To all who enjoy NH state and national parks:
Imagine heading to your favorite state park in New Hampshire for some hiking, picnicking, or boating.
You arrive and are greeted by:
– Foul odors of methane and garbage
– Mobs of seagulls
– Trash on hiking trails and in the water
– The constant rumble and crash of heavy machinery
This scenario is likely to happen, as a large, out-of-state landfill company is attempting to put a dump right next to Forest Lake State Park in Dalton, New Hampshire.
There is a way to prevent this, and we need your help.
Will you please write a short email asking NH legislators to support HB 1319 and HB 1422, two bills that put important limits on dumps in NH – including the dump Casella wants to build half a mile from Forest Lake State Park? Anyone who enjoys our parks can write in, regardless of where you live.
This is urgent: There’s a hearing on the bills on Thursday, Feb 27. HB 1319 prohibits building or expanding landfills near NH state parks, national parks or US Dept of Agriculture forest land. HB 1422 puts a two-year moratorium on permits for building or expanding privately-owned for-profit landfills like Casella’s.
Below is a sample email and tips for personalizing it, which gives it more impact.
• Make it simple Say why dumps are bad for all of NH, not just the North Country: most legislators come from (and represent) southern NH.
• Make it short At this point legislators likely have info about the bills so you don’t need to describe them in detail.
• Make it personal Include a few of the reasons why you value NH parks and forests, including Forest Lake, or your favorite park, forest or lake.
Just as important: we’re looking for a big show of support for the bills at the hearing in Concord. This will make a major impression on committee members. Please attend if at all possible! You don’t need to testify, though you can: it’s helpful just to show up and indicate you support the bills by filling out a card at the hearing.
The hearing is scheduled to start at 1pm on Thursday Feb 27 in Concord. When the schedule is finalized we’ll post the hearing location, directions to the capitol and parking info.
Thank you for all you do to protect Forest Lake and the North Country!
North Country Alliance for Balanced Change Board
Sarah Doucette, Adam Finkel, Erik Johnson, Claire Lupton, Mary Menzies and Eliot Wessler
THERE’S A SAMPLE EMAIL BELOW
If you copy and paste it, please personalize it so it reflects your thoughts. But do act quickly! Send it before the hearing on Thursday, Feb 27.
SUBJECT: Please support HB 1319 and HB 1422
Dear Member of the House Environment and Agriculture Committee:
I’m writing to ask you to support HB 1319 and HB 1422, two important bills coming before your committee on Thursday, February 27. The bills would limit the impact of landfills on the unique NH resources – lakes, forests and mountains – that we all value, no matter where we live in NH.
Dumps smell. They leak toxins that threaten our air, soil, water, health and property values. They bring heavy truck traffic to our roads. And 50% of the garbage in NH dumps comes from outside NH.
I have a house on Forest Lake that’s dear to me and three generations of my family. My grandkids swim, canoe and fish off the dock. People snowmobile, ski and ice fish there too. The lake is so pure many families get their water from it. We’re horrified that Casella Waste Management is proposing a 180-acre dump just half a mile from the lake and at one point only 50 feet from Forest Lake State Park.
But the negatives of dumps aren’t limited to Forest Lake or the North Country. Dumps make us all vulnerable, no matter where we live in NH.
Please help us make sure the NH we love will be there for our kids and grandkids. And thank you for considering my opinion.
Respectfully,
Your name
Your address
Here’s a list of legislators for you to copy and paste:
jane.beaulieu@leg.state.nh.us; donna.ellis@leg.state.nh.us; bethrichardsforward3@gmail.com; catherine4ward7@gmail.com; andrew.bouldin@leg.state.nh.us; jackie.chretien@leg.state.nh.us; sherry.dutzy@leg.state.nh.us; liz.mcconnell@leg.state.nh.us; megan.murray@leg.state.nh.us; john.oconnor@leg.state.nh.us; howard.pearl@leg.state.nh.us; kevin.verville@leg.state.nh.us; judy.aron@leg.state.nh.us; harry.bean@leg.state.nh.us; mike.furbush@leg.state.nh.us; charlie.melvin@leg.state.nh.us; harry.viens@leg.state.nh.us; amanda.gourgue@leg.state.nh.us; peter.bixby@leg.state.nh.us; barbara.comtois@leg.state.nh.us
I have been in municipal solid waste disposal business for over 30 years and I see no logical reason to locate a trash landfill in a area so close to Forest Lake State Park. Even though a lined project is proposed, they have been known to fail and I believe it would be quite an environment gamble to locate an operation such as this in such a beautiful area. I am in full support of HB1319 and HB1422.
Dear Legislators, Having lived in Northern NH from 1962 to 2012, served on the Board of the North Country Council for many of those years and been Chair of the Unincorporated Areas Planning Board for nearly 25 years, I have spent much of my adult life fighting to preserve the North Country. State Parks are important to the economy of the North Country as well as being important for recreation. We cannot afford to have them destroyed. Please support the two bills under consideration HB1319 and HB 1422 so as to protect our fragile and beautiful recreational areas.