Coffin Butte Landfill proposed expansion raises environmental and health concerns

Think Out Loud

Coffin Butte Landfill, which is located in Benton County, might expand soon. The site draws waste from nearly two dozen Oregon counties and accepts more than one million tons of garbage annually. But the facility’s operators have applied for a permit to expand the landfill even further, raising public health and environmental concerns. A 2022 Environmental Protection Agency report found high levels of methane in the air at Coffin Butte Landfill. People living in nearby towns say that the landfill shouldn’t get bigger under any circumstances, and some longtime residents have been suffering from health issues due to living in such close proximity. Isobel Whitcomb, a science and environmental reporter, is here to share more about what they learned while researching this issue for Canary Media.