Because Republic Services, which owns the dump, overcommitted landfilling services to dozens of trash haulers throughout the northwest. So now they’re asking for more space to meet their overcommitments.

Republic is the second largest waste management company in the country, and by our calculation, Coffin Butte is their most profitable landfill in the entire United States. So they would very much like to keep it going as long as possible at its current unsustainably high volume.

Republic’s intention is for this to be a “forever” landfill. This current application is essentially “Phase One” of their much larger 2021 application (which was also unanimously denied by Benton County’s Planning Commission). They made it “smaller” so as to make it more palatable. Make no mistake though: they will not stop with this smaller, “six more years of landfill space” application. We know they want to continue to expand, because via a public records request, we have evidence that Republic and Benton County’s legal counsel have already discussed availability of (Republic-owned) land for rezoning to accomplish this. Republic also wants to keep expanding (doesn’t want to let the dump get full) because once full, it stops being a huge profit generator and starts being a huge annual remediation expense for the company. As long as they continue to expand, they can postpone that eventual expense.

If Republic doesn’t get their expansion, they will have to cut back on their contracts with trash haulers from other counties. Republic can’t cut back on Benton County service, because of our Agreement as the host county.

As we say in our petition: The “need” for expansion is Republic’s own problem – Benton County should not be threatened and rushed into making an irreversible decision to solve the poor planning and over-commitment issues of a huge national corporation.

THE DUMP WILL NOT CLOSE IF REPUBLIC DOESN’T GET THEIR EXPANSION. It will continue to operate as normal, using the existing space (see Q3, below). Republic’s current Franchise Agreement with Benton County runs through the year 2040. The Franchise Agreement guarantees Republic’s disposal of Benton County trash. Republic is seeking the expansion so that it can continue to accept large amounts of trash from other sources during that time, as it is currently doing. Less than 7% of Coffin Butte’s yearly intake of municipal solid waste comes from Benton County.

Where will it go: The garbage will continue to go into the former quarry on the west side of the dump. This space has been receiving garbage since early 2025. At the current rate of intake, it has enough dumping capacity for 12 – 14 more years, without expansion.

Republic can extend this life by limiting intake from other counties, in order to meet their contractual obligation to accept Benton County waste through the year 2040 (see Q2, above).

When the dump reaches the end of its useful life, most likely the garbage would go to the Columbia Ridge Landfill in Arlington (north-central Oregon, east of the Cascades).

Pollution: Garbage can be transported to Columbia Ridge by rail, which has a far smaller carbon footprint than by truck. Trucks would not have to drive all that way. They’d only need drive to the nearest transfer station to unload into a shipping container or rail car for transport by rail. (Transport by rail has the added benefit of keeping all those trucks off roads and freeways, reducing not only traffic congestion but also road wear-and-tear.) Also, putting garbage in Columbia Ridge will leak far less climate-damaging greenhouse gas than putting it in Coffin Butte. So the net pollution would actually be far less.

Garbage Rates: Garbage rates cannot be increased without express permission from county or city government. So denying expansion would not automatically mean an increase in rates. In fact, they could even go down if Benton County opened up collection services to competitive bidding. (Right now, Republic Services has a garbage monopoly in Benton County: they own/operate/control the landfill, and the County Commissioners and the City of Corvallis have granted Republic an exclusive contract for garbage collection, recycling AND greenwaste/composting).

Republic’s Franchise Agreement with Benton County practically guarantees that Republic won’t let the dump get full before the year 2040. Big financial disincentives would kick in if Republic were to let that happen. Not only is Republic contractually obligated to pay the county franchise fees through 2040 whether they’re taking in garbage or not, but they’re also obligated to take the county’s garbage. So if they close Coffin Butte before then, they’d have to pay some other landfill to take Benton County waste.

In the United States, landfilling garbage is considered “interstate commerce,” so governmental entities (such as Benton County) cannot unilaterally control or limit who can bring garbage to a privately owned dump, like Coffin Butte. If the dump was publicly owned, it would be a different story. But Coffin Butte is privately owned by Republic Services (via a subsidiary: Valley Landfills, Inc.)

Limits on where the garbage comes from could be instituted via a renegotiated franchise agreement. The current Landfill Franchise Agreement between Republic Services and Benton County doesn’t expire until 2040 though, so renegotiation could only occur if there was a breach of contract, or if both parties agreed to open it up to renegotiation.

