourists into our county as well as between Portland and the coast. The dump is already huge; even if it grows twice as big, or more who will want to stop and spend money in an area that stinks?
Finally, many families live in the Masonville neighborhood where the dump is located and many businesses have opened there, all of them counting on the landfill closing in 2014 as its owners promised it would. These farms, businesses, and families have borne the burden of the County's landfill for thirty years. It's time to give them a break and let this landfill close.
Q2. Won't my garbage rates go up if the landfill closes?
Garbage rates went up in the summer of 2011, and the landfill is still open. In 2008-2009, the landfill and two independent researchers all predicted that rates would go up an average of 12% if the dump closed. But consider this: Riverbend Landfill expects to invest upwards of $60 million in an expansion, money they will need to recover. So look for rates to go up if the landfill expands. In Tennessee Waste Management recently increased fees four-fold with no notice to residents. There is no guarantee that they will not raise tipping fees in McMinnville whether the dump expands or not.
Q3. What will happen to my garbage if the dump closes?
The people who pick up your garbage are not the same people who run the dump (except that the landfill's parent company, Waste Management of Texas, also owns Newberg Garbage). Newberg Garbage and WOW (Western Oregon Waste, owned by Recology of California) will continue to pick up your garbage the same as before.
Q4. I don't have curbside pick-up; I take my garbage to the landfill. Where will I take my garbage if the landfill closes?
Both the Newberg Garbage transfer station and WOW's recycling depot in McMinnville will continue to accept your garbage. They'll help you recycle, too, a service the landfill does not provide.
Q5. Does Yamhill County really produce enough garbage to fill up the landfill?
No! Only about 25% of the 640,000 tons of garbage dumped at the landfill each year comes from Yamhill County (and 100,000 tons , 15%, of that comes from one business).
Q6. Why is the landfill allowed to take garbage from outside Yamhill County?
Yamhill County voters voted to prohibit the landfill from taking garbage from outside the County back in 1992. But the courts threw out that restriction. The landfill could voluntarily limit the amount of garbage it accepts, but has chosen not to do so.
Q7. Expansion opponents claim the amended Zoning Ordinance will let the landfill expand indefinitely; the landfill says it will grow only once. Who's right?
The language of the Zoning Ordinance Amendment allows the landfill to expand onto adjacent lots so long as the lots are zoned for farming and the landfill owns them. The landfill currently owns 500+ surrounding acres of farmland on both sides of Highway 18 and both banks of the South Yamhill River. The new ordinance will let the landfill expand onto all that land plus adjacent farmland the dump buys.
Jackie Lange, Waste Management spokesperson, boasts that WM's Arlington landfill is surrounded by 10,000 acres of “buffer” land. Riverbend Landfill’s “buffer” consists of productive family farms! When the stench of the landfill and the proximity to a mile-long mountain of garbage make it impossible for these farmers to farm, this high value farmland will lose much of its value, and WM can buy it cheap. Land zoned for farming extends all the way from McMinnville to Sheridan and beyond.
As for the landfill's promise not to expand more than once, consider that the landfill's owners have made many promises since the dump was first approved in 1982, eg. to keep the dump small, serve primarily local users, close in twenty years without expanding, and return the land to farming. Not one of those promises has been kept. The new law allows the dump's current (or future) owners the right to expand, no matter what "promises" have been made.
Q8. Aren't there other options?
Yes! None of the garbage dumped at the landfill is sorted by WM to remove recyclable materials or to divert re-usable materials for new use. In some US counties, as much as 85% of the material headed for landfills is saved and reused. We could do that here. Lane County spearheaded a program partnering with local businesses and residents to keep re-usable materials out of the landfill, and now their landfill will stay open an additional 70 years without expanding! Still other jurisdictions compost their wet and food waste, and even Waste Management is experimenting with processes that will convert waste to usable energy and building material (just not in Yamhill County).
Q9. Doesn’t Riverbend employ a lot of people? What will happen to those jobs if the landfill closes?
Approximately 20 employees work at Riverbend Landfill. It is not one of the largest employers in the County. Were the landfill to close, a number of workers would be required to continue working at the site. Were Waste Management to run the site as a transfer station, many more people would be employed, perhaps even more than are currently employed.
Q10. What about recycling? Does that make a difference?
An estimated 80% of what goes into a landfill could be recycled and/or re-used. In addition, far more people are employed to efficiently recycle and recover materials than are employed heaping the garbage into mountains like the one at Riverbend Landfill.
The EPA estimates that for every one landfill job, ten are created in materials recovery and recycling. Waste Management knows how to create these jobs, but they have chosen not to develop that branch of their operation here in Yamhill County. It is far more profitable for them just to pile up the garbage.
Q11. Doesn’t the County make a lot of money hosting the dump?
No! The County is paid $750,000 a year to hold garbage on the river bank for centuries to come. The landfill will be exuding toxic gases long after it is closed. It is unknown how long the leachate can be prevented from leaking into the groundwater or the river. The money received by the County is a drop in the bucket compared to what it will lose from agriculture that will be lost due to an expanding dump.
