Appeals Court Rejects Lane County's CleanLane Facility at Goshen Site

The Oregon Court of Appeals dealt a definitive blow to Lane County's CleanLane project Wednesday, issuing a one-page order that upheld a prior land-use denial and permanently removed the Goshen site, south of Eugene, from consideration for the roughly $150 million food-waste and recycling facility.

The ruling affirmed an earlier decision by the Oregon Land Use Board of Appeals, meaning the county's zoning appeal was rejected a second time. The terse, single-page order leaves little room for further pursuit of that location and compounds what has become a prolonged legal and political struggle for a project that county officials once promoted as a cornerstone of regional waste management.

CleanLane is a partnership between Lane County and Bulk Handling Systems, a private company. The project was designed to accept commercial and residential food waste, use sorting technology and anaerobic digestion to capture pipeline-quality natural gas, and expand local recycling capacity. County commissioners repeatedly framed it as a tool to extend the operational life of the Short Mountain Landfill and reduce the need to ship waste out of the county, while also cutting methane emissions.

Opponents to the Goshen location, including nearby neighbors, the Lane County Garbage and Recycling Association, and a coalition of private haulers, raised compatibility and zoning concerns that drove both the initial board denial and the appeals court's subsequent affirmance.

With Goshen now foreclosed by the courts, the county faces a narrowing set of options. Officials had already been quietly exploring Short Mountain Landfill as a backup site, and that location now becomes the most likely candidate for a relocated facility. Alternatively, county leaders could retool the proposal to resolve the zoning compatibility issues that sank the Goshen application, or pause the project entirely while reassessing its economics in light of the legal setbacks and rising costs.

The stakes for Lane County's solid waste planning are significant. CleanLane was tied directly to long-range projections for landfill capacity and greenhouse gas reduction commitments. Losing the Goshen site introduces delays, the prospect of additional public hearings, and potentially substantial budget recalculations. Any move to Short Mountain would likely require its own land-use review process, adding months or years to an already protracted timeline.

Opponents of the Goshen site praised the ruling. County leaders, meanwhile, have signaled they will study alternatives rather than abandon the project outright. Whether the political will and financial appetite remain intact after two successive court defeats is the central question now facing the Board of Commissioners as it charts the next step for one of the county's most ambitious and contested infrastructure proposals.