An Interest In The Case

Conservation Law Foundation Intervenes In Casella Lawsuit

A protester at a meeting of the Department of Environmental Services in Whitefield. (Tom Caldwell Photo)

CONCORD — The Conservation Law Foundation again is a party to a lawsuit against North Country Environmental Services, Inc., a subsidiary of Casella Waste Systems. Judge John Kissinger granted CLF intervenor status in Casella’s lawsuit against Department of Environmental Services Commissioner Robert Scott for ruling that the company’s Stage VI expansion of its Bethlehem landfill lacked “substantial public benefit” — one of the requirements in RSA 149-M:11 to obtain approval from the state’s Waste Management Division.

There was a stipulation in a negotiated agreement between plaintiffs Community Action Works (formerly Toxics Action Center) and the Conservation Law Foundation and the defendants, North Country Environmental Services, Inc., releasing NCES from any further legal action by them relating to groundwater treatment at the Bethlehem landfill. The January 11, 2022, settlement of the Clean Water Act enforcement lawsuit gave the company as much as two years to submit applications for all necessary permits and regulatory approvals necessary for the removal of sediment and restoration work, and a year after obtaining those permits and approvals to complete the work.

While the Conservation Law Foundation cannot be a party in any lawsuit involving that work, it was able to file an appeal of the DES decision to approve the Bethlehem landfill’s expansion, which resulted in Scott’s citing the “substantial public benefit” clause.

In its lawsuit, Casella argues that the Department of Environmental Services’ “recent departure from its decades-long construction of RSA 149-M:11 together with [the] administrative hearing officer’s inconsistent construction of the same statute have clouded the statute’s meaning and created uncertainty about the requirements for obtaining a permit for solid waste disposal facilities in New Hampshire, including facilities owned or proposed by plaintiffs.”

The case is scheduled for a two-day bench trial in November at the Merrimack County Superior Court.