“We All Need To Cooperate”

Board of Health chair calls on WIN Waste Innovations representatives to join in discussions of ash landfill closure

By Mark E. Vogler

Board of Health Chair Maria Tamagna urged representatives of WIN Waste Innovations to participate in the proceedings of the Ash Landfill Closure Committee instead of avoiding discussion about a situation that’s inevitable. “I don’t think this would be a bad thing to be involved in,” Tamagna said at Monday’s Board of Health meeting after members of the committee presented their final report.

“I think that the only way we could get anything done productively and in a good way is to have cooperation,” she said.

“We all know that this is going to come to an end at some point, and we all need to cooperate. It’s not a witch hunt. We know this is going to happen. WIN knows it’s going to happen. It’s going to have to close,” she said.

WIN declined to accept an invitation by the committee to participate as a nonvoting member in all four meetings that focused on the future closure of the ash landfill located near the company’s trash-to-energy plant on Route 107. Last year’s Annual Town Meeting created the committee with hopes that WIN would be involved in the discussions about the future of the ash landfill. A state Department of Environmental Health official estimated last November that the landfill could last another four to five more years. WIN officials have repeatedly refused to participate in discussions about the future of the ash landfill, maintaining that the committee has no right to suggest future plans for the use of their private property.

Meanwhile WIN Waste officials continue to point to an unofficial 3-2 vote by selectmen two years ago supporting a host community agreement that would allow the company to continue to use the ash landfill for 20 years in return for $20 million. “That vote means nothing,” Board of Selectmen Chair Debra Panetta told the Board of Health at Monday’s meeting.

“It doesn’t belong with the Board of Selectmen. It belongs with the Board of Health, working in conjunction with the town manager,” she said.

Panetta, who is also one of the five committee members, and Precinct 10 Town Meeting Member Peter Manoogian – who chairs the committee – attended this week’s Board of Health meeting to provide a presentation of the committee’s report.

Landfill expansion vs. commercial development

These were the major components of the Ash Landfill Closure Committee’s report:

• The original 1984 tax agreement and the 1994 agreement clarifying the original one
• The Ash Landfill subdivision plans of 2003 and 2017, which discussed commercial development of the ash landfill along with recreational uses and a solar farm
• The Saugus DPW solar farm vs. a WIN Waste Solar Farm. In lieu of taxes, Ameresco pays the town $20,000 annually under a 20-year lease agreement for the 4-acre DPW solar farm. A WIN solar farm occupying 235 acres would generate an estimated $1.2 million a year.
• Commercial development of the ash landfill would generate an estimated $5.6 million a year in tax revenue. Under WIN Waste’s plans to expand the ash landfill, there would be no development activities and no “forever” economic benefit to Saugus.

“Mike Serino, former Chairman of the Board of Assessors, issued a report regarding forever development opportunities at the landfill verses 20 more years of ash dumping, which would result in a 100 foot high landfill with no economic development opportunities,” Manoogian wrote in a cover letter that accompanied the committee report to the Board of Health.

But expansion of the ash landfill would not be possible without a change in state environmental regulations and approval by the Board of Health.

WIN Waste hopes for expansion

Donald Musial, director of ash monofills for WIN Waste, agrees that current regulations won’t allow for expansion of the ash landfill. But he hasn’t given up on the possibility that there’s still two decades of life left in the ash landfill. “We believe that there’s still value to that agreement,” Musial said of the informal host community agreement, which passed on a narrow 3-2 vote, which two of the selectmen said they supported as “an insurance policy” in case state environmental regulations were later weakened.

“I believe there’s a lot of value to the town with 20 years of operations. I still think there’s an avenue to pursue on that,” he said.

Musial said he’s worked for WIN Waste for about 25 years, overseeing all four of the company’s monofills.

Contrary to what members of the Ash Landfill Closure Committee say, WIN does have a closure plan approved by the state and last updated in 2017, according to Musial. There’s also an approved post closure plan, he said.

