The following is an excerpt from the very informative website saveforestlake.com. They too, like Hardwick, are fighting to keep Casella out of their beautiful community. Please take some time to visit their website and read through the abundance of information they have posted regarding landfills, not only there, but all over the Northeast.
Dalton residents, myself included, just got this cheap bulk mailer from big-spender John Casella, he of the multi-billion dollar waste company Casella Waste Systems.
Where to even start?
Shared value of your "proposed facility" i.e. LANDFILL to the town and residents that don't want your pollution? At the expense of our children and their children's health and well-being? No thank you.
$50 Million in payments to the Town of Dalton over the next 25 years? So you are saying this 180-acre landfill will be with us for at least 25 years? Our calculations are more like 75 years (NCES landfill in Bethlehem is 61 acres and took 25 years to fill), and beyond with the amount of available acreage (up to nearly 1900 acres) How much money does that represent to your company, billions? Making New Hampshire the Garbage State instead of the Granite State?
Wow, free trash pickup...meaning, no incentive to reduce waste, since it's FREE! Meaning, we get to shit in our own backyard!
Free access to a transfer station? Sexy...we have that already. Is this the work of the high-dollar, high-powered Five Corners Strategies group you hired to do your PR?
Local support of municipal and non-profits? You mean you're going to chip in $6k here and there for a playground? How about chipping in to buy a children's cancer and research hospital for when you are finally done with Dalton? Our grandkids will likely need it.
As for your "Project Status"
The current site is being used for sand and gravel, more likely "light industrial", but not even close to industrial. In fact, here's aerial drone footage flying exactly over the proposed landfill site towards the sand and gravel operation. It's wooded, virgin property and it will be a shame if it's desecrated for the sake of a garbage landfill. Also, landfilling at this location would constitute a "Change Of Use" for Douglas Drive, as that R.OW. needed by Casella to access the landfill site is in Bethlehem, and that locale is in Zoning District III, and landfilling is not permitted there.
Accessible, yet remote? Goodness, did Kevin Roy write this? The site is off of Route 116, between Littleton and Whitefield. A major route for the North Country, and of course, your 90 or so garbage haulers will be taking Rt 3 thru the center of Whitefield to eventually get to the site. Certainly NOT off the beaten path nor close to I-93. Let us know if you need a map because you do not know the area nor the traffic patterns.
Naturally screened? Naturally screened by hills and forests? Possibly, but that's not going to prevent the surrounding area, including all of the Forest Lake homes from hearing your trucks clanking and beeping all day long...let alone prevent the spread of odors, air pollution, seagull infestation, etc. You should buy a lot more hedges and shrubbery.
So your assessment of the site is not complete...we figured. Let us know when you know exactly how the groundwater flows at that site. So far, you really do not know. We've seen how accordance with the strict state and federal regulations at your Southbridge, Bethlehem, Potsdam, Ontario County, and Coventry landfills has worked out for all involved, with lawsuits, pollution, violations, etc. Is that what you want to bring to Dalton?
So you look forward to to working with us as you move forward with your project? You do know that the Town of Dalton residents voted to approve Emergency Temporary Zoning on July 30, 2019, despite the fact that most people did not want zoning? Because they do not want a landfill in Dalton, nor do they want to be in business with you. You've proven to be a bully, are litigious, and frankly, a poor landfill operator.
So, Dalton residents, and really anyone in the North Country, please make sure you share your thoughts with CEO John Casella, as he would like to know what you think. Email him at DaltonFacts@Casella.com. We'd love for you to copy us at SaveForestLake@yahoo.com as we really would like to know what you think, and what you hear back.
On a side note, it might be good to hear from folks in Bethlehem and their thoughts as Casella seeks to move on post-NCES, leaving behind a mountain of trash, pollution, contamination, and I'm guessing, no real parting gifts for that former host-community.
Please share with all of your friends and neighbors in the North Country.
John Casella wants to hear from you.
Some random comments from folks here in the North Country, the Fingerlakes Region of New York, and Southbridge, MA
From Dalton: Stay out of our beautiful community…
Southbridge, MA: All we can say is GOOD LUCK getting even close to the amount of money they are promising your town.....all they left us with is a leaking landfill, hundreds of contaminated drinking wells, a constant smell of rotten eggs AND they took our town to court to get out of their promised “free trash” pickup because they filled the landfill much faster than they said they would in the contract. Do your research....they leave a mess everywhere they go.
Bethlehem, NH: No amount of money is worth the environmental desecration and the destruction of community and neighbors being neighbors.
Seneca Falls, NY: Don’t fall for their lies
Canandaigua, NY: I still get stirred thinking that our own ...helped to bring all these toxic sludge from NYC and NY State and will be kept brought to the touristy Finger Lakes where we have winery trails, spoiling our air, our water and eventually have negative impact on everything, and for what? 2 million dollars a year? Stupid and criminal in my books.
Newport, VT: Come visit Newport & smell the air from the lovely Coventry landfill ... all.year.round. And if the air smells that rotten, imagine the quality of the lake water & Black River. I don’t care what the reports say. The landfill is directly or indirectly related to the cancer in the area
Another from Southbridge, MA: As a resident of Southbridge, I'd say the landfill has had little, if any, positive impact on the town. A lot of money was pumped into the town but most of it was squandered, in my opinion. One important consequence was how the landfill divided people and paralyzed the government. The much promised increase in revenue has had no effect on the school system and as far as I can tell there's been no positive economic impact on the town. Our "technology park" is still vacant. You should request copies of our town budget to see how we used the money we got and correlate that with how our taxes increased from year to year to get a sense of how the landfill impacted home owners. You should also get a copy of the presentation Casella gave to us and compare that with how things actually turned out. I think you'll find a landfill isn't a good "investment" for your town.
From Rensselaer, NY: “The city has come out and said, ‘hey, there was a bad decision made here somehow or another, how did we end up with a dump in our backyard?’” said Mayor Michael Stammel.
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