Republic’s Coffin Butte Landfill is located in one of the wettest parts of the Willamette Valley. More rain = more toxic leachate and climate-damaging methane (see Elephant in the Room graphic). It sits on geologically complex land; some parts are even below the water table. Think of it like a ‘bathtub in a lake’ – all that separates the dump from the groundwater is a thin layer of clay and a plastic liner. Under tens of millions of tons of garbage and leachate. The US EPA has determined all landfills will eventually leak.

This dump is also located in a populated region: Benton County and adjacent Linn and Polk counties have a combined population of over 320,000, but the dump has only 500 or so acres of buffer land between it and population. Over 8,300 people live within five miles of the dump.

The Coffin Butte dump does not fit in with its surroundings. Never planned for this location (it began as a burn dump for Camp Adair during WWII), it has morphed into a huge industrial operation complete with noise, odor and visual blight in an otherwise gorgeous area of forests, fields, farms, scattered rural residential properties (plus the growing community of Adair Village) and abundant wildlife (there’s even a resident elk herd). The E.E. Wilson Wildlife Area sits just across Hwy 99W from the dump. There is a great blue heron rookery nearby, now threatened by the dump’s activities. The area used to be more popular with bicyclists and hikers, but the noxious odors and heavy truck traffic resulting from the dump’s growth makes the area less appealing for outdoor recreation.

In stark contrast, the Columbia Ridge landfill (see Q3, above) is in a far drier climate (no leachate leaves the site!), its waste disposal footprint is approximately 200 feet above the water table, and that 200 feet is mostly clay. So when its liner eventually leaks, it could still take hundreds of years for that leachate to reach the water table. Columbia Ridge is also in an extremely sparsely populated area (Gilliam County has less than 2000 residents)… and it has a land buffer of 10,000 acres.

Although the dump provides money to the county, its liabilities far outweigh its benefits.

The landfill provides a “franchise fee” to the county of about $2.6 million per year. Benton County’s total adopted budget for 2025-2027 is $540.2 million, so landfill payments represent less than 1% of total revenues. This “franchise fee” number is also gross, not net – so it doesn’t take into account direct costs to the county such as depressed property values (which reduce property tax revenues), or costs resulting from remediating damages to local roads by heavy trucks and leachate tankers. It also does not take into account the indirect costs to the health and well-being of the surrounding community and environment, or the potential for HUGE financial liability in the event of a catastrophic event (earthquake, major fire).

The landfill provides some employment, but Republic does not provide exact numbers of workers at the landfill. Garbage and recycling collection truck drivers do not count as “landfill jobs.” We would still have garbage collection even if there were no landfill here at all. Meanwhile, landfill jobs aren’t great jobs. They’re dangerous and can cause long-term health damage to workers exposed to biohazards, heavy metals, PFAS, and particulate matter. Health concerns were the main reason why the landfill mechanics union went on strike in 2023.

The landfill’s so-called “groundbreaking” gas-to-energy operation is 30 years old now, and their claim to “generate enough power for approximately 4,000 homes” has not changed since 2008 — even though the waste intake per year has doubled since then. Meanwhile, per Republic Services’ own reporting, at least 30% of landfill gas is NOT captured by this system, and based on Carbon Mapper data, it is more likely in the 55% to 60% range. So ALL THAT LANDFILL GAS NOT BEING CAPTURED BY THE GAS COLLECTION SYSTEM IS LEAKING INTO THE ATMOSPHERE. This is not a benefit to anyone, local or otherwise (see Methane Plume maps).

It threatens our recreation and tourism industry, which is a huge driver of our local economy. In 2023, tourism generated $180.5 million of visitor spending, supporting 1950 jobs, and generated $3.8 million in local tax revenue… but the dump is changing that. It blights the views and outdoor experiences from the EE Wilson Wildlife Area and from adjacent trails in OSU’s McDonald and Dunn Forests. It disrupts popular cycling routes, where bicyclists need to contend with heavy truck traffic and road hazards caused by litter flying out of garbage trucks. Stench from the landfill has already resulted in the closure of one winery, Emerson Vineyard, which was formerly an agritourism destination.

The landfill is an embarrassment to Benton County, and is incompatible with its reputation for agritourism, outdoor recreation, clean air and water and other environmental qualities, high tech, and higher education.