New proposed Landfill in Dalton NH

[peakbagger]

NH Senate passes buffer regulation

https://www.wmur.com/article/opponents-dalton-landfill-new-hampshire-senate/39919560

The governor has commented that if it makes to his desk he will want modifications. The AVRRD landfill in Success township just got a permit to expand. Unlike the Dalton or Bethlehem sites, it is not located adjacent to major waterways and is publicly owned But its capacity is not going to handle NH's (and adjacent states) landfill capacity. Maine just closed loopholes for trucking in out of state waste.

 

[NHClimber]

Is that Mt Carberry landfill?

 

[peakbagger]

AVRRDD = Mt Carberry

Androscoggin Valley Regional Refuse Disposal District

Success Township's total population was 4 as of the last census and the majority of the land adjacent to the landfill was recently purchased by Bayroot (Yale Retirement fund) and managed by Wagner Woodlands. The landfill itself has purchased quite a bit of buffer land although there is neighborhood in Berlin that claims to be impacted from odors from the landfill. Long before the landfill there was a logging road that was used to access Trident Col lean to (long gone).

 

[Andrew]

Today's news is Casella has withdrawn its current applications with NHDES, but say they will re-file again. https://indepthnh.org/2022/06/01/gs...-but-expected-to-re-file-in-couple-of-months/

There was an article in our local paper a couple months ago, where the land owner was stating publicly that the Casella project was not going to happen, and that he was moving forward with plans to build a 500 site campground, and a racing drag strip. My first thought was where was he was going to find the employees to run it (campground).

 

[peakbagger]

My guess is they are going to wait until the political winds shift in the right direction. The project is worth 100s of millions in the long run, all they need to do is line up the right political support. My guess is there will be talk of a landfill crisis in the legislature soon to spur a solution.

 

[peakbagger]

There was a bill before the governor to make it very difficult to site the landfill in its proposed location. The water table is quite high and the proposed law would require a much larger buffer to allow a chance to intercept leaks from a landfill before getting into water bodies. The governor recently vetoed the law so the landfill could be built.

The town also recently decided to not continue the emergency planning and zoning rules the town had put in place to have some control over the landfill. Reportedly the Free Staters are a presence in town and they (and other) believe in minimal government. It works until a large corporation with deep pockets decides to take advantage.

 

[ChrisB]

Free Staters are beginning to have an impact here in NH for sure. Elected to the legislature they immediately seek to reduce services, spending and anything else they don't need or want.

For a sobering yet humorous account of how this scenario actually played out recently in a real NH town (Grafton) read...

A Libertarian Walks Into a Bear: The Utopian Plot to Liberate an American Town (And Some Bears)


Here's a synopsis of the plot and a review and commentary about the book.

A bizarre story indeed and well suited to our times!

 

[bikehikeskifish]

Free Staters are beginning to have an impact here in NH for sure. Elected to the legislature they immediately seek to reduce services, spending and anything else they don't need or want.

So are people from other political persuasions who come here and vote to spend money on things others don't want or need. Or to change the historical red to purple (if not blue.)

Just sayin' (if we're gonna go down that political rabbit hole)

Tim

 

[maineguy]

So are people from other political persuasions who come here and vote to spend money on things others don't want or need. Or to change the historical red to purple (if not blue.)

Just sayin' (if we're gonna go down that political rabbit hole)

Tim

Baystaters?

 

[bikehikeskifish]

Baystaters?

To be fair, there are 49 other states plus various US territories, any of which can supply people of differing viewpoints.

Tim

 

[ChrisB]

So are people from other political persuasions who come here and vote to spend money on things others don't want or need. Or to change the historical red to purple (if not blue.)

Just sayin' (if we're gonna go down that political rabbit hole)

Tim

Not a rabbit hole at all Tim,

The distinction here is NH has been targeted by the Free State movement as a state where they have a chance of taking power and advancing their agenda. To do so they encourage mass migration here by there adherents.

To my knowledge no other political entity has been that Machiavellian in their tactics, including MASS! haha

 

[skiguy]

Not a rabbit hole at all Tim,

The distinction here is NH has been targeted by the Free State movement as a state where they have a chance of taking power and advancing their agenda. To do so they encourage mass migration here by there adherents.

To my knowledge no other political entity has been that Machiavellian in their tactics, including MASS! haha

https://tenor.com/bmBwB.gif

 

[peakbagger]

An update, the legislature or governor has voted down or vetoed stopping the project a few times but it looks like all the major candidates are against it. https://www.wmur.com/article/candidates-governor-landfill-dalton-61824/61162927

Casella Waste systems has been fire hosing money at politicians to either support the project or at least not oppose it. They were successful again in getting another extension on the existing landfill in Bethlehem despite recent leachate leaks into the Ammonoosuc River. Approval of the landfill in Dalton is worth hundreds of millions in the long run to Casella as NH is the only New England state that allows wholesale import of out of state waste into the state.

Most hikers head up to the whites a bit too late in the AM to catch the long line of waste trucks heading through the Franconia Parkway taking the RT 3 exit to Twin Mtn. Many non Casella operations are skipping Bethlehem and heading to the large municipal landfill in Success NH (entrance) is in Berlin. The AVRRD facility in Success is sited far better than the proposed one in Dalton. I hear the trucks on RT 2 roaring down Gorham Hill on RT 2 around 4:30 in the morning until mid morning. When I used to drive down to Mass weekly a few years ago, every wide spot on RT3 exit north of Franconia Notch would be filled with tractor trailers. idling wait for the Bethlehem landfill gate to open. They used to take over the Beaver Brook parking area until the FS closed off one of the exits to make it unfriendly to semis. My guess is the same thing will happen from the Littleton Exit to Whitefield through downtown Littleton onto 116 to Whitefield if the Dalton landfill gets built. I expect fee hikers in the whites even know where Forest Lake is or actually visited it.