Abutters Notified Company Will Be Filing Landfill Permit Application
By Robert Blechl Caledonian Record Feb. 9, 2021 (used with permission)
Casella Waste Systems has increased by a third the estimated annual tonnage that would be buried at its proposed landfill beside Forest Lake State Park in Dalton.
On Thursday, the company, as required under law, notified abutters that it will be filing an application with the New Hampshire Department of Environmental Services for a standard permit for a solid waste landfill.
If that application is approved, it would allow construction of the first of three landfill phases, with the first phase making up about 63 acres of the site, which would be located about a mile from Route 116 off of Douglas Drive.
Casella’s filing for a landfill permit comes after the company is working to provide more information for its wetlands permit application, which DES in November said is missing critical pieces of information.
The company expects to provide DES with the additional wetlands information by March 18.
When Casella’s plans for a privately owned commercial landfill in Dalton went public in early 2019, company representatives told the public and state officials that the average annual tonnage would be about 360,000 tons.
But in the Feb. 4 letter to abutters, Bob Grillo, project manager with CMA Engineers, said on an annual basis the landfill expects to receive 468,000 tons of waste, or 1,300 tons daily.
If the landfill application is approved, Grillo said construction is anticipated to begin in 2023, with operations to begin in 2027 and continuing through 2041.
The company’s landfill in Bethlehem is expected to close in about 2026.
Up to nearly half of all waste imported to Dalton could come from outside New Hampshire in the New England region.
In the letter, Grillo said 50 to 60 percent of the total waste received would be municipal solid waste from residents and businesses.
The landfill would also be a dumping site for construction and demolition debris and special waste approved by DES, he said.
The project has galvanized into opposition local residents, who have voiced concerns about heavy truck traffic and environmental impacts and concerns about future landfill expansion on the 1,900 acres of land currently owned by Douglas Ingerson Jr.
At the state level, state Reps. Edith Tucker, D-Randolph (prime sponsor); state Rep. Timothy Egan, D-Sugar Hill; and state Sen. Erin Hennessey, R-Littleton, have sponsored House Bill 177, which went to a public hearing last week.
The bill seeks to amend New Hampshire’s solid waste management statute by adding language to prohibit the siting of new landfills, excluding expansions of existing landfills, within two miles of state parks.