Silence On Medical Lake Landfill Addressed Form Letter Says County Forbidden To Discuss Graham Road Expansion

After months of silence, Spokane County commissioners are responding to residents’ concerns about a landfill near Medical Lake.

However, their attorney-approved form letter says little more than that the law prevents commissioners from discussing the Graham Road Recycling and Disposal Facility. The three-page letter is going to about 50 people who have written commissioners asking that they block expansion of the landfill.

“I know there are some people out there who don’t understand why … the commissioners won’t come” to community meetings about the landfill, said Commissioner Phil Harris. “Well, the reason is, we can’t.”

Dallas-based USA Waste Services Inc. wants permission to expand the landfill from 40 acres to 290.

The request must go to the county hearing examiner, and appeals would be heard by a Superior Court judge, not county commissioners. Attempting to influence the hearing examiner’s decision could be considered an abuse of power under state law, commissioners wrote to neighbors who fear the expansion would threaten their drinking water.

If the hearing examiner approves the project, USA Waste Services must seek a permit from the Spokane Regional Health Board, which includes all three commissioners.

“Because we may be asked to consider this permit … we are forbidden (from having) any communication with any opponents or proponents about the project or permit,” commissioners wrote.

The landfill started in 1991 for construction debris. Three years later, it was expanded to a “limited purpose” landfill to hold tires, sterilized medical waste and soil contaminated with petroleum. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is investigating whether 712 tons of PCB-tainted soil dumped at the landfill in 1996 should have gone to a hazardous waste facility instead.

, DataTimes