The Oregon King Tides Project website is here.
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MICHAEL DUNNE: I'm Michael Dunne. If you want bright sunny beaches with bathtub warm water, you're going to need to get on a plane. But if you want spectacular views of massive waves exploding over jagged rocks and surfs smashing into rugged cliffs. Well, it's just a car ride away all along our magical Oregon coast. And right now, even with inclement weather, actually, because of it, is perhaps the best time to go visit Oregon beaches for now and throughout winter is king tide season along the coast. Today, on the show, we'll talk with the Oregon King Tides Project to learn about this amazing force of nature and why it's so special and sometimes dangerous. Then we'll talk with KLC C's Nathan Wilke about the controversy and current situation for the Coffin Butte Landfill near Corvallis. Rhiannon Bezore, the coastal shore specialist with the Oregon Coastal Management Program, which is part of the Oregon Department of Land Conservation and Development. Really appreciate you coming on and talking with us.
RHIANNON BEZORE: Thank you so much for having me. I'm excited to be here.
MICHAEL DUNNE: Well, let's talk about the Oregon king tides project. What is it? What does it do?
RHIANNON BEZORE: Good question. So, the Oregon king tides project has been running for about 15 years. It's part of a larger global effort that started in Australia, actually about 20 years ago, as a way to document these king tides, these very spectacularly high tides that happen each winter, and just as a way to document how they impact our coastal communities and from Australia, spread around the world, and like I said, for the past 15 years, Oregon king tides project has been asking anybody on the coast, either if you live there, if you're visiting there, whether you're from Oregon or out of state, to be really safe when you visit the coast, because these are pretty dangerous events. But if you do snap any photos or videos, to submit them to our Oregon king tides photo project. They can do that really easily at our website, at Oregon King tides.net and it helps us kind of get a glimpse of what conditions might look like in the future for our communities under future sea level rise. Because essentially, what we're seeing today as the highest high tides of the year might be just kind of normal high tides in the future.
MICHAEL DUNNE: Obviously, anytime you're on the coast, there can be some dangerous sneaker waves, and of course, the king tides we're talking about do king tides on their own damage the coast?
RHIANNON BEZORE: They certainly can, and because they are, you know, much higher, high tides than normal, there is a lot more water, you know, that has the capacity to cause coastal flooding, coastal erosion. And because they happen during winter, we often see them coincide with some pretty, very large storms. And so, on top of already high levels of water, you have large storm waves, swell waves, like you said, sneaker waves. And so, it's not only having a lot of impacts on our coasts, like on the actual physical landscape and infrastructure, but they are very dangerous for people visiting the coast as well too. So, you have a lot of different, you know, co-factors happening all at the same time. And the king tides are certainly a large part of that, just in and of themselves, it's a lot of water, you know. And with those other, you know, storm waves and sneaker waves, you can get a lot of very fast moving, very dangerous waters.
MICHAEL DUNNE: Yeah, I always think it's kind of like a little bit of a blessing and a curse. You just very articulately describe the dangers, but of course, it's spectacular to witness. So, you're almost like, yes, it's dangerous, but boy, I tell you, it is something to behold, isn't it? I guess that's kind of the conundrum for coastal authorities and whatnot, is, it's great when people can come and safely view them, but of course, you don't want them to get too close.
RHIANNON BEZORE: Exactly. They are absolutely exciting natural phenomena. And we do, you know, want people to safely view them. And there are a number of ways that you can do that, you know, just keep a safe distance from the water. Don't turn your back on the water, you know, make sure that you're not climbing on any rocks or logs, because those can move around really quickly. But if you are along the coast and you're being safe about it, it's really exciting to watch. You can see some, some very you know, like you said, dramatic waves crashing up and over the cliffs, especially. Like at places like Depoe Bay or Shore acres, and they can be really exciting, especially during those storm events.
MICHAEL DUNNE: Yeah, you talked about the fact that this, this, this, you know, this project started in Australia and certainly around the world. I am wondering, though, you know, and I'm a West Coast person, grew up in California and also lived in Washington state, is our Oregon Coast somewhat unique in terms of viewing some of the spectacular nature of king tides?