Musial amplified his comments at Monday’s meeting with the following statement to The Saugus Advocate:

“WIN Waste participated on the Landfill Committee that spent more than 18 months discussing and negotiating how the Town could partner with WIN to maximize the economic and environmental benefits it receives from our monofill operation.

“The result, which was approved by the Board of Selectmen, was a plan that secures benefits to the Town of at least $20 million, in addition to environmental benefits, if WIN obtains the required permits from the Board of Health and MassDEP. The BOH chair at the time participated in the Host Community Agreement negotiations and supported the HCA eventually approved by the selectmen.

“We fully understand that gaining the approval to continue using the monofill would involve a thorough and transparent process. We have also heard from many Saugus residents and leaders who believe we should continue our operation as is, keep the ash trucks off the roads and bring more financial benefit to the town. They support sustaining this asset, which includes our Bear Creek Wildlife Sanctuary. We continue to hope that we will find a better solution as we work to show our value as a partner to the Town.”

At one point during Musial’s remarks to the Board of Health, Ash Landfill Closure Committee Chair Manoogian went up to the lectern to essentially debate Musial on the merits of expanding the ash landfill vs. closure. “The law is the law right now,” Manoogian told Musial.

“You can’t expand,” he said of the existing state environmental regulations that limit the life of the ash landfill. Manoogian said WIN Waste can only dispose of ash up to 50 feet or use the landfill up until the spring of 2028.

Panetta calls WIN’s way “irresponsible”

During the meeting, Board of Selectmen Chair Panetta criticized WIN’s way of dealing with the Ash Landfill Closure Committee. “The prudent thing to do is to sit down with our town leaders and discuss the closure of the landfill, whether that date be two years, five years, 10 years. The closure is imminent. That’s why they’re trucking 50 percent, to keep the landfill opened up longer,” Panetta said.

“I feel that not talking to our town and our representatives is irresponsible. And you’re denying the inevitable,” she said.

Panetta suggested that closure of the ash landfill was long overdue, and added that so is the planning. “In life, we always plan for the future, whether it be short term or long term. And I ask, ‘Why are we not planning now?’ We know that the landfill at WIN Waste was supposed to close back in 1996,” Panetta said.

“It’s been almost 30 years and we still have no closure plan. They are almost at their 50-feet level. That’s their maximum. But we just heard that they are trucking out 50 percent of their ash every single day to Shrewsbury. So, we all know the end is near. That’s why they’re trucking,” she said.

Panetta defended the town’s purpose of establishing the Ash Landfill Closure Committee. “They said this is their land and we really have no right to discuss it. I disagree,” Panetta said.

“I say that this land is in our community, well past its closure date and discussion. Strategic discussions need to be held now,” she said.

“What are they waiting for? Perhaps they’re waiting for another election cycle, and maybe sympathetic people will vote … sympathetic to expansion at the expense of the health and well-being of our town.”

Panetta asked Board of Health members to “stand with the Ash Landfill Committee. Help us.”

“I see all of these WIN representatives sitting here, proudly with your WIN representative jacket,” she said.

“They have hats, they’re all here at a Board of Health meeting. Wouldn’t it be wonderful if just one of you would come to one of our ash landfill committee meetings.”

Board of Health Chair Tamagna noted that WIN has made great strides in improving relations with the board simply by attending its meetings on a regular basis. “The presence here at our Board of Health meetings has been a blessing – for lack of a better term,” Tamagna said.

“It’s opened up great lines of communication between us, the Board of Health and WIN. Transparency is imperative. To work together is the best way,” she said.

“We’ve been at odds before – the Board of Health and WIN – and it doesn’t work out. It just doesn’t. We have to cooperate. We have to work together. And that’s the best way. You guys do amazing things for the community and we’ve always been very grateful for that. Nobody wants to be at anybody’s throat. We just want to get it done in a pleasant way.”