Family-owned companies hope to give final say on CleanLane to county voters

from the Lane County Garbage and Recycling Association and staff reports

Though county commissioners voted Aug. 20 to move forward with a new Goshen waste facility, local garbage and recycling companies took the first steps Aug. 22 toward wresting that decision away from the commissioners.

President Jake Pelroy of the Lane County Garbage and Recycling Association explained that he is seeking a referendum on each of two orders passed by commissioners.

“We filed both because the county needs both for the IMERF,” he said, referring to the CleanLane project by its previous name, the Integrated Materials and Energy Recovery Facility.

One referendum would submit to the voters the commissioner-approved Order 24-08-20-09, “amending resolution & Order No. 23-12-05-07 delegating authority to the county administrator to sign any necessary agreements…related to leasing property for and operations of the CleanLane resource recovery facility.”

The other referendum would let voters reconsider Order 24-08-20-10, “authorizing financing for the CleanLane resource recovery facility in a principal amount not to exceed $35,000,000.”

The IMERF or CleanLane project is a new $178 million waste sorting facility. LCGRA says this makes it the largest project in Lane County government history and will result in higher garbage prices for Lane County residents, businesses, schools, and nonprofits.

Despite opposition from garbage haulers, recycling processors, EPUD board, staff, and customers, neighboring residents, and businesses that included 1,700 signatures on a petition, over two dozen public speakers Aug. 20, and additional written comments, Commissioners Heather Buch, Pat Farr, and Laurie Trieger voted to move forward with the project.

“We believe the public deserves to vote on this project,” Jake Pelroy said in a statement. “This is a massive project that will increase costs of living for all Lane County residents, and still many questions haven’t been answered about CleanLane. We are going to attempt to bring this project to a public vote. It appears the Commission tried to write their orders to block a referendum; however, our attorney may have found a way to allow a public vote.”

The procedure for submitting a referendum appears on the Oregon Secretary of State website in the booklet, “County, City, and District Initiative and Referendum Manual.”

One of the key steps in getting each referendum onto the ballot is to provide 4% of votes cast for governor at the most recent election where a governor was elected to a full term. In 2022, 183,669 Oregonians voted for governor, so each referendum campaign will require about 7,347 signatures.

Lane County Garbage and Recycling Association is the local association of family-owned garbage and recycling processors in Lane County. The LCGRA aims to protect and educate customers about issues facing garbage and recycling in Lane County.

Image courtesy Lane County website.