NCABC supports bipartisan bill prohibiting new landfills near state parks

North Country Alliance for Balanced Change enthusiastically supports HB 177, a bi-partisan bill prohibiting the siting of new landfills within 2 miles of a state park.

This legislation will protect all of New Hampshire’s state parks from encroachment by private landfill developers. Landfills near our state parks would harm tourism and threaten the recreational opportunities, natural beauty and tranquility provided by these treasured places.

NCABC thanks the bill’s sponsors: Rep. Timothy Egan (D-Sugar Hill), Rep. Edith Tucker (D-Randolph), Rep. Larry Laflamme (D-Berlin) Rep. William Hatch, (D-Gorham), Rep. Dennis Thompson (R-Stewartstown) and Sen. Erin Hennessey (R-Littleton).

These lawmakers have shown their dedication to protect our state parks and the natural environment and ensuring that our tourist-based economy is not harmed.

The bill was slated to be introduced to the New Hampshire House today and automatically referred to the House Environmental and Agriculture Committee for review. A similar bill, HB 1319, passed the House in 2020, but was not taken up by the state Senate due to early closure of the legislative session because of Covid-19.

HB 177 Download

January 5, 2021January 21, 2021

Dalton dump garbage truck traffic will have major impact on local roadways

NCABC: More than 200 garbage-hauling truck trips a day servicing Dalton dump pose health, safety and environmental dangers to White Mountain communities

NCABC’s traffic expert finds major impact on state and local highways from proposed Dalton landfill

Dalton, N.H. [Jan. 5, 2021] – North Country Alliance for Balanced Change today released an analysis detailing significant threats to public safety, quality of life and the environment by garbage hauling trucks and other vehicles servicing a proposed landfill in Dalton.

Casella Waste Systems Traffic Study confirms that more than 200 garbage-hauling trucks will be rolling daily to and from the proposed Dalton dump, through the heart of three North Country towns– Bethlehem, Twin Mountain, and Whitefield.

NCABC’s preliminary review of the study, sent to the New Hampshire Department of Transportation, reveals that the document is incomplete and inadequate for a number of technical reasons, and that the additional truck traffic projected by Casella could significantly affect the public safety and quality of life in those North Country communities.

Moreover, the truck route proposed by Casella as the best route is inconsistent with the criteria Casella says should be used to choose the proposed truck route. NCABC finds that the proposed truck route was picked for purely political reasons, and not because it is the shortest, or safest, or least impactful route.

January 5, 2021January 21, 2021

Littleton:Voters Petition To Oppose A Second Landfill In North Country

House Bill Seeks To Prohibit Landfills With 2 Miles Of State Parks

(Reprinted with permission from Robert Blechl and the Caledonian Record)

LITTLETON — Opposition is mounting to a proposed commercial landfill in Dalton, and it now includes more people from neighboring towns.

Saying negative impacts would fall on their town and river from the proposed Casella Waste Systems landfill upstream in Dalton, 53 Littleton residents signed a petition to oppose a second landfill in the North Country.

The petition, non-binding, will appear at the March town meeting as a warrant article to oppose any approval by the New Hampshire Department of Environmental Services of any application for another commercial landfill to be built in the region.

With environmental concerns, the Littleton Conservation Commission will also be writing to DES to ask the department to deny Casella’s wetlands permit for Dalton.

At the same time, local lawmakers are advancing a New Hampshire House of Representatives bill that seeks to prohibit landfills from being sited within two miles of state parks.

Casella is proposing its second commercial landfill in the area beside Forest Lake State Park.

Its existing landfill in Bethlehem is projected to reach capacity and close in about 2026.

Petition

During the Dec. 28 Littleton Board of Selectmen’s meeting, resident Pat Kellogg presented the petition to selectmen with the signatures of 53 registered voters that include state Rep. Linda Massimilla, D-Littleton; state Sen. Erin Hennessey, R-Littleton, also a co-sponsor of the House Bill; and John Hennessey, chairman of the Littleton River District Redevelopment Commission.

December 28, 2020December 31, 2020

204 truck trips a day: No way!

Analysis: Transportation impact on local, state and federal highways in the White Mountains if Casella builds its Dalton dump

Prepared by NCABC Dec. 21, 2020 (All data come from one of three sources: GSL Traffic Study, dated September 2020; Notes from January 29, 2020 DOT Lancaster Office meeting; Notes from February 22, 2020 DOT Concord Office “Scoping Meeting.”

