The Oregon Department of Environmental Quality has paused work on a new air quality permit for Coffin Butte Landfill, saying the state needs more information before proceeding.
The permit regulates air pollution from the 178-acre landfill, located north of Corvallis near Adair Village.
DEQ has canceled a Jan. 14 public hearing on Coffin Butte’s proposed air quality permit. It also has closed a public comment period that had been scheduled to run through Jan. 29.
Coffin Butte currently takes most of Marion and Polk counties’ municipal waste, including waste that previously went to the Reworld Marion incinerator in Brooks. Reworld stopped taking Marion County waste on Dec. 31.
The landfill, owned by Phoenix-based Republic Services, also is in the middle of a controversial process to expand the landfill.
The Oregon Department of Environmental Quality has paused work on new air quality permit for Coffin Butte Landfill.
Why did DEQ pause Coffin Butte’s air quality permit process?
DEQ has asked the company to provide a copy of a land use compatibility statement, or LUCS, that Benton County granted it in 1997 for the property where the landfill’s flare is located.
The flare burns methane that is generated when solid waste in the landfill breaks down.
“They just haven’t been able to track down the actual copy of it,” DEQ spokesman Dylan Darling said.
The company has not provided an estimate of when it can provide the document, he said.
Coffin Butte’s air quality permit expired more than a decade ago. The landfill has been allowed to continue operating under its previous permit because the company filed a timely renewal application with DEQ in 2014.
The landfill will continue to operate under the expired permit while the process is on hold.
The permitting pause is not related to the expansion process, which is running in parallel, Darling said.
What is the status of the Coffin Butte’s expansion application?
Coffin Butte also has asked Benton County for a conditional use permit (CUP) that would allow it to expand.
The attempt comes two years after the Benton County Planning Commission unanimously denied the company’s request for a conditional use permit to expand, following public testimony in opposition. Among concerns were plans to close an access road and impacts on those who live nearby.
The planned expansion is 50% smaller than proposed in 2021 and would be on land owned by Coffin Butte and zoned for a landfill, according to the company.
In August 2024, Benton County officials told Republic Services its application was incomplete and gave the company until Jan. 15 to provide additional information, including more information about potential impacts on the landfill’s neighbors.
Once the county deems the application “complete,” it will hold public hearings on the proposal.
Why is Coffin Butte’s air quality permit and expansion controversial?
The permit renewal and expansion request come in the middle of a U.S. Environmental Protection Agency investigation into massive methane leaks at the landfill, employee complaints about health and safety, and neighbors’ concerns about air and water pollution, and fire risks.
In October 2023, the Statesman Journal reported an EPA inspection found the landfill was leaking methane at levels that exceed state and federal limits and what the landfill had publicly reported.
EPA measured methane exceeding regulatory limits 61 times during its June 2022 inspection of the landfill. Twenty-one of those exceedances measured at more than 10,000 parts per million, or 20 times the 500 ppm limit set by Oregon and the EPA.
In April 2024, the Statesman Journal published an investigation into worker complaints about health, safety and environmental violations at the landfill. The Oregon Occupational Safety and Health Division cited the company for several of those issues.
In August 2024, members of Oregon’s congressional delegation called for the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to complete an investigation into concerns about the landfill.
Also in August 2024, DEQ issued a formal warning to Coffin Butte for not complying with new requirements to reduce methane emissions from the state’s landfills.
And landfill neighbors have organized to oppose the proposed landfill expansion. In addition to concerns about the methane leaks, neighbors have complained about odors, excessive truck traffic, fire danger and possible groundwater contamination.
Tracy Loew covers the environment at the Statesman Journal. Send comments, questions and tips: tloew@statesmanjournal.com or 503-399-6779. Follow her on Twitter at @Tracy_Loew
This article originally appeared on Salem Statesman Journal: Oregon pauses Coffin Butte Landfill air quality permit process