The Paradise City Forum

I requested Senator Rosenberg arrange a meeting with senate staff of the Natural Resources committee at the State House in Boston on March 11. Rep. Kocot had staff from the House side of the Committee attend, and Senator Rosenberg helped arrange a meeting with Mass. DEP Commissioner Laurie Burt later that day.

These were productive discussions.
Some significant points were:
1. From Boston to the Berkshires all Water Supply Protection Districts
in Massachusetts ban landfills.
Northampton has 3 WSP districts that all ban landfills.
The fourth WSP district in Northampton for the protection of the Barnes aquifer
would become the first WSP district in the state to exempt a landfill if the
landfill expansion goes forward and would set a new precedent.
There was great concern about this.

2. A representative from the Barnes Aquifer Protection and Advisory
Committee ,BAPAC, which is supported by and recognized as an authority on
the Barnes aquifer by the EPA, spoke about the impacts of the Northampton
landfill on Hannum Brook.
Hannum Brook draws from the Barnes aquifer and has been contaminated by
the landfill. Stantec, a consultant hired by the Northampton DPW stated
in a 2007 report that conditions at Hannum Brook are improving.
Dr. Newton, the representative from BAPAC, using the same data as Stantec
showed the opposite conclusion, that conditions at Hannum Brook are
getting worse. He also spoke about mobilization of arsenic into surface water and the
aquifer that is being caused by landfill leachate

3. Commissioner Laurie Burt concluded: although the waiver had
been given as a policy decision by a previous commissioner,
Bob Golledge, the Mass. DEP would continue reviewing new data
about the impacts of the landfill on the aquifer,
would be contacting BAPAC for further information.
Further studies of the aquifer are being done.

Will the conditions of the waiver be met?
That depends on how the current landfill is impacting the aquifer.

The city council has received information from and had presentations by
the Northampton DPW regarding the landfill and aquifer.
To make an impartial decision the city council needs to
hear all points of view. I am requesting the Mayor and city council
place the Barnes Aquifer Protection and Advisory Committee on the agenda.

On March 6, the city attorney said city councilors could only attend
posted public meetings regarding the landfill expansion from that date on,
even though a Special Permit for the landfill expansion has not yet
been applied for, will not be applied for for several months, and may
never be applied for. This effectively prevented Northampton city councilors,
Marianne LaBarge and Michael Bardsley from attending the March 11
Meetings. Northampton city councilors could not meet with the Mass. DEP commissioner,
although they are elected representatives of the citizens of Northampton.