How many trucks can be expected?
• 102 trucks on an average day will go to the dump and come back
from the dump.
• It’s important to recognize that this means on the proposed
routes, 204 trucks, not 102 trucks, will be rolling by on an average
day.
• Additional trucks, including an as yet unspecified number of large
tankers carrying toxic leachate will transit to and from the dump
site to unspecified processing centers over unspecified routes.

How big will the trucks be?
• Half of the 102 trucks will be WB-67 vehicles, which have 18
wheels, and are 67 feet in length. While this may be the intent, 22
wheel vehicles have been observed servicing the NCES dump in
Bethlehem.
• The other half of the 102 trucks will be smaller, but no
information is provided about the size of those smaller trucks.
This means that the size of those trucks could be only slightly
smaller than WB-67 vehicles.

What does Casella propose as the best truck route?
• For trucks accessing the dump from northbound I-93, exit to
North on US 3 in Franconia, through Franconia, Bethlehem,
Carroll, and Whitefield, then Southwest on NH 116 in Whitefield
to the dump access at the intersection of NH 116 and Douglas
Drive.
• For trucks accessing the dump from I-91 in either southbound or
northbound direction, exit to South on I-93 in St. Johnsbury and continuing past all Littleton I-93 exits, exit to East on US 302
through Bethlehem and Carroll, then North on US 3 in Carroll to
Whitefield, then Southwest on NH 116 in Whitefield to the dump
access at the intersection of NH 116 and Douglas Drive.

What does Casella say are the implied criteria it used to choose a
proposed route?
• Maximize travel on interstate roads
• Minimize travel on non-interstate roads
• Minimize travel distance
• Community impacts
• Roadway infrastructure constraints

Are the proposed routes consistent with the criteria?
• No; not even close. The route that is most consistent with the
criteria would be for all trucks to travel through Littleton to
the site, whether access is via I-93 or via I-91. A route through
Littleton could exit I-93 onto US 302 East to NH 116, or exit
I-93 at Cottage Street to NH 116.
• In addition, there are a number of other possible routes that
would go through Littleton, but would not go through the heart
of Littleton’s commercial district.
Why are routes through Littleton more consistent with the criteria
than the proposed route?
• A route through Littleton significantly increases the amount of
travel on interstate roads compared to the proposed routes.
• A route through Littleton significantly decreases the amount of
travel on non-interstate roads compared to the proposed
routes.
• A route through Littleton significantly decreases the total
number of miles traveled, particularly for trucks accessing the
site from I-91.
• A route through Littleton impacts only one community, i.e.,
Littleton, instead of the three communities impacted by the
proposed route, i.e., Twin Mt./Carroll, Whitefield, and
Bethlehem.

Some routes through Littleton appear to have no significant
constraints; other routes may. In contrast, the proposed routes
include a very significant constraint, i.e., the intersection of US
3 and NH 116 in the center of Whitefield, already flagged as
problematic by NH DOT.

Then why is the proposed route preferred compared to a route through
Littleton that is more consistent with the criteria?
• The answer seems obvious—Casella (and maybe NH DOT also)
want to avoid political entanglements with Littleton.
• Casella has openly said this at an initial meeting with NH DOT in
January 2020.
• And it was reiterated at the “scoping meeting” between NH DOT
and Casela in February 2020.

Is it fair to route trucks to travel further overall, travel further on non-
interstate roads, and disrupt more communities just to placate Littleton?
• We think the answer is NO! If Littleton wants to receive any
benefits from the Dalton dump it should be willing to bear some of
the costs.
• In fact, as a matter of fairness, the trucks should be going through
Dalton. The proposed routes will have no traffic impact on
Dalton, which ironically is the only town in the region that will
receive direct cash payments from Casella, reportedly $71 million.

December 18, 2020January 18, 2021

State: Casella Wetlands Permit Application Missing Vital Information

By Robert Blechl

(Nov. 20, 2020 reprinted with permission of The Caledonian Record)

On Wednesday, the state Department of Environmental Services said Casella’s wetlands permit application has large pieces of missing information and the company did not consider other sites where impacts to wetlands would be less. (File photo by Robert Blechl)

The new battlefront on the proposed Casella Waste Systems in Dalton is the company’s dredge and wetlands permit application that opponents urge the state to reject and that the state now says is missing big pieces of information.

