[C]OVENTRY — Northeast Kingdom residents are lukewarm to the prospect of the state’s last open landfill expanding by 51 acres within sight of their homes.
The odors from “Mount Casella” are foul, they say, and they doubt the waste management company’s claim that no leachate will wind up in the nearby Black River.
Jeff Bourdeau, the state Agency of Natural Resource’s project manager, told the crowd of 40 gathered Thursday night at the Coventry Community Center that the state had spent more than a year reviewing Casella’s application. In the process, it had requested multiple revisions before approving the plan.
Casella is not seeking to expand the annual capacity of the landfill, Bourdeau said, but rather to increase its longevity — it’s expected to be filled within the next five years.
He added that “most importantly,” Casella had set aside millions of dollars for landfill closure, so that even if the company went under, the waste site could be capped and monitored for groundwater contamination.
Casella engineer Joe Gay presented technical drawings of the proposed expansion, which will include greenhouses on the property and continuing operation of a gas-to-energy plant.
That plant provides electricity to Washington Electric Coop members while capturing methane — a potent greenhouse gas — released by the landfill.
“We’re pretty robust with the renewable energy at the site, which we’re excited about,” Gay said.
Henry Coe, a longtime Northeast Kingdom resident, began the public comment portion of the meeting by saying that he used to deposit his trash in Nadeau’s dump — the precursor to the Casella operation — in the 1960s.
Coe questioned whether it was appropriate for the state to issue a permit for the landfill expansion next to a river that flows into Lake Memphremagog — an international lake that is a source of drinking water.
He called the Northeast Kingdom as the “weak link” in New England waste management.
“I felt like it was the wrong location in my early twenties — 50 years ago — and I feel it is the wrong location today,” said Coe.
Bourdeau said his department does not have the authority to decide where in Vermont a landfill should go, only whether a proposed facility complies with the state’s solid waste rules, including low risk of groundwater contamination and adequate odor control measures.
Casella will double-line the cells to minimize the danger of leachate — liquid contaminated with landfill pollutants — seeping into groundwater.
It also will install a collection system that stores the contaminated fluid in nearby tanks before it is treated off-site, said Kasey Kathan, environmental analyst with the ANR. She said Casella is required to monitor the layer of soil in between the the two liners as well as groundwater flowing away from the landfill in the underdrain to “catch any problems before they get bigger.”
Multiple residents who live near the landfill indicated that the current odor control measures, including dumping six inches of soil on open portions of the landfill, had so far been insufficient.
“There is a serious problem with the odor coming down from the landfill, and then when the sun rises in the morning … (it’s) moving up onto the ridge into the open area,” said Eve Fournier, who lives a mile away.
Nearby resident Bob Fortunati wanted to know “what sort of pollution are we breathing in” from the “foul” odors he regularly smelled.
Another resident said he had recently received a property appraisal letter from the town, and scoffed at the idea of being able to sell his home for anywhere near the stated amount with the adjacent landfill poised to grow over the next 20 years.
Skip Gosselin, who gazes down on “Mount Casella” from his house, said he finds Casella employees responsive to odor complaints.
“They are asking us to call in immediately” if an odor is detected, he said. Under the new permit, Casella will be required to contact the state whenever they receive a call about odor problems, according to Bourdeau.
Residents and environmental advocates said they doubted Casella’s claim that the landfill would never contaminate ground water or the nearby Black River.
“All landfills are a danger to local ground and surface water because all landfill liners leak,” said John Hite, a fellow with the Conservation Law Foundation. He added that in addition to trucking household waste to the landfill, Casella hauls in out-of-state building materials, contaminated soil and other industrial byproducts to Coventry.
Not all residents were opposed to the landfill expansion. Coventry Town Clerk Amanda Carlson pointed out that even with residents recycling and composting more following passage of the state’s universal recycling laws, Vermonters will always need to dispose of some waste in landfills.
“I understand the concern for the liners, but if that’s the best technology we have right now, we have to put our garbage somewhere,” Carlson said.
Fees from Casella contribute over 90 percent of the town’s annual general fund budget.
Bourdeau said at the end of the meeting that his department would compile and respond to comments up until the July 6 deadline, stressing that comments should focus on how the proposal does or does not comply with the state’s solid waste rules.
The rules, not individuals in the ANR, decide whether or not the expansion can occur, he said. Danville resident Henry Coe said he was “troubled” that members of the public had to review and respond to the state’s technical 37-page findings of fact to provide their input.
“We’re just gum-chewing residents — we don’t have money in our pockets to pay lawyers,” he said, adding, “I’m sure the other side is lawyered up, big time.”
The state has approved Casella Waste Systems’ application to recertify the existing 78-acre lined landfill for 10 years and to add two cells on its south side.
As the site of Vermont’s sole operational landfill, Coventry accepts about 70 percent of the state’s waste. Under the draft certification, the proposed landfill addition would not be finalized until after public comments are reviewed by the agency.
