Hazardous waste landfill in Oregon plans expansion

Chemical Waste Management (CWM), the company operating Oregon’s only hazardous waste landfill, has requested a permit to expand as it anticipates an influx of waste in the years to come.

The company has cited military cleanups, federal Superfund sites, firefighting training facilities among the reasons the company is seeking to expand its hazardous waste operation outside the Columbia River town of Arlington.

“This is all about planning for the future and protecting the environment,” CWM spokesperson Jackie Lang told Oregon Public Broadcasting (OPB), “making sure that dangerous materials and potentially dangerous materials are managed safely in the years ahead.”

The current hazardous waste landfill sits on a nearly 1,300-acre plot adjacent to Oregon’s largest solid waste landfill run by the same parent company, Waste Management. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) defines hazardous waste as any solid waste that could harm human health or the environment.

CWM is currently permitted to use 320 acres for hazardous waste disposal. The company hopes to add 200 acres of disposal space and will apply to modify its permit with the Oregon Department of Environmental Quality.

DEQ cleanup, hazardous waste permitting and emergency response manager David Anderson told OPB the existing hazardous waste landfill “is approximately half full.” With new waste streams on the horizon— including the Portland Harbor Superfund cleanup—more space will soon become critical, he said.

“That adds a significant volume [of waste] that would need to be managed somewhere in the Northwest.”

The Portland Harbor site is a 10-mile stretch of the Willamette River contaminated from years of heavy industry. The river is a critical migratory corridor for salmon and steelhead, a recreation destination, and supports global commerce. The EPA added the Portland Harbor to its list of priority cleanups in 2000.

Lang said the cleanup will require disposal of about 285,000 tons of hazardous material and more than a million tons of non-hazardous dredge.

“We don’t have that contract in place at this time, but that’s the type of material that will make up a large part of the incoming waste,” Lang said.