Eliot Wessler lives in Whitefield and works with a number of grassroots organizations in NH’s North Country.
New Hampshire lags badly when it comes to enacting laws on siting landfills and regulating PFAS contamination. Look on both sides of us — Vermont and Maine have been far more proactive in terms of recognizing the risks associated with new solid waste landfills and creating incentives for alternatives such as recycling and composting.
Moreover, other New England states have taken steps to help ensure that for-profit landfill developers have the state’s needs, and not their own profits, as central to solid waste management. We’re on a slippery slope. If we aren’t vigilant, New Hampshire may slowly but inexorably slide into becoming the dumping ground for all of New England.
Thankfully, the New Hampshire Legislature has passed a number of laws this session designed to help New Hampshire catch up with the rest of New England, and a number of these laws are already on the governor’s desk for his signature. One of these laws, HB 1454, would deny a permit for any new landfill that would put at risk contamination of a nearby water resource, including our lakes, rivers and seacoast.
One thing New Hamphire’s residents and legislators can do is to encourage Governor Sununu to sign these laws. But something else needs to be done as well. New Hampshire leaders need to tell the solid waste industry that New Hampshire is not going to be their patsy, and is not going to become the dump for all of New England.
Casella Waste Systems (CWS) has one large landfill in New Hampshire, the NCES landfill in Bethlehem. CWS has been trying for years to get permits to expand capacity at the NCES landfill, but as of now, the facility will close in two years. To keep its New Hampshire profits going, CWS has submitted permits to build a brand new landfill in Dalton, about 5 miles away from NCES. CWS says that up to half of the trash to be landfilled in Dalton will come from out-of-state.
CWS’ annual shareholder meeting is June 2nd. This is the perfect time for New Hampshire’s leaders to let CWS know that its business model, to use New Hampshire as a dumping ground for all of New England’s trash, is not acceptable.
CWS’ actions in New Hamsphire demonstrate its cavalier attitude toward our state. For example:
■CWS has lobbied hard to prevent the passage of sensible landfill regulation laws in this and previous New Hampshire Legislature sessions.
■The recent leachate spill at NCES was the largest in New England, and it took NCES two days to discover the spill. CWS’ response was to hire its engineering firm to perform an “audit” knowing full well that the firm had a significant conflict of interest. And CWS has so far refused to do soil sampling near the spill for the presence of PFAS for the simple reason that it was not required to do so under its existing permits.
■CWS targeted Dalton for a new landfill without seriously considering other sites that would result in less environmental damage. The Dalton site is effectively in the middle of a sand and gravel pit, the worst soil type imaginable for a landfill. But the land was cheap, and apparently, that is all CWS cared about. The Dalton site is so inappropriate for a landfill that if the site were in Maine (or New Jersey and a number of other states) it would not even be considered by state environmental regulators as a site suitable for a landfill.
■Dalton’s wetlands expert has made repeated attempts to access the site during the critical growing season so that it can advise Dalton on the impacts of landfill development on the site. CWS has refused each time, citing legal reasons why it is not obligated to provide such access.
■CWS has been asked repeatedly by Dalton town officials to submit a zoning application, but CWS has refused. It effectively has told Dalton that the town has no say in the permitting or siting of a landfill, despite NH Supreme Court precedent that gives towns such as Dalton certain rights.
■Despite the mounting evidence that New Hampshire has sufficient landfill capacity for years to come, including testimony and repeated statement from NHDES’ director of solid waste, CWS is clinging to the bogus and self-serving argument that New Hampshire faces an imminent landfill capacity crisis if the Dalton landfill is not built.
In a recent opinion piece in New Hampshire newspapers, John Casella claimed that a consultant’s study, paid for by CWS, shows how New Hampshire will suffer if the Dalton landfill is not built. But despite repeated requests, CWS refuses to release the consultant study to the press or the public so that John Casella’s claims can be fact-checked.
In summary, I ask New Hampshire leaders to tell CWS’ Board of Directors that enough is enough and that the company needs to earn the trust of New Hampshire before it considers building another landfill in New Hampshire.