Selection process to begin for area landfill site

HOULTON — The board of directors of the Southern Aroostook Solid Waste Disposal District voted Monday night to have Civil Engineering Services of Brewer develop a proposal for site selection and development of a regional landfill in southern Aroostook County.

The action came after considerable discussion about plans proposed by the state Waste Management Agency that called for three solid-waste disposal sites to be expanded or developed to serve all of Aroostook County, including one that would serve about 33 towns in southern Aroostook County.

Directors have expressed concern and frustration over the fact that after almost two years of work, at local expense, to develop a regional landfill site for its 11 member towns, the state had all but told them that they now must develop a site to serve the entire region.

The original landfill, as planned, would serve a population of about 11,500. Construction of that landfill would require the installation of a double-liner system. Such a system is required by the state to serve a population of not more than 15,000.

The inclusion of other towns in the region, however, will increase the population to be served to about 22,000 people from 33 towns and require that a triple-lined landfill be constructed. The estimated additional cost could be about $160,000 an acre to develop.

According to David Wittner, chairman of the SASWDD board of directors, the state so far has been inflexible in its plan to change the rules. He said the state Department of Environmental Protection had referred to the fact that municipalities of larger than 15,000 people had a greater percentage of industrial waste than normally is found in less populated communities.

He said, however, that the state’s rule did not take into consideration the type or amount of waste generated in rural areas. He said the guidelines were based strictly on population.

In the meantime, representatives from all of the Aroostook County solid-waste districts will meet with officials from the WMA and the DEP on May 15, in Bangor, to discuss proposals and seek a variance on the double-liner requirement.

Wittner was not optimistic.

“It doesn’t look good,” he said. “The only thing we can hope to do is come to some conceptual agreement to which they would agree. We will not be able to proceed until we can reach an agreement …”

He said that if the district went ahead and developed a double-lined facility, that facility would not meet the WMA plan and therefore would not be approved.

“We’re caught,” he said.

The board also voted to reapply for a state grant to help with recycling programs. The district was rejected in the first round of funding. The board requested that Wittner find out why the first request was rejected and then reapply.

In other business, the board established the length of terms of office for directors from two new towns that joined the district. The director from the town of Crystal will serve for two years and the director from Orient will serve for one year.

It also was voted to hire the firm of Gardner, Briggs and Gates to do some of the district’s major book work, schedule a meeting with the WMA for the end of May to begin proceedings for the development of a regional landfill, and to request that CES conduct a preliminary review of a third site to be considered for a regional landfill.