Opinion: Quit CleanLane now, cut county losses

by Paul Carbaugh

Since 2023, when the Integrated Materials & Energy Recovery Facility now known as CleanLane was discussed as a real possibility, Lane County has approved spending of up to a quarter million dollars in legal fees to Beery, Elsner & Hammond, LLP. The firm is representing Lane County in its land use dispute over the Goshen property in the CleanLane project.

After losing at the Land Use Board of Appeals, commissioners approved spending county money for the attorneys to continue their land use dispute at the Oregon Court of Appeals. That appeal is scheduled to be heard March 19, 2026. 

What budget are they pulling all this money from?

Recently they voted to appropriate $1.2 million to study the feasibility of placing CleanLane at Short Mountain.  They also voted to appropriate $3.9 million for a four-inch gas line at Short Mountain. They discussed a leachate line and putting it in a trench with a natural gas line. (This is not a common practice due to possible contamination, so they should consult with NW Natural and Lane County and Oregon state codes.) 

I know all of the commissioners have seen the chart with the Lane County budget forecast. I am sure this forecast does not include the $5.1 million they approved Dec. 16 — $1.2 million for site study at Short Mountain and $3.9 million for the four-inch gas line.  That brings the total structural deficit to $8 million.  It does include the $1.5 million spent for the Goshen property that cannot be used for the intended purpose of CleanLane.  

I realize that money from different sources go to specific line items in the budget, but there are a lot more important budgets within the county that need this money.  The sheriff’s department and the DA’s office need budget help a lot more than a pet project called CleanLane. The county’s duty is to provide law enforcement, not CleanLane. 

This is the time to quit the project. Any equipment built by BHS is not proprietary to CleanLane, since there is not yet a design for CleanLane at Short Mountain, and they can sell that equipment to anyone else.

Employ a contract arbitrator to dissolve the contract between the county and BHS. This will be a lot less expensive to the county in the long run—which will total in the millions of dollars.

I am sure the majority of citizens in Lane County would be angry if they knew the truth about CleanLane and the complete facts of county money being spent.  Their tax dollars and garbage rates are paying for a project with no benefit to them.

Paul Carbaugh lives in Saginaw, near Cottage Grove.