Moretown residents, the Development Review Board, and landfill officials look out over the proposed area for cell four. Photo by Audrey Clark
The Agency of Natural Resources announced today that it intends to deny the Moretown Landfill’s application for recertification, which brings the landfill a big step closer to shutting down.
The decision is a response to the landfill’s repeated violations of environmental regulations, particularly off-site odors.
In its “intent to deny” letter, the Agency of Natural Resources wrote: “In conducting our review of all the existing and proposed odor control management techniques proposed by the Applicant, we find them to be inadequate and not proportionate to the serious odor problems that have resulted from the facility design and operations.”
The Moretown Landfill, owned by Advanced Disposal, has been operating on an expired permit in Cell 3 while waiting for ANR to issue a decision for recertification for that cell. The company also applied to reopen Cell 2 so it could add trash on top of areas that had settled. Those two applications are the subject of this decision. The landfill has also applied to expand into a fourth cell. The Town of Moretown’s Development Review Board will not make a decision on issuing a permit to Advanced Disposal on the expansion until spring. ANR intends to deny recertification of cells 2 and 3, but will still consider the Cell 4 application, which is technically incomplete. However, ANR thinks the proposed expansion is going to face the same issues with odor.
The ANR asked the landfill on Nov. 27 to “clearly and convincingly demonstrate” that it could control off-site odors by Dec. 10. The landfill responded with an “improvement plan” on Dec. 7.
The plan proposed several changes to how the facility operates, including replacement of the management team, $500,000 in capital improvements, and two new employees dedicated to odor control. The landfill recently stopped taking in sewage sludge to reduce odors, too.
Moretown Landfill has a 13-year history of environmental violations, most of which are off-site odors, but also including improper handling of hazardous waste, inadequate repairs to the landfill gas collection system, and stormwater and groundwater pollution.
Advanced Disposal Services, the largest solid waste management company in the country, has owned Moretown Landfill since 2005. During that time ANR issued six Notices of Alleged Violation to the landfill, citing 25 violations in all.
Neighbors of the landfill have been complaining of bad smells for years, but the complaints increased dramatically in the last six months. Neighbors are also concerned about groundwater pollution, dust, aesthetics and damage to their homes from blasting.
Martha Douglass, who lives half a mile from the landfill, was not convinced the odor improvement plan will make a difference.
“I just worry that it’s going to be a very large band-aid,” she said earlier this month. “Because it’s in a residential neighborhood, it’s near the Winooski River, it’s going to have ongoing issues no matter how well managed.”
Douglass is the spokesperson for Citizens for Landfill Environmental Accountability and Responsibility, a group made up of neighbors of the landfill who oppose the landfill’s expansion.
When asked earlier this month what she would think if the landfill closed, Douglass said she would feel validated, but, “Somebody needs to really quickly look at the opportunity that provides in reducing our trash to zero waste.”
Mark Harlacker, the regional landfill operations manager for Moretown Landfill, Inc., said earlier this month that the landfill understands “that there’s going to be a lot of scrutiny on the site. We want to do things correctly, we want to be less intrusive on the neighborhood and just conduct our business.”
The landfill and the public have 30 days to comment on ANR’s decision.
The ANR’s letter says “Comments should be focused on whether the facility’s design and operations are sufficient to prevent nuisance odor conditions. The comment period will end on January 21, 2013. All comments should be sent electronically to Ben Gauthier at Benjamin.Gauthier@state.vt.us.”
The ANR will review the comments and issue a final decision by March 8, 2013.
Advanced Disposal issued a press release today stating that it “remains committed to a clean Vermont and implementing the multitude of improvements to the Moretown Landfill as proposed to the Vermont Agency of Natural Resources to address concerns over odor issues.”
The press release emphasized that Advanced Disposal took over control of the landfill in September and “immediately implemented critical changes to the operations of the site to address the state’s concerns.”
Dave Lavender, regional vice president of Advanced Disposal, said, “Some unfortunate decisions were made by the previous operators, which have led to the site’s current odor issues and state’s concerns.”
The release failed to mention that the previous owner of the landfill, Interstate Waste Services, was owned by the same investment corporation as Advanced Disposal. The two waste management companies merged over the summer.
Editor’s note: Information about Advanced Disposal was added to this story at 12:45 p.m. Dec. 21.
Read the story on VTDigger here: State issues “intent to deny” letter to Moretown Landfill for recertification of facility.
