Land purchase fuels landfill speculation

WASHTUCNA – A recent land purchase by Waste Management, doing business as WM, may have some Adams County residents remembering a proposed landfill project from three decades ago.

According to the Adams County Assessor’s Office, WM purchased about 40 acres of land east of Washtucna and north of state Highway 26, from Heidi Cooper (AKA Heidi Evans) of Kennewick, for $300,000.

The land is adjacent to the site of a proposed 500 acre landfill, which gained a land use permit from Adams County in 1994, but the land was never used.

At $7,500 per acre, the purchase price is considered well above the av...