On Wednesday, the New Hampshire Department of Environmental Services issued a five-page, 27-point letter to Casella stating that the missing information and company responses to local conservation commissions and advisory committees must be provided by Jan. 17 or the application that was filed in September will be denied.

DES officials also state there might be better areas for a new landfill that would have less impact on wetlands than the site proposed in Dalton, where some 17 acres would be destroyed.

Local opposition groups say DES’s findings indicate an application that is woefully deficient and poses much environmental harm. They ask DES to reject it.

Casella representatives said they would provide the information for what will be a long process.

Application Findings

The Vermont-based company needs a wetland permit to move forward with what they call the Granite State Landfill, a private, commercial landfill of 180 acres with a 40-year life that it seeks to site next to Forest Lake State Park.

In his letter to Casella, Craig Rennie, inland wetland supervisor with DES’s Land Resources Management, asked the company to address how future expansions of the three-phase landfill will impact surrounding wetlands and surface waters on the property, “as this long-term planning is critical to determine if avoidance and minimization of wetland resources have been fully demonstrated” under DES rules.

Regarding a Sept. 27 letter by DES’s Water Division requesting that alternative sites in neighboring states be considered because they might have less overall wetlands impact, Rennie said Casella’s analysis considered Maine and Vermont, both of which prohibit out-of-state waste, but did not consider Massachusetts as a potential sitting area.

If excavation and blasting will take place in Dalton, he said it is not clear in Casella’s application how those activities would impact surrounding wetlands, groundwater levels, or nearby drinking supplies, including a public water supply near Forest Lake and numerous private wells.

The company needs to provide a further analysis with supporting documentation, he said.

As the company stated and offered in its application, Rennie requested that Casella update meetings with public officials, conservation commissions, and local advisory committees for DES review.

November 9, 2020December 31, 2020

WESSLER: The North Country Doesn’t Need Another Landfill

Published in the NH Journal, November 9 2020

John W. Casella, chairman and CEO of Casella Waste Systems, accuses Grafton County lawmakers of trying to “curry favor” with voters by opposing his mega-landfill proposed in Dalton adjacent to Forest Lake. (North Country voters deserve facts NH Journal Oct. 23).

If anyone is trying to curry political favor, John W. Casella certainly fits the bill. Although his company is headquartered and he lives in Vermont, he is a consistent contributor to New Hampshire Republican candidates and the New Hampshire Senate Republican PAC, according to filed campaign finance reports.

We are convinced that the vast majority of North Country residents are opposed to the Casella proposal, and there are at least three non-profit citizen organizations that support sustainable alternatives to another Casella landfill in the Ammonoosuc River watershed.

We are the North Country Alliance for Balanced Change (NCABC), and we applaud the Grafton County Democratic Caucus opposition to yet another North Country landfill, and its responsible call to reform the state’s solid waste management policies (Opinion: Our Future Can’t Be Bought NH Journal Oct. 13).

The Grafton County lawmakers rightly point out that state government’s role in managing solid waste generated within New Hampshire must not be outsourced to companies, out-of-state companies at that, which are motivated by profits and without strong local roots.

In particular, there is significant concern that, according to Casella’s commitment to the town of Dalton, up to half of all of the waste landfilled in Dalton will come from out-of-state. The caucus also wisely proposes managing “our own trash infrastructure” or risk negative impacts on the environment and tourism economy.

The Caucus correctly noted that the environmental and quality of life impact posed by a 137-acre landfill (for starters) near the shores of Forest Lake and one of the state’s oldest state park would be significant—with repercussions on the region’s tourism economy, and quality of life for thousands of North Country residents.

In his opinion piece, John Casella downplayed water quality impacts on the Ammonoosuc River from his Bethlehem facility and the proposed Dalton landfill. But the Ammonoosuc River Local Advisory Committee voted unanimously this month recommending the state reject Casella’s wetlands permit for the proposed facility.

In a letter dated Oct. 1 to the state Wetlands Bureau, the advisory committee cited numerous concerns, including the disruption of “well-functioning wetlands” and five vernal pools on the site, in addition to the impact of two landfills upstream of Lisbon, Bath and Woodsville which all depend on the river and its watershed for drinking water.

