The city of Lewiston is being courted by Casella Waste with a deal it cannot refuse. The city will receive a single-stream recycling system that is state-of-the-art, along with individual incentives and a substantial boost in the budget.

What’s not to like?

In return, the city must accept out-of-state construction and demolition waste, minimal for now, that will result in a landfill mountain hundreds of feet high. City officials are assured of its safety.

The EPA has stated that no landfill is perfect, and what can emerge is a product called leachate – a toxic liquid full of pollutants including benzene, ammonia, dioxins, PCBs and more.

The danger is obvious, and already happening in Bethlehem, N.H., where leachate is discharging into the Ammonoosuc River at a rate of 86,000 gallons per day, according to group Environmental Action for Northern New Hampshire. Nothing will live in that river ever again, thanks to Casella.

The people of Lewiston need to look into the faces of those they love – the children, grandchildren and even pets – and think of how they will explain that the city and Earth that nurtured and sustained them would be turned into a place of filthy ooze, unfit for future generations. All for the sake of a few pieces of silver.

Elizabeth Dube, Lewiston