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The story Lookout Eugene-Springfield published Oct. 21 about CleanLane, and former county counsel Rob Bovett’s concerns, drew feedback from across the county. Below are unedited statements from principals in the CleanLane project, including county officials and Bulk Handling Systems, Inc.
In addition, we received multiple Letters to the Editor. We will publish these letters over the next few days in our Community Voices section.
Devon Ashbridge, Lane County public information officer
In an email sent to Lookout Eugene-Springfield Tuesday, Oct. 17:
“As I’m sure you are aware, Lane County takes issue with portions of last week’s coverage of the CleanLane project. There are multiple factual inaccuracies that we request be corrected. I’m reaching out to you on behalf of County Administrator Steve Mokrohisky to request those corrections and share a statement regarding the project.
These are the biggest things last week’s story got wrong:
- There is no $300 million liability in the contract. Steve negotiated a two-year cap on liability to protect the interests of the County and it is reflected in the signed contract.
- Staff were not directed to withhold liability information from commissioners. Throughout the entire project process, the team at Lane County has kept the commissioners informed through numerous sessions. To secure a two-year cap on liability, we requested specific financial information from BHS. As that information is proprietary and a sensitive part of its business model, the county agreed through negotiations with the company to limit access to that information to only the project team.
In addition to correcting factual inaccuracies in existing published stories, Steve would like the opportunity to respond through an op-ed.
You can access the video at https://vimeo.com/1239893782/ef2dcb1e08?share=copy&fl=sv&fe=ci. The text of the statement made in the video is below my signature line.”
County Administrator Steve Mokrohisky
In his video statement, Steve Mokrohisky, the county administrator, said:
“A story published by Lookout Eugene-Springfield last week about the CleanLane project was disappointing for those who care deeply about balanced reporting supported by verified, factual information. Several community members have asked why the article was so one-sided and incomplete. I wondered this myself. I have always been available to answer questions and would have for this article as well.
As the County Administrator who has dedicated the past 13 years of my career here, I was shocked at the article and knowing what is publicly available, I was doubly surprised and appalled that the reporter didn’t check his facts before publishing this article.
I am issuing this statement today to present the information that should have been covered by this investigative reporter who has done good work in the past, but in this case, rushed to publish and missed what should have been evident. The impact of this timing also cannot be lost on anyone in the community. A confidential memo was leaked that only the five commissioners and five legal staff members possessed.
The leak came during a time when the impacts of incorrect reporting could have monumental consequences for our community’s future. Our community deserves better.
These are the facts that the story should have covered:
- There is no $300 million liability in the contract. This was an easy fact to check and well within the reporter’s ability to read the public contract with BHS. I negotiated a two-year cap on liability to protect the interests of the County. This fact has been verified by BHS in their own statement about this article.
- Staff were not directed to withhold liability information from commissioners. Ever. This would not happen. Throughout the entire project process, the team at Lane County has kept the commissioners informed through numerous public and executive information sessions. To secure a two-year cap on liability, again which limited the county’s exposure, we requested specific financial information from BHS. As that information is proprietary and a sensitive part of its business model, the county agreed through a negotiation with the company to limit access to that information to only the project team.
- There was no staff retaliation before or after the leaked memo was written. Talks about a transition plan for the then director of public works started more than a year ago and a transition plan was created.
At the end of the day, the CleanLane project is a good project for the people of Lane County. It will do good things for our community and help ensure our local, public solid waste system can continue to operate well into the future. We can’t let the maneuvers of a well-funded and connected opposition with a financial interest in halting progress derail our efforts to invest in our local systems.
As County Administrator, I remain committed to working on behalf of our residents, conducting the business of Lane County in public, and carrying out the direction of the elected Board of County Commissioners.”
Lane County Commissioner Laurie Trieger
In an email to Lookout Eugene-Springfield following a request for comment on the Mokrohisky video:
“Clean Lane is a responsible, state of the art project that will create dozens of family wage jobs, divert 80,000 tons of recyclables and organic waste from our landfill, improve air quality by significantly reducing harmful greenhouse gas emissions, and will extend the life of our landfill allowing us to provide critical public waste management services for generations to come.
Any controversy over the project has been entirely manufactured by well-funded corporate interests seeking to profit off controlling solid waste management; not only in Lane County, but all across Oregon and the U.S.
Waste Connections Inc, owners of SaniPac and other haulers, has spent a lot of money and filed numerous lawsuits to try to block this project. It is big business playing hardball in pursuit of gaining a monopoly; a monopoly where their out of state shareholders profit off Lane County residents’ garbage. That’s the controversy.
