"Company looking to expand dump"

Company looking to expand dump
Sunday, May 17, 2009
By SANDRA E. CONSTANTINE
sconstantine@repub.com

SOUTH HADLEY - Interstate Waste Services Inc., which operates the 38-acre town landfill, wants to expand it by about 21 acres into the Byann Conservation Area.

This would increase its total area by slightly more than half.

This project and other details of a proposed successor contract to run the facility now under consideration will be the subject of a public meeting on Thursday at 7 p.m. in Town Hall and a second informational session at 7 p.m. on June 10, also in Town Hall.

Public Works Superintendent James M. Reidy said on Friday he will conduct the session at the request of the Select Board, with an emphasis on Town Meeting members.

They will vote on the contract when the Town Meeting reconvenes on June 15.

Action on the agreement was postponed because final details were being hammered out when the annual Town Meeting took place on May 9.

"It is an important decision for the town, that is for sure," said Reidy.

Reidy said the town can deal with some of the difficulties posed by the site by developing compensatory wetlands for the expansion, which could extend the lifespan of the landfill by 13 years.

Interstate also seeks to expand the landfill upward in a central area that would give it two more years of life.

Plans call for expanding it 10 to 15 feet upward.

The town's current contract with Interstate for dumping, which has been in place since December 2003, allows for it to accept 156,000 tons of waste a year. The contract is expected to expire on Dec. 31, 2010, when the facility is projected to be full.

Reidy, who has been negotiating the contract with Town Engineer Yem Lip, said the proposed agreement has "significant" increased benefits for the town.

The pact calls for allowing the town to increase the amount of waste it may dispose of at the landfill for free, from 4,000 tons to 8,000 tons a year. The town generates about 7,500 tons of trash a year.

The current agreement allows the town to receive 5 percent of revenues generated when tipping fees are less than $70 a ton, and 6 percent if they are $70 a ton or more.

The proposed agreement would raise the percentage given to the town to 10 percent of total tipping income, regardless of the per-ton rate.

The town now receives about $500,000 a year in tipping fees, a figure that could grow to about $870,000 should the proposed contract be approved, added Reidy.

The public works chief said that the Carlisle, Pa., company would like to expand the landfill's footprint on the northeastern side of the dump, involving some land in the Bynan Conservation Area.

Siting the expansion there will pose significant "permitting challenges" because of endangered species and wetlands, said Reidy.

Using that land, he said, will require the approval of the Conservation Commission, as well as the state Department of Environmental Protection and the state's Natural Heritage and Endangered Species Program.