RHIANNON BEZORE: I would say that we are definitely the West Coast is a lot different than the East Coast for king tides. On the East Coast, you have a lot of really low-lying coastal communities, and so one of the major things that you see over there is a lot of coastal flooding during king tides, very significant. I mean, you can impact travel. You know, people have a hard time getting to and from work and school. Over here on the West Coast, we have a lot of really high, rocky cliffs along our coastline, and so where we may have some less effects from the coastal flooding, except in those low lying areas, especially like on the central coast of Oregon, we do have a lot of coastal erosion that we see during these events, and we do have a lot of those, you know, really dramatic landscapes that we see with the waves crashing over the cliffs, just because of the dynamics of how powerful our ocean is, just normally, even not during king tides or storms, and then with the compounding factors of king tides plus any sort of winter swells.
MICHAEL DUNNE: So, I'm certainly no expert about tides, and I've always learned that the moon influences tides, but you talk about king tides happening in the wintertime. What are the conditions for us here on the coast? Why do they happen in wintertime? Sort of take us through the why in terms of king tides this time of year?
RHIANNON BEZORE: Great question. So, the king tides happen during winter for a couple of different reasons. So, one, the sun, moon and Earth are all in pretty perfect alignment during this time of year, and the moon is closest to the earth during its orbit, and the Earth's orbit is closest to the sun during this time. And so, you have an extra strong pull from both the sun and the moon on the Earth's tides. And so, we see these pink tides each winter, generally, either November to February or January to or, sorry, November to January, and they are happening during the full moon, so that you already have normally highest high tides during the new and full moons. And then with that extra strong pull on the tides, you get the highest high tides and the lowest low tides of the year.
MICHAEL DUNNE: I see. What about impacts to the mammals, the sea, birds, the fish, the marine life in general, along our coast during this king tides period. I don't know. Do we tend to see more whale beaching, or do we see more migratory patterns of birds? I just wanted to know, if we're out there looking at these beautiful king tides, might we see something else in the environment going on as well?
RHIANNON BEZORE: That's a good question, and I'm not, I won't speak for biologists. Okay, sure. I will say that that most of the organisms in, you know, the near shore or, you know, estuarine environments are pretty adaptable to some level of tidal influence, and so the during king tides, you will see the salt water inundating much farther inland into rivers and bays and estuaries and under normal tidal conditions. And so, there is some more. You know, salt water influences farther inland than there would normally be. But most of the creatures, from what I understand, in those environments are kind of adapted to having some varying levels of that saltwater influence, and so we don't see a huge impact, I don't believe, on the coastal green organisms. But again, I can't, I can't speak specifically.
MICHAEL DUNNE: I understand. I'm also wondering too, and you talked about this at the top of the interview, that when we were having this discussion, is, is the fact that obviously with climate change, we're starting to see sea level rise. Pull that thread a little bit more about what you and your organization are looking at, and what the potential hazards and ongoing challenges that sea level rise might you know, to join with the regular, regularly scheduled king tides in our region?
RHIANNON BEZORE: Absolutely. So, one of the things that the project really aimed to do is to document areas that are already prone to things like flooding and coastal erosion and other impacts of these king tide events, and it really gives us an opportunity to kind of plan ahead for what those future conditions might look like under sea level rise, so the areas that are already prone to some of those influences will likely be even more likely to see those types of influences in the future and impacts, and so it gives us an opportunity to share that data, all those photos, everyone submits. We make them publicly available on our Flickr site, and we do share them with coastal planners and researchers, as well as other state agencies such as Oregon State Parks and Rec and we make sure that they have that data available for things like modeling, if they're researchers, and for coastal planners, to make sure that when they are making land use decisions or doing things like comprehensive plan updates, that they have an idea of where some of those areas are that might need some special attention, so that they could do things like mitigation projects, or use that as some, you know, as data to help support their claims that they are needing to have funds to do these types of projects, to make sure that their communities can, you know, run smoothly into the future, and they're planning ahead. And so, the sea level rise piece also comes into play, because we will continue to have king tide under sea level rise conditions as well too. And so, we'll already have higher sea levels. And then when those king tides do happen, we'll have an even higher amount of water on the coast. And so, it'll just really be an exasperated amount of impacts on our coastal communities.
