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Neighbors urge Benton County to enforce tonnage cap, improve fire and emissions monitoring at Coffin Butte
Summary
Community group Valley Neighbors presented evidence and demands about Coffin Butte Landfill: alleged methane/NMOC exceedances under EPA review, three recent fires requiring volunteer firefighter responses, and a call for a landfill hotline, mandatory post‑incident reports, monthly public notices and firm enforcement of a 1,100,000‑ton annual cap.
A coalition calling itself Valley Neighbors for Environmental Quality and Safety presented a lengthy set of concerns and specific requests about the Coffin Butte landfill to the Benton County Board of Commissioners.
Debbie Palmer, Kate Crawford, Catherine Stearns and Virginia Scott urged the county to take immediate administrative steps and to press the landfill operator, Republic Services, to improve monitoring and accountability. They said recent monitoring shows methane leaks under active investigation by the EPA and reported that, in the most recent monitoring year ending in August, the landfill exceeded thresholds for non‑methane organic compounds (NMOCs). "NMOCs are the smelly and toxic stuff in landfill gas," the group said, and asked for clearer information on what compounds are present in plumes experienced by neighbors.
The presenters described three fire incidents in the past six months — May 18, July 24 and Sept. 23 — that produced large plumes of smoke and required local fire department responses. They said in each case flames were observed earlier in the day but operations left sites unattended at closing time, requiring bystanders to report incidents. Valley Neighbors asked the county to require Republic Services to issue monthly notices to the public about fire‑watch responsibilities and to complete post‑incident reports for every fire, whether during working hours or after hours.
On tonnage, Catherine Stearns noted the landfill’s annual cap is reported in county materials as "1,100,000 tons per year" and asked for an unambiguous enforcement policy, penalties and a trigger for enforcement. She presented an email exchange in which, she said, county legal counsel advised that the cap could be lifted if an expansion occurred; the presenters argued that the county needs outside legal review and a clear public statement that it will enforce the cap.
Presenters also showed comparative climate figures — asserting a Carbon Mapper survey detected a persistent methane plume quantified at roughly 1.2 metric tons of methane per hour at one plume location — and recommended the county charge its landfill advisory committee to study Coffin Butte’s environmental impacts, particularly greenhouse‑gas emissions, and to engage community groups as resources.
County staff and commissioners said they would pursue follow‑up: staff noted technical questions about greenhouse‑gas calculations and pledged to coordinate with state and federal agencies (DEQ, EPA) and with the Sustainable Materials Management Planning process that convenes regional partners. The board accepted Valley Neighbors’ request to place several action items on a future agenda for additional staff analysis.
