Residents express landfill concerns

OLD TOWN – Residents and interested observers voiced their concern that councilors and other city officials have not done their homework when it comes to the proposed West Old Town Landfill.

More than 100 people, not all of whom were Old Town residents, attended Monday night’s council meeting to express their belief that the city needs to ask more questions of involved parties, in addition to better informing residents when it comes to the landfill deal.

The state is in the process of purchasing the West Old Town Landfill for $25 million from Georgia-Pacific Corp. as a financial incentive to help maintain jobs at the company by lowering its operating costs.

Members of the public who spoke at Monday’s meeting were not pleased with an op-ed in favor of the landfill that appeared in Monday’s Bangor Daily News. The piece was written by the Old Town City Council and officers of Local 1-80 PACE International, the labor union representing employees of Georgia-Pacific’s Old Town mill.

Police attended the meeting in case tempers got out of hand. Though at times voices were raised, the proceedings remained orderly.

Residents said they are concerned about health and safety factors involving the landfill, the most prominent of which is contained in a report from Maine Department of Environmental Protection geologist Dick Behr, who has been reviewing the site. Behr cited water quality changes in test well sites surrounding the landfill show proof of a possible leak in the existing primary liner of the landfill.

“I am disgusted by this panel,” Anthony Watkins of Old Town said. “You have not done your jobs and you wrote a letter in support of [the landfill].”

Councilors stated that they are relying on the DEP to make an informed and educated decision regarding the site – a decision that councilors said they don’t have the authority or expertise to make.

“I’m convinced that the DEP is not going to permit that landfill if it’s not safe,” council chairman Alan Stormann said. “If that landfill is leaking, DEP has said they’re not going to issue that permit.”

Without the landfill deal, G-P controller Rick Douglas has said that the mill will not survive. There is no guarantee, however, that the mill will stay open even when the sale is completed.

The state has chosen Vermont-based Casella Waste Systems, the only bidder on the project, as the landfill’s operator. The state will act as the site’s owner, but it is illegal for it to operate the facility.

The purchase and sale agreement for the proposed landfill between G-P and the state was signed Nov. 20, but the Department of Environmental Protection must approve the amendment application before the sale can be completed. That decision was supposed to come Feb. 13, but Gallagher has decided to delay her decision a few days to get more information from other involved parties.

Residents, however, don’t feel this is enough time for the DEP to get adequate information to make a well-educated and researched decision. Community members also said they weren’t sufficiently informed in time of what has previously been referred to as a “back-door dump deal.”

City officials disagreed, saying that all meetings regarding the proposed landfill sale have been open to the public.

At this point in the process, city attorney Robert Miller said the municipality has little say in the landfill deal until expansion becomes an issue. The city is looking into what its rights are and the types of ordinances that would be appropriate in dealing with future expansion, Miller said.

The council did unanimously agree Monday night to support the increase of the weight limit on Interstate 95 north of Augusta to 100,000 pounds, which would alleviate some traffic concerns involving the landfill.

In other business, the council agreed to approve liquor license requests for the Wel-Com-Inn, better known as Number Ten North Main, and the Chocolate Grille.

Number Ten’s license had previously been temporarily extended while owners worked to bring the building up to code.