MICHAEL DUNNE: Got it. Got it. Rhiannon, my last question for you is simply this, if people want to go to the coast and do it safely, you know, how long into winter can people go visit the coast to witness these king tides?
RHIANNON BEZORE: That's a great question. So, we just had our first round of king tides last week. Our next round will be in December, on the fourth to the sixth, and then if you can't make it out here for that one, January 1 to the fourth will be our final round for this season. And you know, again, it just really depends on what the weather conditions will be, on how dramatic those king tide events will appear. So if we have really sunny conditions, like we did a couple years ago during a November king tides event. It might not be as dramatic or exciting, but if we do have storm events like the atmospheric river that we just had last week, you'll get some pretty dramatic views of these king tides. And a lot of you know those exciting wave shots and seeing a lot of coastal erosion along our coast.
MICHAEL DUNNE: She's Rhiannon Bezore, a coastal shore specialist with the Oregon Coastal Management Program. Really appreciate you coming on and talking with us.
RHIANNON BEZORE: Thank you so much, Michael. I really enjoyed this.
MICHAEL DUNNE: Let's now chat with one of our reporters about the landfill near Corvallis, which has many residents up in arms. KLCC’s Nathan Wilk, thanks so much for coming in and talking to us.
NATHAN WILK: Yes, thank you so much for having me, Michael.
MICHAEL DUNNE: You have been covering the issue with the Coffin Butte landfill for quite some time. Why don't you just sort of take us through you know what it is and what the controversy has been surrounding it?
NATHAN WILK: Sure. So, the Coffin Butte landfill is a regional landfill. It's located north of Corvallis in the rural soap Creek Valley, and it's right next to this tiny town called Adair village. For years now, residents have been reporting really strong odors. They've described to me sometimes dump days, which are essentially days where it is so strong, so potent, that it is hard to leave their homes. And at the same time, there have been another, a number of other concerns there over risks like fire from flares…
MICHAEL DUNNE: From like, methane and stuff?
NATHAN WILK: Yes, or, you know, water quality issues run off, yeah? I mean, so, so people have been registering complaints. What have they felt about in terms of, have those complaints registered? Have they resulted in any kind of changes, right? So, you know, the EPA did two investigations back in 2022 and 2024 you know, there they found significant methane leaks. 2024 one included a site with a missing gas cap that was highly explosive in terms of the level of methane that was being leaked out. And, you know, local legislators, even congress people, Senator Wyden, for example, have stepped in and said, you know, the EPA needs to do something about this. This is an issue. But up to this point you know, some of the environmental groups that I've spoken to, like beyond toxics, say that, you know, Republic has exempted a lot of the site from monitoring…
MICHAEL DUNNE: And Republic's the owner?
NATHAN WILK: Yes, the company that owns the landfill. And so, you know, some of what the residents know to be true in the estimation of beyond toxics is not being reflected in the data that that Republic has been regularly putting out.
MICHAEL DUNNE: I see, I see, it's interesting, because while these complaints and stuff have happened for years, there's also this movement to expand Coffin Butte, and I believe that's the purview of the county commissioners there in Benton County. What happened there?
