June 20, 2022
Dear Governor Sununu,
In discussing your decision not to make a run for the Senate but rather to pursue another term as NH’s Governor, you said you chose that route because you “want to get things done”. As a citizen of NH and a person who spent his career working in corporations, I understand and applaud that focus and mindset.
I have lived and worked my entire adult life in southern NH and my wife of 45 years was born and raised in Littleton. We are both graduates of the University of New Hampshire. We are proud and concerned citizens who want to see NH continue to thrive and especially, we want to see our government protect NH’s brand – clean air, clean water, open spaces, and attractive outdoor recreation opportunities.
I write to you today to ask your support for HB 1454, an important piece of legislation that passed both the House and the Senate with overwhelming bipartisan support. Protecting NH’s water bodies from contamination has become more and more urgent given our growing understanding of the health and safety issues associated with an increasing number of forever chemicals like PFAS.
Governor, I fully recognize that you and your administration didn’t create this problem – you inherited it. But I ask your help to “get this done” now, to ensure we take long overdue and much needed action to protect our water bodies and drinking water supplies for future generations.
For all intents and purposes, landfills are PFAS factories. HB 1454 is a smart, science based and narrow piece of legislation that will ensure any new landfill in the state will have an adequate setback distance from a perennial body of water to allow sufficient time for detection and remediation before leachate contamination occurs. The current one size fits all regulation of 200 feet is not only arbitrary but dangerous and completely inadequate.
Despite wild claims from the waste industry, HB 1454 will not raise property taxes, will not raise disposal costs, will not prevent future landfill developments when and if they become necessary, nor will it affect current or future capacity plans for NH’s waste needs. HB 1454 will simply ensure new landfill sites have an appropriate setback distance specific to the site’s location and the porosity of the soil and underlying bedrock conditions. The science is clear, the risks and impacts of contamination are all too familiar and the time to act is now.
Governor, I urge you to please support HB 1454.
Respectfully,
Wayne Morrison
28 Brook Road
Mont Vernon, NH 03057