We know best, so shut up
Three Republican senators — and one Democrat — are sponsoring a bill that argues that sometimes local laws, agreements, planning and zoning boards are getting in the way and residents must just shut up.
Senate Bill 593 is aimed at the location of landfills. But if it passes, it would set a precedent for bills blocking local control on other issues. It could be used to ram through any project the state thinks so important that mere residents do not deserve a say.
Basically, it proposes allowing state officials to decide whether a town should have a large, commercial landfill. The bill says “No municipal ordinance, bylaw, rule, regulation, agreement, or other restriction” can stop the state.
The bill says the location of landfills is “often locally controversial” and that can “frustrate” the state’s interest. That local control has greatly frustrated Casella Waste Systems’ effort to expand in Bethlehem and Dalton. What a coincidence and how lovely that the Senate’s Four Horsemen of the Local-Control Apocalypse are coming to the rescue with this bill.
The bill is sponsored by Sen. Avard (R) of Nashua; Sen. Watters (D) of Dover; Sen. McConkey (R) of Freedom and Sen. Pearl (R) of Loudon.
Local control has always been a key part of life in New Hampshire. We can’t let that change. Please urge your elected officials to vote against SB 593. And in November, don’t vote for legislators who sponsored SB 593 or voted for it.