Anyway, it's not as if something new is being created here. The area already has two landfills, one of them not far from the proposed site, which renders invalid the argument that this site will ruin trails, recreation and residential areas on half the city's southeast quadrant. Some people say there's no need to find a new landfill, that all that's needed is a waste transfer station. But these are some of the same people who object to bringing in trash from outside Linn County. Still others say build an incinerator, but even if air quality is assured, the process doesn't eliminate waste entirely, just reduces it.
Some people say they want to preserve the land in question.
And guess where all that construction waste goes. Still, the public policy process is working. Legitimate questions are being raised about the site's geology, its meshing with the community's comprehensive plan and its relationship to an old court case. Sometime soon, Bluestem officials must explain how a site that was blocked by a judge from being used as a fly ash dump 10 years ago qualifies as a landfill now. Even though such questions deserve airing, they need not be raised shrilly.