Coffin Butte Landfill in Benton County inches toward expansion. Opponents are still trying to stop it

The Coffin Butte Landfill, located about 10 miles north of Corvallis, takes in trash from around two dozen Oregon counties and accepts more than a million tons of waste every year. But its shelf life is expiring, and Republic Services, the company that owns and operates the landfill, is trying to expand it.

Now, it’s one step closer. Last month, Republic won Benton County’s approval for a permit that greenlights the expansion, so long as Republic complies with certain criteria to mitigate the dump’s environmental impact.

Opponents are trying to stall the expansion at the Land Use Board of Appeals before any shovels hit the ground, but it’s unclear whether the expansion will happen safely, or at all. Mason Leavitt is a geographic information systems analyst and programs manager at Beyond Toxics. He joins us to revisit the expansion’s continuing saga, what we know about the site’s environmental impact and what alternatives there might be.