Landfill Expansion Plans Face Stiff Opposition

SEATTLE (Scrap Monster): The proposal submitted by Waste Management seeking extension of the Turnkey landfill in Rochester, New Hampshire is currently before the Department of Environmental Services (DES).

If approved finally, the proposal could extend the landfill’s lifespan by additional eleven years from 2024 to 2034. The state had earlier granted permission to operate the 30-year old landfill site to operate until 2024.

The expansion plan was approved by the Rochester Planning Board in December last year. It now requires various state permits. Waste Management expects to receive final permits by end of this year or early-2019. Accordingly, it plans to begin expansion works in 2019, to be completed by 2020. The expansion works would create a new site, adjacent to the existing site, with around 14 million tons capacity.

In response to concerns raised during the extended public comment period, officials belonging to Waste Management stated that all concerns are out of place as the landfill site still has highly efficient environmental safety and monitoring systems. These systems have proved to be capable of preventing leakage of any harmful contaminants that may cause damage to neighboring residents and surrounding ecosystem.

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Meantime, the Massachusetts-based nonprofit Conservation Law Foundation has raised opposition to the proposed expansion plans. According to them, the expansion is feared to endanger the public, especially due to its proximity to the Isinglass and Cocheco rivers. It blamed Waste Management for using the landfill as a dumping ground for out-of-state trash. As per estimates, more than 50% of the 1.4 million tons buried at the landfill site during 2017 had come from outside the state. The Foundation also pointed out that the expansion will cost Rochester and the state significantly in the long run.