Court denies landfill appeal

By Jonathan Cook
Turley Publications Reporter

STURBRIDGE - The Southbridge landfill took one step closer to becoming the largest in the state.
But an attorney for a grass roots group opposed to the expansion says the fight has a long way to go before it’s over.
Despite the efforts of residents from Sturbridge, Southbridge, and Charlton, banding together as a pack of RATS (Residents for Alternative Trash Solutions) against expanding the landfill on the Sturbridge border, the Worcester Superior Court has denied their legal appeal.
However, attorney Kirstie Pecci says the decision will be appealed to the state’s appeals court.
“We have a very strong case,” she maintains.
Furthermore, Pecci adds, the court’s ruling has opened up other avenues for opposition.
For example Judge Janet Kenton-Walker ruled that plaintiffs had no standing to oppose the composition of the Southbridge Board of Health, which Pecci maintains was rigged to favor expansion sought by landfill operator, Cassella Waste Systems. Pecci points to the Southbridge charter, which plainly states that the health board will have three members. Yet, shortly after Cassella took over the landfill, the town manager appointed two more seats to the board. When it came time to consider a site plan that would allow an increase of 16 times the amount of household waste, the vote went in favor three to two.
Pecci said the court did not claim the health board was legal and that idea can still be tested in another forum. Although, Pecci said she could not reveal exactly what her strategy will be.
Also, the court ruled that it could not second-guess the Board of Health on the issue of locating a landfill next to an airport.
Pecci’s clients maintain that the likelihood of an airplane being damaged by a bird strike is greatly increased with the expansion, as all the waste will draw seagulls and other scavengers.
She explains that Ron Merritt, the expert who appeared on CNN after the heroic landing in the Hudson river earlier this year – an emergency caused by a bird strike – was the same expert who testified to the Board of Health.
Merritt testified without pay that he has not seen an airport placed in greater bird strike danger outside the third world. “He was horrified,” Pecci said.
Still, the Board of Health did not share that fear and the judge said she could not, by law, disagree with the board’s opinion.
Pecci said this issue can be further pursued with the Federal Aviation Administration.
Aside from the sudden calamity of a possible airplane crash the expanded landfill could cause, Pecci says there is a long term health risk too – contaminated water and air.
Pecci points out that Casella’s own expert witness testified that all landfills leak. This, the court admitted was possible, though noted that the requirement of monitoring wells suffices to show the health board’s decision was “neither arbitrary not capricious.”
The judgment goes on to read, “although there is evidence to support the plaintiff’s position (that a leaky landfill poses a danger to residents) the record does not point to an overwhelming probability contrary to the Board’s decision.”
Pecci said the monitoring wells are too close and too shallow to effectively discover toxins heading for well water down stream.
She says it’s important for residents in the area to test their water for the thousands of possible contaminants than can ooze from a landfill. Money for that should coming from Casella, says Pecci.
“If we want to control this landfill and keep it from being expanded and give the Board of Health in Southbridge real information that they can use to shut down, change the size, change the operating in anyway they want in order the protect the public health,” Pecci says, better information is needed. “They need to have information they can rely on.”
She says a “nuisance reporting network” could have a real impact on the board if they track and report the times they are impacted by the foul smell of the landfill.
These kind of grassroots efforts paid off when it came to the recent decision by Governor Deval Patrick to maintain the ban on waste incineration plants.
Another glimmer of hope in Pecci’s mind is that Southbridge has recently ditched it’s Boston law firm of Kopelman & Paige a move echoed by at least one other area town. “They’ve been so misinformed by the attorneys they were advised by,” she says.
For information on the Southbridge contract with Cassella, visit ci.southbridge.ma.us. For more on RATS, including their zero waste strategy, visit southbridgedump.org.