Cowlitz County commissioners delayed a decision Tuesday about purchasing the Headquarters Road landfill — saying they need more information.

Commissioners will vote on Nov. 24 to either make a non-binding offer and begin negotiating with Weyerhaeuser Co., or to pass on the 300-acre landfill near Toutle. Weyerhaeuser is expected to take at least a month to decide after any county offer is received.

County staff and a private consultant told commissioners Tuesday that buying the landfill to store the county’s household garbage could be a win-win for the county and Weyerhaeuser if the price is right. No price has been publicly discussed.

Buying the landfill could save the county an estimated $1 million annually as opposed to shipping trash to Eastern Washington. The landfill, now permitted only for industrial waste, also has 100 years capacity even if municipal waste is added, Cal Palmer of Moss Adams LLP told commissioners. The county also could likely offer a better disposal rate for Weyerhaeuser’s industrial waste compared to private buyers, Palmer said.

It’s assumed whoever purchases the landfill will ask for a municipal garbage permit — something some residents strongly oppose.

Commissioners say it makes sense to have a local government controlling the landfill if the permit is changed. Opponents, though, are still mad a landfill was ever placed in Toutle. And they’re outraged that a Weyerhaeuser pledge to never put municipal waste in the landfill would be voided by a sale.

“There’s no way you can control that stench,” said Tim Metcalf, who lives across the lake from the landfill and said there are already odor problems. He added he worries the smell will keep people from visiting Mount St. Helens.

Elmer Nofziger, who organized Advocates for Responsible Management of Silverlake (ARMS) to oppose the landfill, said there should be an immediate moratorium on the landfill until all the environmental effects are known. Nofziger said he wants independent studies of the watershed, not just reports done by Weyerhaeuser employees as part of their state permit requirements. Ideally, Nofziger said he’d like to see the landfill closed for good and certainly not expanded.

“We do not need money that stinks,” he added about the expected savings.

Al Slater, though, said he helped select the site for the landfill and thinks the county should definitely purchase the site and have a say in what’s disposed there. Slater, a former Kelso City Councilman, added the county should seek additional land to build a waste to energy plant near the landfill.

Commissioners met in closed executive session after hearing the recommendation and public comments, then announced they needed more information.

Commissioner Kathleen Johnson said she wanted more cost comparisons between the county’s current shipping plan for garbage and using the landfill. She also wants information on improvements on Headquarters Road needed to accommodate the Waste Control trucks hauling trash to the landfill.

Commissioners will now decide the matter on Nov. 24 at 11:15 a.m.

If commissioners do vote yes on the 24th, the non-binding offer to Weyerhaeuser will not be made public to avoid affecting the offers of private companies also interested in the landfill. The offer and all documents will become public either when the county makes a deal with Weyerhaeuser or is rejected as a bidder, Commissioner George Raiter said.

Weyerhaeuser officials have said the company is selling the landfill to focus on “core properties.”

Related articles:

Commissioners' landfill vote pushed back to Nov. 3  (Oct. 20)

County interested in landfill, not 'bidding war'  (Sept. 16)

County's interest in landfill praised  (Aug. 26)

County eyeing Weyerhaeuser landfill  (Aug. 16)

Toutle dumps on landfill idea  (Aug. 5)