We owe it to them to draw the line
[As I See It column, Corvallis Gazette-Times] As a member of Subcommittee E (“Community Education”) of the “Benton County Talks Trash” process that took place over the past year, I…
A bigger landfill is not the plan
[As I See It column, Corvallis Gazette-Times] Some weeks ago, amid all the fliers promoting the jail bond, Benton County sent out messages concerning a community petition about the landfill.…
Learning Plenty by Talking Trash
[As I See it column from Corvallis Gazette-Times] A big thanks to all of the hardworking volunteers who participated in the Benton County Talks Trash workgroup and biweekly committee meetings…
Stop putting leachate in Corvallis water treatment, Willamette River
Watch video of Mark Yeager's powerful testimony before Corvallis City Council on Tuesday Jan 17 2023 regarding the City's practice of accepting leachate from Coffin Butte Landfill into their municipal…
Letter: Plenty of time for thorough study
[This was a letter to the editor in the Corvallis Gazette-Times, Jan 4th, 2023] This spring, Republic Services plans to submit new applications to expand the landfill north of Corvallis.…
TrashTalk Workgroup: Future Deleted
[This was a public comment at the first Trash Talk Workgroup meeting] Gee, I’m old enough to remember back when this workgroup was going to explore the future of solid…
New County Workgroup is Fraught
Because the last application to expand the landfill (LU-21-047) was so contentious, Benton County hired an independent third party to recommend something different. We were initially hopeful when Darren Nichols,…
The Backstory
In the summer of 2021, Republic Services applied to Benton County for permission to expand the Coffin Butte Landfill… again (they’ve expanded a number of times in the past). This…
Terrible location for a landfill, environmentally
Coffin Butte Landfill is situated in one of the wettest parts of the Willamette Valley, on geologically complex land. This poses significant environmental problems. The wetter the climate, the more…
Coffin Butte Landfill NOT owned or operated by Benton County
Republic Services, Inc., a for-profit, out-of-state corporation, owns and operates the landfill through a subsidiary corporation, Valley Landfills, Inc. (VLI). VLI reaps the landfill’s profits and shares a tiny percentage…