NATHAN WILK: So, I mean, they've been trying to expand the landfill for years. A previous version of it was rejected. They came back. They kind of brought it down in terms of scope and size. But, you know, they are getting to the point where in a few years, they still have space in the landfill. They're expanding into a different part of it that they're already permitted to do. But, you know, they want to keep the landfill going for a longer period of time. They wanted to expand southward, okay, and into property that they already owned. But you know that, of course, raised a lot of concerns from a lot of residents, because, you know, they want to see the landfill closed down totally. Many of them I'd spoken to said when they moved to the area, they expected that it wouldn't be there forever. The landfill wouldn't be open forever. And also, of course, they say that, you know, the conditions have gotten worse over the last couple years, and so that went to the planning commission at Benton County, who unanimously rejected it. But recently, I went up to Corvallis earlier this month, and there, the Benton County commissioners voted on an appeal and voted two to one to approve the landfill's ability to expand that came with a lot of conditions, a lot of monitoring requirements that, you know, they said, significantly improves the, you know, the situation around this new set of landfills in terms of some of the issues that residents have raised concerns about. But you know, residents say this is not enough to force. And many are very frustrated about the decision, and were at that meeting wearing big stop the landfill expansion stickers on their shirts.
MICHAEL DUNNE: Yeah, so I imagine this is sort of the classic case of a lot of people opposing it. But of course, landfills are necessary. I mean, obviously the reason they want to expand is to be able to continue to process people's trash, right?
NATHAN WILK: Well, and one of the county commissioners in particular, at that meeting, she cried, wow, when she voted yes, or when she explained why she was voting yes, you know. And she said, you know, to your point, I guess about landfills being necessary. She said, I don't want this landfill to expand. I don't think that they've been a good neighbor ever, but through the sort of legal, quasi-judicial, you know, hearing their requirements, that with these conditions in place, we can mitigate enough that they are, they are following the law. And so sort of describe to that Commissioner as if there wasn't really a choice. Of course, some local residents were quite frustrated at her, the commissioner Nancy wise, and that was because there was one commissioner who did find that the community testimony raised compelling concerns that hadn't been addressed in terms of how this new landfill expansion would affect the surrounding area. And so there were discussions after that meeting by some of those local residents about, you know, are we going to try to recall these commissioners?
MICHAEL DUNNE: Wow. So. the latest and your most recent story, another actor jumping in with this drama, Oregon, DEQ, Department of Environmental Quality, talk about what they're going to do.
NATHAN WILK: So, you know, for months, as I said, local legislators, they've been asking the EPA to step in and do something. And what DEQ told me last month, they referred this case to them for. So, Oregon DEQ sent a pre-enforcement notice. It's basically an announcement, hey, we're going to take enforcement action against you that might include civil penalties. They didn't list the civil penalties, but in the meantime, here's what you're doing wrong, here's violations, and here's what we want you to do. And so, you know, they talked about issues, a lot of it was that the monitoring was just not adequate, was incomplete, that the company, Republic Services and their subsidiary was exempting parts of the landfill that they had no legal standing, and in the eyes of DEQ, to do other concerns included, you know, reports they'd seen of the coverage of the landfill being broken and so, you know, essentially some of the fumes and other aspects from the landfill being able to come out. Dust mitigation was something they mentioned, and also that the system that Republic Services has in place to sort of capture that those methane emissions were just not big enough, is not adequate. And so, you know, they're asking them, by early next year, to submit things like a plan for drone monitoring overhead, like a, you know, like a plan for a bigger, better methane capture system, and then also to bring in third parties to look at some of those other issues. Now, what I will say is that these aren't orders right now, is what the DEQ told me, but that how Republic responds now, if they take these steps, might affect what the enforcement action actually looks like in a couple months. Dylan darling from DEQ expects it to come early next year, and so that could mean a bigger fine on Republic Services. And it could mean these tasks become orders that you have to do.
MICHAEL DUNNE: Interesting. Nathan Wilk, who's been covering this story of Coffin Butte landfill for four months now, really appreciates you coming out, coming in and giving us an update.
NATHAN WILK: Thank you, Michael.
MICHAEL DUNNE: That's the show for today. All episodes of Oregon On The Record are available as a podcast at KLCC.org. Monday on the show, we'll talk about a recent spate of burglaries targeting Asian American businesses and homes in Oregon, which mirrors a national trend, and we'll learn about how AI tech may be of help against this kind of targeted crime. I'm Michael Dunne, host of Oregon On The Record., thanks for listening.
