COURTESY PHOTO
Pictured is Wheelabrator Saugus.
By GAYLA CAWLEY
SAUGUS — After nearly three hours of heated debate, Town Meeting members on Monday approved three zoning bylaw changes that will affect current and future landfills.
The Alliance for Health & the Environment, a coalition of environmental organizations and public officials that requested the special Town Meeting, is opposed to the expansion of Wheelabrator Saugus, an energy-from-waste facility that disposes up to 1,500 tons of waste a day from 10 Massachusetts communities.
With the approval of the three articles, definitions will be added to the town’s zoning bylaws for “ash,” “landfill” and “ash landfill.” An addition would be made to the Environmental Performance Standards section that restricts the elevation of a landfill to 50 feet above mean sea level.
“No new landfill or new ash landfill shall be established in or adjacent to an Area of Critical Environmental Concern and no existing landfill or ash landfill shall be expanded in or adjacent to an Area of Critical Environmental Concern,” reads the second article, which was passed 25 to 8.
The third article, passed 31 to 2, would alter the Table of Use Regulations under Zoning By-Laws, Article V, Section 5.6, by adding the principal use “landfill/ash landfill” to only be allowed in areas with industrial zoning and would require a special permit.
The zoning by-law changes would have to be approved by the attorney general. Wheelabrator can also challenge the decision. Peter Kendrigan, general manager of Wheelabrator Saugus, said passage of the articles would result in another court case for the town.
Ann Devlin, president of Saugus Action Volunteers for the Environment and Town Meeting member, authored the three articles on behalf of the alliance. She said their passage was about doing the right thing for the health and well-being of the people of Saugus and surrounding communities.
Bill Brown, a Town Meeting member, was opposed to all three articles.
“These articles target one business,” he said. “They target one taxpayer in the town of Saugus and that’s Wheelabrator.”
Brown said he wasn’t going to argue that Wheelabrator doesn’t bear part of the responsibility for health problems in town. It does, he said, but so do many other things. Residents can’t point the finger at one particular cause, and say that’s the only cause of health problems in town, he said.
Proponents of the passage of the three articles argued that Wheelabrator is the only unlined active ash landfill in the state and the only one located next to an area of critical environmental concern. They also argued that the ash landfill is a health concern, with cancer risks cited by multiple speakers.
“I think adding more control in our bylaws makes sense,” said Debra Panetta, chairwoman of the Board of Selectmen. “I think we’re just empowering ourselves.”
James Connolly, Wheelabrator vice-president of environmental health and safety, said previously that in addition to being illegal, the articles, if passed, would threaten the company’s ability to keep providing environmental and economic benefits and would result in costly litigation for Saugus taxpayers.
Connolly said on Monday that there continues to be a number of false claims against Wheelabrator. He said the landfill has a clay soil liner and any claims that the ash is toxic are false. He cited a Department of Public Health report published last spring and requested by Wheelabrator Saugus, with results showing no elevated risk of cancer in town.
State Rep. RoseLee Vincent (D-Revere), who heads the Alliance, said it’s obvious that Wheelabrator has no intention of ever closing the landfill. If Saugus doesn’t take action now, she said, people could be skiing on a mountain of toxic ash.
“These are very reasonable zoning changes and you have every right to control your destiny,” Vincent said.
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Gayla Cawley can be reached at [email protected]. Follow her on Twitter @GaylaCawley.