Coffin Butte Landfill is situated in one of the wettest parts of the Willamette Valley, on geologically complex land. This poses significant environmental problems.

Republic Services, Inc., a for-profit, out-of-state corporation, owns and operates the landfill through a subsidiary corporation. Benton County’s long-term risk and environmental liability grow with each additional ton of garbage dumped in the landfill.

A clause in the 2020 Landfill Franchise Agreement (FA) between Republic Services and Benton County is worded such that if any expansion onto the property south of Coffin Butte Road zoned LS (“Landfill Site”) is granted, the tonnage cap (the limit to how much garbage can be emplaced per year) goes away.

Another reason to not allow any new expansion: Republic Services has repeatedly flouted the rules and gotten away with it without so much as a hand-slap from the County.