Today, Coffin Butte got themselves slapped with a $3 million penalty for air quality violations.
“The Oregon Department of Environmental Quality issued an enforcement order to Valley Landfills Inc. [a subsidiary of Republic Services] today that includes a civil penalty of more than $3 million for air quality violations at Coffin Butte Landfill north of Corvallis,” says a DEQ release.
The release goes on to say DEQ’s order alleges the facility failed to monitor, capture, and control landfill gas emissions as required under both federal and state law.
Landfill gas is regulated because it includes hazardous air pollutants that may harm human health, contributes to odors, and is comprised mostly of methane, a potent greenhouse gas that contributes to climate change.
The exact amount of the civil penalty is $3,016,128. Most of the civil penalty. $2,265,528 of that represents the economic benefit that Valley Landfills gained by avoiding the following costs:
- Surface emissions monitoring.
- Installing new landfill gas collection wells in response to exceedances of standards.
- Installing and operating adequate and consistent landfill gas controls.
- Preparing an amended design plan.
- Monitoring and repairing the landfill cover.
How we got here
The enforcement order, issued by DEQ’s Office of Compliance and Enforcement, follows the pre-enforcement notice that DEQ’s air quality program issued on Nov. 6, 2025. Republic has 20 days to appeal the order. If there is an appeal, then the corrective action deadlines in the order will be stayed pending final resolution of the case.
“Landfills produce significant amounts of methane, which is a driver of climate change,” said DEQ Office of Compliance and Enforcement Manager Erin Saylor. “Landfill gas also contains hazardous air pollutants and odors that may impact human welfare. This order addresses violations of state and federal laws that are intended to mitigate these risks to human health and the environment and sets out DEQ’s expectations for Coffin Butte Landfill to return to compliance.”
This action is the result of a multi-year compliance investigation by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and DEQ. EPA formally referred the case to DEQ for enforcement in October 2025.
What’s next
The order requires Republic Services to complete multiple corrective actions to more effectively manage landfill gas.
As is often the case with these kinds of penalties, DEQ says they will consider recalculating some of the avoided costs, which will reduce the civil penalty, if Republic takes corrective actions.
DEQ’s Air Quality program plans to renew Valley Landfill’s air permit this spring. The draft Title V permit has more stringent requirements that are reflected in the enforcement action and there will be an opportunity for the public to comment during the permit renewal process.
For more information about DEQ’s regulation of the landfill visit their Coffin Butte Landfill web page.
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