After a state Appeals Court ruling yet again affirmed WIN Waste Innovations’ right to deposit ash in its Saugus landfill, Board of Health Chairman William Heffernan stated his desire for town officials and WIN to “…enter a time of peace.”
We emphatically endorse that sentiment, especially since it represents Heffernan’s opinion that enough is enough when it comes to the expensive, years-long town fight against WIN.
In ruling against the Board of Health on March 2, the court reaffirmed a 2019 Superior Court decision upholding the validity of the state’s decision to grant a permit to WIN in 2018 allowing the company to extend the life of its Route 107 landfill.
That permit, as the court noted, was not granted capriciously but only “…after a notice and comment period during which it (the Department of Environmental Protection) received over 1,800 comments.”
In challenging the permit, the Board of Health claimed WIN (formerly Wheelabrator) did not have a valid site assignment for the landfill and claimed the slurry wall WIN uses to contain ash within the landfill isn’t a sufficient environmental protection safeguard.
The Appeals ruling dismissed those arguments, noting that the site assignment dates back to 1955 and a 1963 state sanitary code revision allowed ash to be deposited.
The ruling stated that the five-foot-thick slurry wall is “at least as effective” as a landfill liner system in providing environmental protection. In other words, the “unlined landfill” argument commonly cited by WIN opponents would appear to be disingenuous.
The Board of Health could appeal the ruling to the Supreme Judicial Court. But we hope Heffernan’s pointed declaration is sufficient to convince fellow board members to end the fighting and, in Heffernan’s words, agree with WIN to “work collaboratively together and try to make a difference in the community.”
We’re not optimistic the board and Board of Selectmen members will join Heffernan in moving forward. An exchange during a Feb. 10 Board of Selectmen meeting made it clear Town Manager Scott Crabtree fears for his job if he does not nominate an anti-WIN candidate to fill a Board of Health vacancy.
Town officials have yet to detail for residents how much money has been spent on fighting WIN in court. Furthermore, information has yet to be fully revealed on how special counsel was authorized to initiate that fight.
With two state courts upholding WIN’s permit, it is time for town officials, beginning with the Board of Selectmen, to explain to the public why that money was spent.
WIN is a major private-sector player in Saugus, rivaling the Square One Mall and Route 1 developers. It is also a regional player in an industry most people don’t spend much time thinking about.
The trash that goes out of every household and business into barrels, bins and dumpsters has to go somewhere, either to be recycled or reduced to an environmentally-containable substance, i.e. ash.
WIN, the Board of Health, and the town Landfill Committee have had, as WIN Environmental Vice President James Connolly noted, 15 months worth of “positive and productive conversations.”
It’s time for the selectmen and all of Saugus to build on those conversations and regard WIN as a good neighbor and a corporate ally amply demonstrating that it continues to meet state environmental standards.