The 10/21 article published by Lookout Eugene-Springfield relied on an unethically leaked memo and partial information from many confidential executive session meetings to create a false narrative not backed by the facts. That memo, from our former county counsel, contained unsubstantiated allegations, accusations, and assumptions. Reading it alone does not tell the full story.
Back in August, all five commissioners read that memo. We could have chosen to investigate the claims, but instead, on a 5-0 vote decided to mutually separate with the author of the memo, attorney Bovett, after his relatively short tenure with the county. If we had thought the claims in this memo might be true, we would have investigated them.
Soon after Bovett’s departure we signed an agreement to keep Steve Mokrohisky on for another year and a half. We will all benefit from his steady hand, insight, and support when on-boarding our next administrator. No commissioners objected to this plan and this agreement was executed. Questioning his integrity is ridiculous.
Regarding any of my conversations with Bovett as detailed in the article, both the memo and the Lookout story presented a fractured, skewed interpretation of our interactions.
Commissioners have two direct employees. Our head of the office of county counsel, and our administrator. Steve Mokrohisky has been our administrator for 13 years now. He has a well-earned excellent reputation in our local community, as well as regionally and even nationally.
Again, no controversy here, either.
As for concerns about liability, the $300 million reported in Lookout is verifiably false.
What is a controversy is why this memo was leaked, by whom and for what purpose. While I cannot say with confidence, it should be noted that only one person has been quoted in support of this article while the rest of the commissioners have maintained their ethical standing in maintaining confidentiality.”
Lane County Commissioner Pat Farr
In a text to Lookout Eugene-Springfield following a request for comment on the Mokrohisky video:
“This (or these) document(s) is (are) a selected sampling of what may be many Executive Session, Attorney-Client Privilege, medical or HR documents that exist on this subject.
If you were to view all of the documents surrounding this subject that are—and should remain—confidential for legal reasons you’d find that what’s been leaked does not come close to telling the full story or giving a clear picture of the matter. These are legally confidential documents. I don’t know who leaked them, nor would I say who it was if I did, but clearly whoever provided this selected sampling of confidential documents is supporting an agenda that would not be served by public of release other documents.
I and all others with knowledge of legally confidential documents, whether Executive, Attorney-Client, HR or Medical, have an ethical obligation to release them only through a public process. I regard that obligation seriously. Whoever leaked them does not.”
Steve Miller, chief executive officer of Bulk Handling Systems
“Addressing recent misinformation in Lookout about contract negotiations with Lane County around CleanLane
- During our negotiating process in 2024, we exchanged methods on how to handle a default by either party. In the case of a County default, Administrator Mokrohisky was firm in limiting the liability to no more than two years of profit. That is very clear in our agreement, which we confirmed with former Lane County Attorney Rob Bovett during our meetings. The $300 million figure asserted by Attorney Bovett is a fabrication. There is nothing in the agreement to support this figure.
- Attorney Bovett is quoted in Lookout as saying that CleanLane was “eating my office alive.” However, in our interactions with him, he continually caused the negotiations to be extended by raising issues that had been resolved. For instance, we had agreed in writing a year ago to the County exploring the Short Mountain site. However, he continued to raise it as an issue. BHS’s position was and is that the Short Mountain site is a positive move for the project. Attorney Bovett also kept changing the way in which the County required that the agreement between us be revised, which consumed an extraordinary amount of time. From our perspective, he was disorganized and his actions created unnecessary delays that interfered with moving the project forward.
- It is accurate that BHS signed an agreement with the county that restricted how our financial information could be shared. This is a common practice to ensure proprietary information, such as a private company’s financial data, is protected from competitors. BHS will continue to lawfully protect its confidential information.
- Instead of focusing on the cost to the County from a default, the focus should be on supporting a project that will benefit all of Lane County’s residents.
Opponents of CleanLane work against the community’s interest
CleanLane was identified as a desirable community project in Lane County’s Strategic Plan and Climate Action Plan. The City of Eugene plans mirror these. After a long public process, residents said they wanted to prioritize the environment and prolong the life of Short Mountain landfill through CleanLane. Now, Sanipac, owned by Texas-based Waste Connections, is seeking to strangle the project by exporting our community’s waste to a corporate owned landfill in Southern Oregon, keeping more money for themselves.
Sanipac/Waste Connections wants to delay this project, which will increase costs to Sanipac customers for years to come. The Lane County Garbage and Recycling Association, led by Jake Pelroy, continues to oppose land use approvals to stop CleanLane from moving forward. Sanipac and LCGRA members are operating in their own interests – not the interests of their customers.”
Other county commissioners
Commissioners Heather Buch, Ryan Ceniga and David Loveall either declined to comment or did not respond to a request for comment. Lookout also has reached out to Bovett for comment.