The committee also worried about drainage and runoff flowing downhill from the landfill to the river and the impact on two trout fisheries and wildlife habitat posed by the proposed Dalton landfill. The prospect of heavy truck traffic to and from the proposed landfill on Route 116 also was cited by the committee in its decision.

NCABC believes that the state Department of Environmental Services must insist on solid waste management protocols protecting the land, water, quality of life, and health of the people of New Hampshire. The Dalton site that Casella favors is no doubt convenient and cost-effective for Casella, but for so many reasons it is otherwise a terrible site for a new mega-landfill.

DES’s mission is “to help sustain a high quality of life for all citizens by protecting and restoring the environment and public health in New Hampshire.” That mission says nothing about fostering the convenience and economic advantage of Casella Waste Systems Inc. which has exploited a void in a regulatory capacity and political willpower for decades in New Hampshire.

Casella suggests that NH has no solid waste alternatives other than to approve its proposal for a new Dalton landfill. Nonsense. There are viable alternatives that communities can choose, including other existing landfills, as well as better management of their solid waste volumes.

Communities south of Franconia Notch anticipating shipping their solid waste to the White Mountains region of the North Country to an ill-suited and unwanted Dalton landfill should consider regional solutions for their waste.

The White Mountains cannot become New Hampshire’s dumping ground.

Eliot Wessler, president NCABC

Board members Sarah Doucette, Gary Ghioto, Erik Johnson, Mary Menzies, Tom Tower, Stephen Walker

October 27, 2020October 27, 2020

NCABC Releases Video Highlighting Fight to Preserve Forest Lake State Park

September 12, 2020January 18, 2021

Dalton Select Board Takes Next Step After Casella Offer

Board Enlists Town Attorney To Look Into Zoning Question; Residents Offer Feedback On Casella Proposal

Caledonian Record, Published September 12, 2020 by Robert Blechl, reprinted with permission

One week after Casella Waste Systems made its formal offer of $71 million over 25 years to the town of Dalton in support for a landfill beside Forest Lake State Park, selectmen took their next step — looking into the zoning question.

Since July 2019, Dalton has had temporary emergency zoning (coming out a special town meeting in 2019 in response a possible landfill), and the Board of Selectmen on Wednesday voted 3-0 to enlist the town attorney to look into the zoning application process.

“In terms of our next step as a board, I want to make sure that we are representing the town and the town is well-represented,” said Jo Beth Dudley, chair of the Dalton Board of Selectmen. “I think the next step is deciding whether [the proposed landfill] requires a zoning application or not.”

She read a Sept. 1 letter from the Casella engineer, John Gay in response to the zoning question, in which Gay said the “question about zoning, as we understand New Hampshire law, with landfills the NHDES [New Hampshire Department of Environmental Services] has exclusive authority over those areas that would usually be in a town’s zoning review. That’s why we weren’t prepared last night to discuss local zoning.”

One of the reasons Casella proposed the host community agreement (HCA) is because the company recognizes that state regulations preempt almost all local regulation, and under the HCA, Casella can create ways for the town to participate in state permitting that otherwise wouldn’t be possible, said Gay.

Dudley, however, said when she reads the state regulations, the zoning question isn’t entirely clear and an opinion by legal counsel should be the next step.

August 30, 2020January 18, 2021

NH Parks and Recreation Division Rebuffs Casella Offer to Maintain Forest Lake State Park

Casella Waste Systems subsidiary North Country Environmental Services (NCES) recently made an offer of assistance to maintain Forest Lake State Park in Dalton NH. The offer was rejected. The correspondence below are the letters from Casella to NH Parks, the reply, and a recent letter to the editor of the Caledonian Record by Eliot Wessler.

Caledonian Record, Aug 27, 2020. Re-posted with permission.

To the Editor:

It did not look like Forest Lake State Park (FLSP) was going to open for the summer season due to state budget cuts that have hobbled NH’s Parks Division. But FLSP did open for July 4th weekend thanks to an incredible volunteer effort led by the Dalton Board of Selectmen and the Dalton Fire Department.

Soon after the opening, Casella sent a letter to NH’s Parks Division saying it wanted to help—specifically to help manage and improve FLSP. A response to Casella finally came on August 18th—Casella’s offer of help was rebuffed in a letter from Phil Bryce, the Parks Director, to a top Casella manager. This response didn’t take the usual tack of politely saying no thank you; it said NO WAY!

