Photographed in October 2021, Coffin Butte Road takes off to the left of the landfill.
Republic Services has unveiled its new and radically different plan for expanding the Coffin Butte landfill in northern Benton County. One big change is that the proposal keeps open and improves Coffin Butte Road rather than burying it under a mountain of trash.
Republic made the plan public Friday and invited comment via a website dedicated to the landfill issue. The site describes the expansion proposal in some detail.
The company will need a conditional use permit from Benton County to expand the landfill. Its first attempt for the permit in 2021 was withdrawn after the county planning commission turned it down.
One contentious issue was Coffin Butte Road. The first plan called for the road to be closed so the landfill could expand across it. This would have cut off an important link between the Soap Creek area and Highway 99W.
The new plan still envisions depositing trash on the other side of Coffin Butte Road, but the road would remain open. Republic proposes to improve it with bike lanes and to screen it from the landfill on either side with trees.
Republic would pay for the road improvements.
The new plan is 50 percent smaller than the previous one, according to the company. It would add about 18 years before the landfill is full. Republic says there’s only about a year left in the capacity of the currently used disposal cell.
It plans to build an additional disposal cell in part of the quarry located in back of the dump. Knife River has been stepping up its rockmining there to make room.
Check the Coffin Butte website for more details, and for opportunities to comment on the expansion plan. (hh)
The new landfill expansion plan means this crossroad will not be made useless.
Too many people on this old earth; too much trash (and, I don’t mean that the people are trash!!).
hummmm to expand Coffin Butte or to build a new landfill? expanding will effect a small number of people who live near.
building a new landfill will cost a lot more, effecting everyone who uses Republic Services with rate increase effect new people who live near the new site. so one way or anouther someone is getting effected.
if you bough ur home near CB and though just because its not zoned to expand or cant expand you made a tactal mistake your decision, your issue.
you can vote on who you want to make decisions for you. if you dont like their decisions vote them out but realize that you have a right to vote you have a responsibility to accept that you wont always get you way
I’m wondering what the detractors think “we” should do with the ever-increeasing garbage we produce? WHERE should it go? It isn’t going to magically disappear, NOR are we going to produce less of it.
Most of the trash currently going into the landfill is not OUR trash. It is coming from all over the region.
You would think that by now in the 21st century we could find a way to utilize the huge amount of waste we generate, instead of creating mountains of it and call it a “Landfill”.
I thought they were going to build a “tunnel”, and covering over the top with trash, effectively consolidating the land fill to both sides of the road.
Most of the trash that ends up in this landfill actually comes from many other counties in Oregon and Washington, this is not sustainable.
Why should Benton county be a dumping ground for parts of Oregon and Washington?
A foul smell from the landfill exhaust can be detected many miles to the south and could likely be a harmful to local air quality.