Opinion: The state wants to usurp local control

A photo taken by the Department of Environmental Services during a June 4 site visit shows the Bethlehem landfill.

A photo taken by the Department of Environmental Services during a June 4 site visit shows the Bethlehem landfill. DES

By ANDREA BRYANT

Published: 06-17-2025 7:30 AM

It’s the ninth inning of SB2 budget bill, and state Sen. Howard Pearl R-Loudon has introduced an amendment that would strip away local control over landfill siting by invalidating zoning laws as well as legal agreements. It also expresses a preference for the expansion of existing landfills. That would leave the six towns with landfills in them – Nashua, Lebanon, Conway, Bethlehem, Rochester and Success – to be literally dumped on forever.

This could just be the start of the state stripping away local control everywhere. What might be next: casinos, race tracks, incinerators, airport. Just think of your worse nightmare in your town. They might decide you are powerless to prohibit it.

North Country Environmental Services’s landfill has created upheaval in Bethlehem. Bethlehem has spent over $1 million in legal fees over it. The town has voted 17 times to prohibit expansion. The only time there was a vote to allow 10 more acres was in 2012, when Casella signed a settlement agreement that included no further expansion. The agreement also outlined the financial benefits to the town.

The state legislature should protect towns and its residents. It would be so unjust for thesState to just diminish our efforts to protect the health and welfare of the residents and environment.

I live in Bethlehem about a mile from the North Country Environmental Services landfill, and I know the negative impacts. I do not open my windows in the summer because, in the past, too often the stench from the landfill would penetrate my home. There have been many times when the putrid odors have driven me inside from working in my wooded yard. The noise has woken me and disturbs my peace and quiet.

There are well documented facts about the leachate spills, leaking liners and poisons in test wells. There is a seep that flows directly into the Ammonoosuc River.

Gov. Ayotte said in reference to developing a new landfill in Dalton that we should not make the North Country a dumping ground. The North Country Environmental Services ladfill is only six miles upstream, a sensitive site, and there should never have been one built there to begin with. It is just yards from the protected Ammonoosuc River. It sits on a stratified drift aquifer – which the New Hampshire Department of Environmental Services denied was there when it started. It borders the National Forest.

The monstrosity can be seen from homes and mountain tops all around. It’s very sad.

Article continues after...

Yesterday's Most Read Articles

One person trapped, killed in Manchester Street fire
Ayotte vetoes bathroom bill, defeating it for second time in two years
Concord may finally buy long-closed rail line with hopes of creating city-spanning trail
Free speech group, residents back Bow parents’ appeal in case involving transgender athletes
Concord city council divided over raise for city manager to nearly $250K
Cannon Mountain tram to shut for at least two years while replacement is installed

This amendment that has nothing to do with the budget, and to me, it sounds like it was written by Casella is a slap in the face to those of us who have already been working for many years to stop further contamination of our watershed. We have more than our share of garbage in our town.

I hope readers will write Gov. Ayotte and their House representatives and tell them to trash the Pearl Amendment.

Andrea Bryant retired elementary school teacher of 35 years and lives in Bethlehem. She is the president of Environmental Action for Northern NH.