WM pays the city of Forest Grove $450,000 a year -- 60% of what Yamhill County makes -- for a transfer station that holds garbage from Metro only long enough to be transferred from small garbage trucks to tractor trailers. Yamhill County will keep that garbage forever.
Q12. What is an "MSE berm"? How will it affect Yamhill County?
WM is now proposing to extend the life of the landfill by walling it off with a 40-foot high wall. The wall will allow WM to dump an additional 78 million cubic feet of garbage at Riverbend. This wall will be made of more than 900,000 cubic feet of dirt and debris, or the equivalent of 2 feet of prime farmland stripped from a 100-acre farm. Where will WM get this dirt? We don't know; the application WM filed with DEQ didn't say. (The application didn't mention that the landfill is on a river, either.) Let's see, the landfill owns the farm across Highway 18 from the dump entrance, and that is 170 acres....
Q13. What can we do to stop the expansion and encourage Yamhill County to do what is right for its citizens and their quality of life?
As the process grinds forward, there will be ample opportunities for citizens to weigh in on this subject. The Commissioners disregarded their own Planning Commission and hundreds of individuals.
Two and a half years ago Waste Not and its Coalition Partners prevailed with LUBA and the Court of Appeals. We intend to do the same in the future, but we need people to speak out and let the Commissioners know that Yamhill County deserves better.
To learn more about the dump, Waste Not, and our Coalition partners -- or to become a partner yourself -- visit wastenotofyamhillcounty.net or contact us at wastenotyamhillcounty@gmail.com.
OUR WATER SUPPLY: The first cells of Riverbend Landfill are not properly lined and have already leaked. Even the best technology cannot prevent the inevitable...
"New technology, according to DEQ staff, will not eliminate risk, merely delay the long term effects."
Deficiencies in Subtitle D Composite Liners: The US EPA Solid Waste Disposal Criteria (August 30 1988) stated:
"First, even the best liner and leachate collection system will ultimately fail due to natural deterioration, and recent improvements in MSWLF (municipal solid waste landfill) containment technologies suggest that releases may be delayed by many decades at some landfills."
BIRD FLU: The landfill has been designated as a repository in the case of an outbreak of bird flu.
TOURIST INDUSTRY: The new Yamhill County Historical Musuem is in the shadow of the landfill and the view from many of our vineyards is destroyed by the 240 foot garbage mountain.
NATURAL RESOURCES: Waste going into the landfill could be recyclable at a waste processing transfer center. Our highways are packed with hundreds of out-of-county garbage trucks coming from as far away as Seattle.
WIND-BLOWN TRASH: Brought in from over 10 counties destroys our tourist routes and is carried from the landfill into the Yamhill River and surrounding areas.
Stop the Dump---FAQ
Q1. What's wrong with a dump on the South Yamhill River?
Well, it's on a river! Waste Management claims the liners used on most (but not all) of the landfill will "never" leak, but the same liners have leaked in other places and no one has tested them for the thousand years the garbage will remain buried by the river. Already the landfill must haul its "leachate" (liquid leaking from the dump) miles away to Washington County for disposal, because it's against the law to let leachate escape into the river and the on-site leachate pond is full.
The dump, in the middle of prime farmland, attracts vectors -- birds and animals that carry disease that can contaminate not only river water but also crops growing nearby like cherries, grapes, blueberries, and hazelnuts.
The landfill sits on Highway 18, a major highway carrying tourists into our county as well as between Portland and the coast. The dump is already huge; even if it grows twice as big, or more who will want to stop and spend money in an area that stinks?
Finally, many families live in the Masonville neighborhood where the dump is located and many businesses have opened there, all of them counting on the landfill closing in 2014 as its owners promised it would. These farms, businesses, and families have borne the burden of the County's landfill for thirty years. It's time to give them a break and let this landfill close.
Q2. Won't my garbage rates go up if the landfill closes?
Garbage rates went up in the summer of 2011, and the landfill is still open. In 2008-2009, the landfill and two independent researchers all predicted that rates would go up an average of 12% if the dump closed. But consider this: Riverbend Landfill expects to invest upwards of $60 million in an expansion, money they will need to recover. So look for rates to go up if the landfill expands. In Tennessee Waste Management recently increased fees four-fold with no notice to residents. There is no guarantee that they will not raise tipping fees in McMinnville whether the dump expands or not.
Q3. What will happen to my garbage if the dump closes?
The people who pick up your garbage are not the same people who run the dump (except that the landfill's parent company, Waste Management of Texas, also owns Newberg Garbage). Newberg Garbage and WOW (Western Oregon Waste, owned by Recology of California) will continue to pick up your garbage the same as before.
Q4. I don't have curbside pick-up; I take my garbage to the landfill. Where will I take my garbage if the landfill closes?
Both the Newberg Garbage transfer station and WOW's recycling depot in McMinnville will continue to accept your garbage. They'll help you recycle, too, a service the landfill does not provide.
