LANDFILL OPERATIONS

In case you missed it, the latest editions of New Hampshire Magazine (NHBR’s sister publication) and NH Business Review included a 16-page color insert paid for by Casella Waste Systems extolling all the good things Casella has already done and will do for New Hampshire. If you’re wondering what motivated Casella to do this, you are not alone.

For those that don’t already know, our state has three large landfill operators. One of them (Casella) has been operating a landfill (NCES) in Bethlehem for thirty years. Three years ago it proposed to build a new, much larger landfill (GSL) about five miles away in Dalton.

Casella has had a terrific run financially. The company has been growing quickly by acquiring smaller solid waste businesses in the Northeast. Its stock price is high, and its revenues this year are higher than ever.

But here in New Hampshire, Casella has had a terrible run. The company has been cited for numerous operational violations of its landfill permits, including by the Department of Environmental Services for overfilling at NCES. A recent leachate spill at NCES was the worst ever in New Hampshire, and worse yet, it took the company two days to discover the spill had occurred. And after fumbling its permit applications for two years, DES effectively told the company its GSL permit applications didn’t pass the smell test and it should just start all over.

There’s more. A recently passed bill supported in both the NH House and Senate on an overwhelmingly bipartisan basis would have prevented Casella or any other landfill developer from locating a new landfill in New Hampshire in a location that poses a high risk of water contamination. It was vetoed by the governor, but is subject to a veto override vote by the NH Legislature in September.

So, instead of figuring out what is really good for the state, Casella has decided what it needs is to polish its image. Hats off to Casella’s PR team — the ad looks great. But you barely have to scratch the surface to see that the ad is filled with exaggeration, mistruths and lots of wishful thinking.

For example, Casella touts a consultant’s study that it says will produce $400 million in benefits for New Hampshire and save the state $75 million over 20 years if the state lets it do whatever it wants. The problem is Casella has refused to release the study so that such claims can be factchecked.

Some of Casella’s statements about its proposed GSL project are misleading at best. It says it conducted a broad search for a suitable site for the GSL project, but in fact, Casella employees have said that Casella homed in on the Dalton site, not because it was a good site for a landfill, but because the land was cheap and Dalton had no zoning and would therefore be an easy mark.

Recognizing that New Hampshire residents don’t want the solid waste industry to turn New Hampshire into the dumping ground for all of New England, Casella argues it’s one of the good guys. The ad says that while 50 percent of waste landfilled in New Hampshire comes from out of state, only 20 percent of waste dumped at NCES in 2020 comes from out of state. But data provided to DES by Casella indicates that the average out-of-state waste dumped at NCES over the last several years has been much higher, up to 34 percent. Moreover, it told DES it will reserve up to half of all of the GSL capacity for out-of-state waste.

Casella’s ad focuses almost completely on its recycling program, not its troubled landfill operations. Casella fails to mention that Bethlehem has been trying to force NCES to shut down for years due to Casella’s string of broken promises and operations violations. And Casella’s ad conveniently omits that the leachate spill at NCES may have resulted in PFAS contamination, a big environmental problem.

The most troubling aspect of this campaign is the evidence that Casella seems to suffer from terminal hubris. NCES’ chief engineer argued, in front of DES officials no less, that it would be impossible for its proposed GSL landfill to contaminate nearby water bodies because the landfill will employ a double liner. Twice he said, “Can’t happen.” Casella makes these claims about its proposed GSL landfill despite the fact that the EPA says that ultimately all landfills, including those with double liners, will leak.

Our state officials need to go behind Casella’s public relations campaign, ignore what is best for Casella, and do everything needed to help ensure that the state’s solid waste management focuses on fostering the health and welfare of the people of New Hampshire.

Eliot Wessler lives in Whitefield and works with a number of grassroots organizations in the North Country.