Trash & Landfills

Disagreement between the House and Senate this year sank a proposal that would have included a moratorium on new landfills and the creation of a site evaluation committee, a body that would oversee where landfills could be placed.

Granite State Landfill LLC is suing the state’s Department of Environmental Services over their decision to deny a permit. Regulators said the permit application was incomplete for more than a year.

This permit is one of several sought by the company for the project, and without it, the landfill cannot go forward.

New Hampshire House lawmakers hoping to enact a temporary moratorium on new landfills in NH, lowered their aim to a three-year pause in an attempt to strike the right balance to negotiate with their counterparts in the Senate and Gov. Kelly Ayotte.

The moratorium will be part of the policy section of the state budget. It will also introduce a new siting proposal that would allow the community to have a say when these projects come up.

The new rules cover where landfills in the state can be located, and how they are built and maintained.

Both candidates said they’d be open to letting communities police or ban short-term rentals, a topic of heated debate in the region.

The House passed several bills that sought to address trash being imported and pump the brakes on new landfill development. But the Senate shot down the proposals.

At a public hearing Monday, not one attendee voiced agreement with the environmental agency’s proposed rule changes.

The state’s Waste Management Council previously said regulators acted unlawfully in approving the expansion.