Landfill Permit Debated

The man who wants to convert Boise Cascade Corp.'s former landfill in Fruit Valley, Wash., into a financial oasis for community causes pledged to fulfill whatever requirements are placed on the project.

Developer Paul Christensen, who has spent almost four years on his plan to use the landfill to dispose of construction and demolition debris, told members of the Clark County Solid Waste Advisory Commission that he and his consultants are ready to answer any remaining questions.

"I guarantee you we will work very creatively with the county to meet all the goals they set in front of us," Christensen said. "I don't think you're going to have any problems from us."

City and county officials still want more details.

The Washington Department of Ecology, faced with numerous unanswered questions, in July concluded that it cannot recommend that Clark County issue a solid waste handling permit.

Brian Carlson, Vancouver public works director, and Rich McConaghy, city solid waste manager, submitted a nine-page letter raising a variety of issues and requesting that the solid waste commission postpone its hearing.

"Anyone who wishes to testify should have basic information about the project well in advance of the hearing," the letter says. "The hearing is not the proper time to present new information and analysis."

The solid waste commission is responsible for evaluating Christensen's proposal and making a recommendation on whether the county should approve or deny a solid waste handling permit.

Boise opened the landfill in 1989 to dispose of waste from its paper manufacturing plant in Vancouver. Boise stopped using the landfill in 1997, shortly after it halted its local paper-manufacturing operations.

The corporation donated the landfill and an adjacent wastewater lagoon in 2001 to the Hough Foundation, a nonprofit group Christensen founded to boost the Vancouver neighborhood where he attended elementary school in the 1940s.

Christensen, who hopes to raise millions for the Hough Foundation, the Fruit Valley Neighborhood Association and other groups, didn't appear daunted by requests for more details.

"We believe we can very credibly answer each of these requests for more information," he said.

"It's not rocket science," he said about the project. "There are a number of things that we have to do very, very well and responsibly. I would not touch any part of this if we could not do it very well and responsibly."

One of the biggest issues is how to ensure the public won't get stuck with an expensive bill to close the landfill and monitor nearby groundwater for decades after closure.

One estimate has placed this cost at $3.8 million. The most recent estimate submitted by EGR & Associates, a Eugene, Ore., engineering and geological firm working for Christensen, was $2.51 million.

Another major concern is how to handle up to 1 million gallons a day of leachate, a polluted runoff from the landfill. Project proponents want to continue using an adjacent lagoon to treat leachate by exposing it to air before it is discharged into the Columbia River.

Ralph Christensen, president of EGR & Associates, and no relation to Paul Christensen, said construction and demolition debris would create leachate that is similar to what's already flowing from Boise's paper-making residue.

The city of Vancouver's letter, however, doesn't agree with that conclusion.

The letter suggested that landfill backers should provide information about leachate at existing construction and demolition debris landfills west of the Cascade Mountains to support their contention.

Eric Merrill, regional vice president for Waste Connections, Clark County's largest garbage-recycling company, also questioned whether the landfill would create comparable leachate.

Merrill said he was encouraged to hear landfill backers provide more information, but his company still believes the solid waste commission cannot make a recommendation without complete details.

"This body must require the applicant deliver the information requested by the regulatory bodies," he said. The Columbian (Washington)