The Parks Division letter gives two reasons: 1) because Casella had already engaged in a strategy of trying to inappropriately box out the Parks Division from participating as an abutter in decision-making over Casella’s proposal to build a huge new landfill in Dalton, right next to FLSP; and 2) because FLSP is a state asset as well as a community asset, and it should be and will be the Parks Division that will make capital improvements.

Casella’s offer to help was seen by many as a Johnny-come-lately move, a cheap and transparent ploy to buy good will in Dalton and surrounding communities. Given the spirit of Mr. Bryce’s letter, it seems like NH’s Parks Division may feel that way too.

The good news out of all this is that despite state budgets cuts that might have kept FLSP closed for the season, FSLP is open for business, thanks to the efforts of many dedicated volunteers. In fact, attendance at the beach this year has been very good.

And the other bit of good news is that if and when Casella files permit applications at NH’s Department of Environmental Services (DES), Casella presumably now recognizes that it can’t buy the support of NH’s Parks Division. The vast majority of residents in Dalton and neighboring towns are determined to protect FLSP from the odor, scavenger animals, polluted water, and all the other environmental insults that would likely come to FLSP and the surrounding area if DES allows Casella to go ahead with its plans to build a huge new landfill right next to FLSP.

Vermont corporations please take note—NH’s North Country is not for sale.

Eliot Wessler

Whitefield, N. H.

June 13, 2020June 13, 2020

Dalton: Public Comment Sought For Draft Zoning Ordinance

Bill To Prohibit Landfills Near State Parks Won’t Move Forward In 2020

The Caledonian-Record, June 9, 2020

Posted with permission

Robert Blechl

After nearly a year of public meetings by the Dalton Planning Board, which has been writing a zoning ordinance for a town that until last year did not have one, public comment is being invited for the draft zoning posted on the town web site.

The comment period closes June 26, planning board members said in a press release issued Sunday.

The draft ordinance is available on the town web site and hard copies will be available at the town office during regular business hours, and will also be available for viewing by appointment by calling 837-7027, ext. 10.

“Dalton residents are encouraged to provide feedback on this draft, and the Planning Board welcomes all constructive feedback (pro or con),” said planners.

Comments can be submitted online through the planning board website or by emailing planningboard@townofdalton.com, or delivered or mailed to Dalton Planning Board, 756 Dalton Rd., Dalton, NH 03598.

Town planners said they seek informal public comments as they recognize the difficulty of large public meetings during the COVID-19 pandemic restrictions, and public participation via written feedback is encouraged.

When the final zoning ordinance is ready to go before Dalton residents for a vote, planners said there will be a notice of public hearing held prior to a town meeting.

In an update on the ordinance in March, Dalton planning board members said a vote would take place at a special town meeting later in 2020 or at the annual March town meeting in 2021.

The draft ordinance comes after a special town meeting vote in July 2019 in which residents voted 154-129 to adopt emergency temporary zoning in response to the proposed Casella Waste Systems landfill beside Forest Lake State Park.

Landfill Bill On Hold

Opponents of the landfill were hoping to have a some ammunition to fight it this year in the form of House Bill 1319, sponsored by state Rep. Elaine French, R-Littleton, which seeks to prohibit landfills within two miles of any state park.

Casella’s proposal is within that distance from Forest Lake State Park.

HB 1319 passed the New Hampshire House of Representatives in March and was expected to soon be taken up by the New Hampshire Senate.

In an email last week, however, a legislative aide notified Whitefield resident Sarah Doucette, member of the North Country Alliance for Balanced Change, that the bill will not be taken up by the Senate in 2020.

Doucette had written earlier to state Rep. Martha Fuller Clark, D-Portsmouth, to ask her if the bill would be considered this session.

“I spoke to the leadership staff and unfortunately due to the partisan vote on the bill out of the House, the bill will not be moving forward,” Jennifer Horgan, a legislative aide, wrote to Doucette on Wednesday.

Recent opposition to the bill came from the Androscoggin Valley Regional Refuse Disposal District, which runs the Mt. Carberry landfill near Berlin, and in a letter to the Senate in May said the legislation as written and without amendments would harm it and its member communities.

French plans to keep the bill moving forward and to address concerns.

“Provided I’m reelected, I will be resubmitting it and making sure it has the Carberry stamp of approval,” she said Monday. “If I’m not reelected, I will find somebody to reintroduce it.”