The Coffin Butte landfill expansion is back on the docket – Republic Services has booked a pre-application meeting with County officials and will be going on a public meetings tour starting this Thursday. The times and dates are below.
When Republic last applied, back in 2022, the county’s planning commission denied them a conditional use permit. And at the time, the landfill operator filed and then dropped an appeal, but also said they would reapply again at a future date, which appears to be about now.
If you haven’t been following the story, the County and area cities have a franchise agreement with Republic Services for trash collection and hauling, and the company also owns and operates its own landfill – which mainly serves other counties throughout the state, but is located here, in Benton County.
County posture: Since 2022, the County has spent around six figures for a facilitator that ran a task force to consider Republic’s anticipated retry at a conditional use permit. Their report was critical of the County, citing an opaque complaint-based system for investigating the dump’s operations, and what amounted to a lack of site monitoring.
County officials are now poised to spend for a consultant to look at waste-handling within the community, and more largely, regionally. With most of the dump’s intake coming from neighboring counties – our county has decided to view them as stakeholders, and have invited their officials to participate in future workgroups.
Environmental and health concerns: The Coffin Butte landfill is in a rural part of the county between Adair Village and the Polk County line – and a large number of residents within several miles of the dump rely on wells for drinking water. Community members have expressed concerns about toxic leachate from the dump’s operations leaking into area groundwater supplies, and this being the Corvallis area, many of those folks have had degrees in fields related to soils, hydrology and the environment.
There are also reports of methane plumes and other pollutants not adequately mitigated. And there are concerns that these environmental and health impacts would be exacerbated if the county ultimately approves a conditional use permit so that Republic can expand the dump.
Republic Services Meetings
These meetings are being hosted by Republic Services, which is the company that will be seeking the conditional use permit to expand the landfill.
Thursday, June 27, 5 to 7 pm, CH2M Hill Alumni Center (Oregon State University), Willamette Room, 725 SW 26th St., Corvallis
Friday, June 28, 7 to 8:30 am, Philomath City Hall (Council Chambers), 980 Applegate St., Philomath
Tuesday, July 9, 6 to 7:30 pm, Virtual Webinar, register at coffinbutte@republicservices.com or at Coffin-Butte-Virtual-Meeting
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