September 11, 2005
The Boston Globe
By Erika Lovley, Globe Correspondent
Offensive odors, polluted runoff, and excessive truck traffic are only a few of the complaints from Newburyport residents living near the Crow Lane Landfill. According to Mayor Mary Ann Clancy, the process of capping the city landfill has become more odoriferous than the city bargained for, involving the state Department of Environmental Protection and what city officials say are multiple contract violations by New Ventures LLC, the company responsible for capping the landfill.
For approximately one year, polluted leachate has trickled form the landfill into nearby wetlands, and a rotten egg smell has been wafting through the homes of neighbors.
''It's just consistently horrific odors from that area," said Brenda Reffett, a resident and former Ward 5 city councilor. ''You start to think that something is backed up in the house."
For Reffett and her family, little of this past summer was spent in the backyard. Reffett said she was forced to run the air conditioner nonstop because opening the windows was not an option.
''It got so bad . . . our sleep was interrupted," she said. ''We don't know what these odors are exactly, and when you start to get a headache, you start to wonder."
City Councilor at Large Barry Connell blames the pollution on New Ventures, which was approved to close the landfill by the Department of Environmental Protection in late 2003. Connell said the company has broken almost every aspect of its agreement with the city.
Connell said truck traffic to and from the landfill has increased to as many as 85 trucks a day, well above the 35-vehicle limit established by the agreement with the city, which was signed in October 2002. The traffic has raised dust and dirt levels on streets along the truck route, he said. The bulk of the material being transported to the landfill is drywall, which contains sulfur. Mixed with the chemistry of the landfill, it creates noxious-smelling hydrogen sulfide gas.
A system implemented to burn off methane gas under the landfill has not been run regularly, despite an order from the city's Board of Health to run it 24 hours a day, Connell said. In April, New Ventures was fined $250,000 by the Department of Environmental Protection for leachate violations and the odor problem.
Neither the president of New Ventures, William Thibeault, nor the vice president for engineering, Steven J. Trettel, returned calls for comment last week.
While several improvements, including air quality monitoring, have been made toward odor control, Connell said he and several other city officials no longer have confidence that New Ventures can get the job done, despite the proposal it made last month. The four amendments to the agreement proposed by the company include increasing traffic by 25 trucks per day and using soil from the Big Dig to speed up the project.
Many residents hope the company's proposal will be rejected if it comes to the table at the City Council meeting tomorrow, an opinion echoed by the mayor.
''The performance has been so poor since the process has started, my intention is certainly not to support any new changes," she said. Clancy said she is willing to explore other options, including legal action to take over the landfill.
''They've been given a lot of chances to make corrections," said Clancy
But some residents have reservations about New Ventures getting the boot, despite their problems.
Mary Rocco, who has lived in Newburyport for 40 years, said she has woken up sick after breathing in the smell during the night.
''It's absolutely nauseating," she said. ''[But] it's not to our advantage to shut them down, unless we have something else in place."
Other city leaders are beginning to look to the Department of Environmental Protection for answers. City Councilor Bruce Vogel said he thinks the state is not being serious enough with New Ventures.
''The DEP is not doing their job," he said. ''They were too cavalier in their approval of the plans that New Ventures presented."
Joe Ferson, spokesman for the Executive Office of Environmental Affairs, said the state is aware of the city's problems. As recently as Aug. 12, solid waste violations and the release of untreated hydrogen sulfide prompted the Department of Environmental Protection to order New Ventures to establish permanent air monitoring and an enclosed flare to burn off excess gas. The plan for both is due Friday.
''I think there have been problems there that the DEP is taking steps to work with," said Ferson. ''They've been approved for the expansion of a leachate collection system and air monitoring around the landfill. We want that as soon as possible."
Improvements may already be paying off. Some Newburyport residents say they are no longer bothered by smells.
''It's not an issue for me," said Kathleen Crocker, who lives less than a mile away. ''I don't think it was ever that bad and I have a very strong nose. You never hear anybody say, 'That's it, I'm leaving.' "
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