By NATHAN WILK/KLCC News
Benton County commissioners are scheduled to vote Tuesday on whether to allow the Coffin Butte landfill to expand.
The landfill is located about 10 miles north of Corvallis, near the town of Adair Village. Its owner, Republic Services, wants to expand southward, in order to add around six years to the lifespan of the site.
Lincoln County’s solid waste from its three certified haulers goes to the landfill.
The county’s Planning Commission rejected the expansion proposal in July, as some nearby residents raised concerns about noise, fire risks, and odor. A previous federal inspection also found significant methane leaks at the current site.
Republic has appealed the decision and county staff have sided with it, recommending approval with conditions meant to reduce the impact on the local community.
At a meeting last month, the county’s third-party consultant Jesse Winterrowd said a lot of the concerns neighbors have raised are about the current site.
“The existing landfill provides some context. It provides a baseline of what’s going on there,” said Winterrowd at the Oct. 22 hearing. “But the proposal is what’s in front of us — not the existing landfill that’s already been approved.”
Jeffrey Kleinman, a lawyer for a group of the expansion’s opponents, has accused county council and planning staff of mischaracterizing through inaccurate definitions and criteria provided to commissioners.
“There is some steering, some herding, some Australian sheep-dog type activity going on,” said Kleinman during testimony on Oct. 23. “It’s a little bit mysterious.”
Benton County commissioners plan to vote at Tuesday’s hearing, and are then scheduled to adopt a final written decision on Nov. 17.
- This story originally appeared on KLCC, a nonprofit public radio station in Eugene and a news partner of Lincoln Chronicle.
