2018 Press Conference to stop Bethlehem Landfill expansion
January 20, 2021 (CONCORD, NH) – Conservation Law Foundation (CLF) has filed an action in state court seeking to prevent North Country Environmental Services (NCES) from beginning landfilling operations in the proposed final stage of its Bethlehem Landfill. NCES intends to begin landfilling operations this spring, but the permit for this stage is subject to an appeal filed by CLF in October. This action would ensure the facility cannot operate until the permit appeal has been resolved.
“It simply makes sense to wait until the permit appeals process is finished before allowing this landfill to accept more waste,” said Heidi Trimarco, Staff Attorney for CLF New Hampshire. “This final proposed stage of the Bethlehem landfill is not needed, and it undermines both the state’s waste reduction goal and requirements for reducing landfilling. It’s time we stop relying on endless landfill expansions and start protecting communities by recycling, composting, and reducing waste at the source.”
CLF has been actively pushing for state regulators to advance New Hampshire’s statutory solid waste management hierarchy, which favors waste reduction and recycling and ranks landfilling as the least preferable option. CLF is also currently involved in a lawsuit against NCES and its parent company, Casella Waste Systems, as a result of pollution from the Bethlehem Landfill being discharged into the Ammonoosuc River.
The complaint can be found here and here.
CLF experts are available for further comment.
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