Q5. Does Yamhill County really produce enough garbage to fill up the landfill?
No! Only about 25% of the 640,000 tons of garbage dumped at the landfill each year comes from Yamhill County (and 100,000 tons , 15%, of that comes from one business).
Q6. Why is the landfill allowed to take garbage from outside Yamhill County?
Yamhill County voters voted to prohibit the landfill from taking garbage from outside the County back in 1992. But the courts threw out that restriction. The landfill could voluntarily limit the amount of garbage it accepts, but has chosen not to do so.
Q7. Expansion opponents claim the amended Zoning Ordinance will let the landfill expand indefinitely; the landfill says it will grow only once. Who's right?
The language of the Zoning Ordinance Amendment allows the landfill to expand onto adjacent lots so long as the lots are zoned for farming and the landfill owns them. The landfill currently owns 500+ surrounding acres of farmland on both sides of Highway 18 and both banks of the South Yamhill River. The new ordinance will let the landfill expand onto all that land plus adjacent farmland the dump buys.
Jackie Lange, Waste Management spokesperson, boasts that WM's Arlington landfill is surrounded by 10,000 acres of “buffer” land. Riverbend Landfill’s “buffer” consists of productive family farms! When the stench of the landfill and the proximity to a mile-long mountain of garbage make it impossible for these farmers to farm, this high value farmland will lose much of its value, and WM can buy it cheap. Land zoned for farming extends all the way from McMinnville to Sheridan and beyond.
As for the landfill's promise not to expand more than once, consider that the landfill's owners have made many promises since the dump was first approved in 1982, eg. to keep the dump small, serve primarily local users, close in twenty years without expanding, and return the land to farming. Not one of those promises has been kept. The new law allows the dump's current (or future) owners the right to expand, no matter what "promises" have been made.
Q8. Aren't there other options?
Yes! None of the garbage dumped at the landfill is sorted by WM to remove recyclable materials or to divert re-usable materials for new use. In some US counties, as much as 85% of the material headed for landfills is saved and reused. We could do that here. Lane County spearheaded a program partnering with local businesses and residents to keep re-usable materials out of the landfill, and now their landfill will stay open an additional 70 years without expanding! Still other jurisdictions compost their wet and food waste, and even Waste Management is experimenting with processes that will convert waste to usable energy and building material (just not in Yamhill County).
Q9. Doesn’t Riverbend employ a lot of people? What will happen to those jobs if the landfill closes?
Approximately 20 employees work at Riverbend Landfill. It is not one of the largest employers in the County. Were the landfill to close, a number of workers would be required to continue working at the site. Were Waste Management to run the site as a transfer station, many more people would be employed, perhaps even more than are currently employed.
Q10. What about recycling? Does that make a difference?
An estimated 80% of what goes into a landfill could be recycled and/or re-used. In addition, far more people are employed to efficiently recycle and recover materials than are employed heaping the garbage into mountains like the one at Riverbend Landfill.
The EPA estimates that for every one landfill job, ten are created in materials recovery and recycling. Waste Management knows how to create these jobs, but they have chosen not to develop that branch of their operation here in Yamhill County. It is far more profitable for them just to pile up the garbage.
Q11. Doesn’t the County make a lot of money hosting the dump?
No! The County is paid $750,000 a year to hold garbage on the river bank for centuries to come. The landfill will be exuding toxic gases long after it is closed. It is unknown how long the leachate can be prevented from leaking into the groundwater or the river. The money received by the County is a drop in the bucket compared to what it will lose from agriculture that will be lost due to an expanding dump.
WM pays the city of Forest Grove $450,000 a year -- 60% of what Yamhill County makes -- for a transfer station that holds garbage from Metro only long enough to be transferred from small garbage trucks to tractor trailers. Yamhill County will keep that garbage forever.
Q12. What is an "MSE berm"? How will it affect Yamhill County?
WM is now proposing to extend the life of the landfill by walling it off with a 40-foot high wall. The wall will allow WM to dump an additional 78 million cubic feet of garbage at Riverbend. This wall will be made of more than 900,000 cubic feet of dirt and debris, or the equivalent of 2 feet of prime farmland stripped from a 100-acre farm. Where will WM get this dirt? We don't know; the application WM filed with DEQ didn't say. (The application didn't mention that the landfill is on a river, either.) Let's see, the landfill owns the farm across Highway 18 from the dump entrance, and that is 170 acres....
Q13. What can we do to stop the expansion and encourage Yamhill County to do what is right for its citizens and their quality of life?
As the process grinds forward, there will be ample opportunities for citizens to weigh in on this subject. The Commissioners disregarded their own Planning Commission and hundreds of individuals.
Two and a half years ago Waste Not and its Coalition Partners prevailed with LUBA and the Court of Appeals. We intend to do the same in the future, but we need people to speak out and let the Commissioners know that Yamhill County deserves better.
To learn more about the dump, Waste Not, and our Coalition partners -- or to become a partner yourself -- visit wastenotofyamhillcounty.net or contact us at wastenotyamhillcounty@gmail.com.
