County officials nixed expanding the Coffin Butte Landfill last week. But we think that should just be a start. The dump’s owner, Republic Services, has been a terrible corporate citizen, and we believe it’s past time to boot them the hell out of our fair little burgh.
At the very least, Benton County and the City of Corvallis should put its trash hauling franchise agreements out for competitive bidding. And even more to the point, Benton County needs to examine the possibility of eminent domain proceedings to take over the landfill; the goal being to close it and clean it up.
These moves would offer several advantages for the community.
Foremost, Republic is ostensibly on the hook for any post closure site remediation, eminent domain or not. But a condemnation proceeding would almost certainly put state and local government in charge of performing and evaluating that cleanup. And we think that’s a good idea. After all, government is at least somewhat accountable to the electorate, Republic it appears, not so much.
Outside the landfill, we think competitive bids for our area’s trash collection franchises could mean lower consumer rates, improved services, and potentially more environmental and public health oversight. There is every reason to explore this option. We’d like our public officials to vigorously pursue multiple bids. We’d also like to see them thoroughly investigate the possibility of offering a publicly owned trash collection service. And in either alternative, it may be beneficial to investigate opportunities to partner with other municipalities regionally.
Of course, this will all take time and there will be challenges. But even Republic admits the Coffin Butte Landfill has another twelve years of capacity, which is a workable timeframe.
And let’s talk about Republic and time. Twice, the Planning Commission rejected the company’s expansion proposals after rigorous review. Twice, Benton County’s Board of Commissioners did the same, ultimately rejecting Republic’s proposal after learning both the company and DEQ had not told the whole truth about what’s been happening environmentally at the dump. And at every one of those turns, County staff put in tremendous hours assessing Republic’s proposals.
Of course, the company pays only a portion of all that review, we taxpayers on the hook for the rest. But it’s more than just financial resources. The company has been looking to wear this community down since 2021. They have pitted community members against one another. They have fomented bitterness.
All that time and energy that Republic has sucked could have been better used. Housing and homelessness issues have deepened, local health care is imploding, and there are overdue infrastructure discussions to be had.
Republic Services has been a demonstrably negative force in our shared community. From their environmental record to their disregard for human health, we should not be surprised by their unwillingness to take our community’s no for an answer. Even now, they will not commit to forgoing further appeals.
They have shown our shared community who they are. It is time that we help them leave.
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