Landfill issue complicated

The proposed expansion of the West Old Town Landfill has received considerable news coverage and sparked spirited debate during the last several weeks. This complex issue has largely been treated as a singular problem – either you are in favor of, or opposed to, expansion of the landfill through the proposed agreement among the state, Georgia-Pacific and Casella Waste Systems. Yet, complex problems are most readily solved when broken down into their component parts. There are two discrete components to this very complicated issue:

1. Should expansion of the landfill be approved as proposed?

2. If expansion is approved in its present or modified form, should haul routes for waste trucks advanced by the Department of Transportation be approved? Are they appropriate?

All citizens of Old Town and, indeed, the state of Maine, have a stake in the currently proposed haul routes for waste trucks.

The Maine DOT has released descriptions of five suggested routes for trucks carrying waste from Casella’s Pine Tree Landfill site in Hampden and points south to the proposed West Old Town facility. All routes avoid use of the best-constructed roadway and direct path to the West Old Town site, Interstate 95. The reason is that current federal regulations for I-95 set an upper load limit of 80,000 pounds gross vehicle weight and the state/Casella proposal is for trucks of 100,000 pounds vehicle weight. State and municipal roads in Maine permit this higher weight limit. All DOT-proposed routes will send heavy trucks on a much longer and labyrinthine course through several communities and, in most cases, across bridges spanning the Penobscot and Stillwater rivers.

The 80,000-pound limit on I-95 is intended to reduce wear and tear on bridges by trucks of greater vehicle weight. Alternate routes proposed by DOT unnecessarily would send trucks of 100,000 pounds gross weight over between two and four bridges (routes west and east of the Penobscot River, respectively). These bridges must be maintained at cost to the taxpayers of the entire state. Are we willing to pay this public price to preserve the profit margin of a private waste management company? Why are our own sate agencies and municipal officials unwilling to question the propriety of these routes?

One additional question is why DOT considers Route 16 north of its intersection with Route 43 to be acceptable for waste truck traffic, but finds the section of Route 16 (same classification of highway) from its intersection with Route 2 in Orono to Route 43 to be unacceptable? Two of the DOT-approved routes go directly through the intersection of Routes 2 and 16 in Orono. If trucks were simply to turn left there and proceed along Route 16 (Bennoch Road) to the intersection with Route 43, they would travel 5.1 miles and would cross no bridges. The presently approved routing sends them across two bridges through more densely populated neighborhoods and through the heart of downtown Old Town, requiring them to travel 7.25 miles to the same Route 43 intersection.

If Casella were willing to reduce their considerable profit and concede that keeping their trucks on the Interstate highway is in the best public interest, the action would be seen as one of good will. It would do much to dispel current public perception of their company as being motivated by greed and unconcerned about people. In this process, we all have been failed miserably by the Old Town City Council, our local representative and senator, Gov. John Baldacci (who remains conspicuously mute on the issue after setting the agreement in motion), and Economic and Community Development Commissioner Jack Cashman.

In their collective headlong rush to force the expansion of the West Old Town landfill to save jobs at Georgia- Pacific, they have neglected to be clear in defining that the proposal encompasses multiple issues. Haul routes are a separate issue. Our communities and the people of Maine are being asked to deal with unnecessary traffic and costs of deteriorating infrastructure to ensure the profit margins of a private company. Given recent and justifiable concern of citizens about the influence of special interests in our national political policies, I do not understand why people seem to find the identical practices acceptable within our state and towns.

Bruce Sidell is a resident of Old Town.