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BCM Letter to NHDES on Behalf of NCABC

BCM Environmental and Land Law June 10, 2024

On June 5th, 2024, Attorney Amy Manzelli of BCM Environmental & Land Law submitted the attached written material to the New Hampshire Department of Environmental Services (DES) on behalf of their client, the North Country Alliance for Balanced Change (NCABC). These materials are relative to the Department’s proposed changes to Chapter Env-Sw 800 which includes landfill sitting. 

DES has not yet accomplished revised rules that meet the statutory purposes or reflect balanced input. The Department has proffered objectives including practicability and cost effectiveness as bases for the currently proposed revised rules, but those bases lack legal merit. Accordingly, NCABC has requested that the Department accept the rule revisions proposed and amply explained and justified through copious scientific and legal evidence throughout this submission.

Among the submitted material are:

  • A side-by-side comparison of the existing rules to the proposed rules with expert evaluation (EXHIBIT A);

  • NCABC’s requested changes to the proposed rules based on NCABC’s experts and with supporting references of peer-reviewed, scientific evidence (EXHIBIT B);

  • Copies of the peer-reviewed scientific evidence supporting NCABC’S changes to the proposed rules (EXHIBIT E);

  • A state-by-state comparison showing that New Hampshire’s solid waste siting rules are already the weakest in New England (EXHIBIT C)

  • Curriculum Vitae of Experts Anirban De, Ph.D., P.E., and Muriel Robinette, P.G. (EXHIBIT D).

The North Country Alliance for Balanced Change (NCABC) was founded in 2008 by a groupof concerned citizens working to ensure that a proposed drag strip in Dalton, New Hampshire would not damage fragile wetlands around Alder Brook and pollute the Ammonoosuc River watershed.

NCABC works to advance initiatives and policies that balance the region’s natural resources and economic interests. Located in New Hampshire’s Great North Woods — Coos and northern Grafton counties — the organization currently focuses on Forest Lake, Burns Pond, the Ammonoosuc and Johns rivers, and surrounding communities of Dalton, Whitefield, Littleton, and Bethlehem.

To read more about how the landfill industry is impacting NH state regulations, check out this article, here.