UPDATE (July 20, 2021) – Boston Globe environmental reporter David Abel’s front page in-depth coverage today of the North Country’s fight against the Dalton mega-dump that includes rally coverage.
More than 200 North Country conservationists, town officials and regular folks from across the region rallied Wednesday, July 14 at White Mountain Regional High School demanding New Hampshire Department of Environmental Services Wetlands Bureau officials deny a wetland permit sought by Casella Waste Systems Inc. for a 180-acre landfill in Dalton.
The rally kicked off a six-hour “listening tour” hearing by DES that featured over 60 speakers who made the case for denial of the wetland permit seeking permission to fill 17 acres of wetlands, five vernal pools and disrupt and endanger water quality in the Alder
Brook stream system and the Ammonoosuc River.
Nearly all of the 65 speakers who gave testimony at the DES hearing urged denial of the wetland permit for the proposed dump. An important lesson for DES and New Hampshire leaders who value conservation voters and their opinions.
Review of the permit by NCABC environmental scientists reveal the project will have seven times the negative impact on wetlands posed by the failed Northern Pass project.
The project is opposed by the Dalton, Littleton, Lisbon and Bethlehem Conservation Commissions in addition to the Ammonoosuc River Local Advisory Committee.
The rally and hearing drew coverage by NHPR, InDepthNH, NH Bulletin and The Caledonian Record and the Union Leader of Manchester.