Landfill Expansion Editorial: Sometimes, NIMBY is the Right Answer

Not always, but sometimes, NIMBY, or not in my backyard, is the right answer, and we suspect that’s how our county should answer Republic Services’ application to expand their Coffin Butte landfill facility.

In a perfect world, we might suspect differently, but that’s not the world we’re living in.

Landfills need substantive regulation and robust monitoring. They emit mixes of biogas and bioaerosols, they are a breeding ground for disease vectors, and they can discharge leachate into the area ground water supply. Communities that host these facilities can see increased incidences of cancer and respiratory diseases. And then there are the environmental impacts; some of them global, many of them local, and too many of them dauntingly long-lasting.

So, what is the County to do. Regulation could be an answer, but we no longer live where County officials might, with a straight face, tell themselves or anyone else that we locals can rely on the EPA or Oregon’s DEQ to monitor and regulate much of anything going into the future, including a landfill in our fair and small county. Maybe, back in the day, but not now.

The feds are going all-out chainsaw massacre on their own agencies – and a third of Oregon’s budget comes from federal dollars. So, what happens to the state’s DEQ if the flow of federal monies slows is anyone’s guess.

If state budget writers suddenly need to scramble, the ongoing monitoring of a dump may seem like a lower priority than say, keeping schools open and needy children fed.

Some might think the County could take over regulation and monitoring. But promulgating the right regulations and monitoring regimen for a facility like this one isn’t in the County’s current wheelhouse. And even if they could cut-and-paste rules and practices from elsewhere, they are unlikely to have the right experts and equipment in place anytime soon.

Standing up a regulatory framework and staffing and a pay-for plan to fund all of that would likely be, optimistically, a couple yearslong process. None of this will happen before the legal deadline for the County to make a decision on Republic’s expansion application.

In short, even with its past resources, the EPA has been slow to investigate problems at Coffin Butte over the years. And now state and federal regulatory resources are in flux and will almost certainly be reduced in the future.

We don’t think County officials can demonstrate the appropriate know-how and capacity to regulate the landfill on their own, given they could not have anticipated the unprecedented prospective reductions in state and federal regulatory capacity.

The County could leave the door open for Republic to reapply. However, desperately needed housing has been envisioned for areas in the dump’s proximity. So, the company may be better off seeking a new site in a slower growing county that could offer a location that is more remote. We also think that if Republic does approach another County, they should expect them to want adequate time to build an appropriate regulatory structure.