The Agency of Natural Resources has declined to conduct a new study into air quality and health impacts of the Coventry landfill.
Landfill owner Casella Waste Systems has received approval from the state Department of Environmental Conservation’s solid waste division for a 51-acre expansion, but still needs approval from the Northeast Kingdom’s Act 250 review commission.
Members of DUMP, a grassroots group that opposes the expansion, sent a letter in late February to the agency asking for the state to fund an independent air quality monitoring study.
“I’m not saying there’s hazardous particle pollution there,” said Tom Stelter, one of the authors of the letter in an interview Friday. “But I am saying there’s a potential for that.”
DUMP members wanted ANR to hire a consultant to set-up monitoring stations in the towns near the landfill to test particulate matter and map out winds coming from the landfill “to ensure no residents are facing health risks, discomfort, or odiferous fragrances.”
Julie Moore, secretary of ANR, wrote in an email response to the request Friday that “odor and nuisance conditions” are already incorporated in the agency’s oversight of the landfill. DEC granted Casella an air pollution control permit last August that sets limits for emissions generated by the landfill.
Moore added that she would take additional steps if she had reason to believe the permit requirements were not sufficient to protect public or environmental health.
“Absent sufficient information, I cannot justify the use of State funds for health monitoring or a study of air emissions surrounding the NEWSVT facility,” Moore wrote.
Stelter said he was “discouraged” by Moore’s response. “They’re not being the guardians of our community,” he said of state regulators.
ANR should have a Newport office so staff can more quickly investigate odor complaints, Stetler said.
Chuck Schwer, director of waste management for DEC, has said landfill odors need to be confirmed to constitute a violation.
“That’s one of the challenges with a landfill, there could be a situation where a load is dropped and there’s a small issue with odor that pretty readily mitigates itself,” said Schwer. “But certainly any serious odor problems we evaluate.”
He noted that the state had taken enforcement actions taken against the Moretown landfill, which he called an “extreme example” of odor problems.
Casella takes steps such as spraying loads with disinfectant and putting a nightly cover layer on top of the working area of the landfill to minimize odors, as well as having an odor hotline so staff can quickly address complaints.
Stelter said that while there was not an “everyday odor problem” from the landfill, odors were a regular issue for some residents in the “landfill boundary zone.”
He said opponents will ask their local lawmakers to draft a bill to fund the study, but said he didn’t expect legislation introduced this late in the session to clear the hurdles needed to pass this year.
“What it’s going to mean is there’s going to be an entire year of nobody doing an analysis,” he said.
