By inking deal with commercial waste company, Lewiston would open its landfill to toxic materials

Lewiston must keep Casella Waste Systems from coming into the community. Why?

Casella’s Waste Systems Inc.’s dangling carrot is tipping fees to the city. The city will say it’s a good deal, create revenues, reduce property taxes and keep the landfill in compliance with state and federal regulations.

And no out-of-state waste.

The deal Casella has proposed to Lewiston will create a new commercially run landfill, which have been banned in Maine since 1989. This ban was instituted as a mechanism for the state to control out-of-state waste. An exemption must be granted from the attorney general or through legislation for this deal to move forward.

If an exemption is granted, there will be one question Casella will ask: “Where will we go next?”

In Casella’s proposal, Lewiston would landfill more than 300,000 tons of unburnable construction and demolition debris. In reality, it likely could be two to three times this amount. Casella’s Pine Tree Landfill in Hampden proposed landfilling 250,000 tons annually – last year, Casella reported 623,000 tons.

In the Casella operated, but state-owned, Juniper Ridge Landfill in Old Town that accepts no out-of-state waste, Casella proposed to landfill 500,000 to 550,000 tons annually. Casella now estimates 800,000 tons, two years into operation, with no upper limit. Casella admits between 40 and 50 percent is unburnable construction waste.

Almost every ton of construction waste landfilled in Maine originates from away. Raw construction waste is imported to be sorted for biomass wood fuel and metals. Once sorted, the waste bypass becomes Maine waste.

Maine’s recycling rate for construction waste is between 16 and 20 percent, which means for every ton of waste burned as biomass fuel, Maine landfills between five and six tons of unburnable material.

The Maine State Planning Office reports Mainers landfill less than 30,000 tons of construction waste annually, yet the state landfills 600,000 to 700,000 tons annually. Where does it all come from?

Out-of-state.

Casella wants to expand the Lewiston landfill – which is also utilized by Auburn – to 10 million cubic yards. Given current disposal rates, it would take Lewiston and Auburn more than 600 years to fill this capacity. Casella can fill this capacity in 20 years, and then ask for another expansion for the remaining 10 years of the contract.

Gov. John Baldacci’s vision for failed pulp and paper mills in Maine is to turn them into energy parks that burn cheap wood fuel as a renewable energy resource, producing electricity and earning green energy credits to sell on the open market. This cheap, dirty fuel contains lead, arsenic, mercury, polyvinyl chlorides, asbestos, etc.

With the governor’s blessing, Maine will import, sort, burn and landfill unburnable waste, and the toxic ash from burned out-of-state waste. Maine will then sell electricity generated by this renewable resource out-of-state, since Maine produces 25 percent to 35 percent more electricity than it uses.

Mainers will risk health, increased air pollution, groundwater contamination and loss of landfill capacity, which is considered a precious natural resource. Property values will plummet, a neverending train of overweight trucks will run daily and landfill access routes will be worn down.

And the odor! Casella will “rescue” abutters with neutralizing deodorizing mists, property tax reimbursements, property protection program and bottled water deliveries. But what about rising healthcare costs, destruction to roads and highways or the loss of tourism dollars. Casella will not compensate for that.

This is not a public benefit to Maine people, but a benefit to communities that will send its waste to Maine.

I speak from experience, after spending four years researching and interacting with the state planning office, attorney general, Maine Department and Board of Environmental Protection, the Legislature’s Joint Standing Commiteee on Natural Resources and lawmakers.

My group, We the People, has intervened on license applications. We have testified before the state, including the recent Blue Ribbon commission that studied construction debris and out-of-state waste.

After four years, lobbyists and corrupt politicians receiving contributions from five commercial waste haulers – including Casella – are still making decisions, with the media’s help spinning the positive. Lewiston is fortunate to have Rep. Elaine Makas fighting for her constituents.

The Baldacci administration has tried to confine this issue to the communities hosting these facilities. This is a statewide issue – Maine must not become the dumping ground for half the country.

Maine taxpayers will pay for these decisions, if they are unopposed, in future clean-up costs. This would make Maine neither the way life should be, nor ever again, for future generations.

Deborah Gibbs is a member of We The People, a nonprofit advocating for a comprehensive waste management policy for Maine. She lives in Milford, adjacent to the Juniper Ridge landfill.