Neighbors of the Northampton landfill point to sick animals and a brook "like jelly" as they express concerns about its proposed expansion.

Since the Massachusetts Department of Public Health reported on September 23 that there was no increased cancer risk to people living near the Northampton Municipal Landfill on Glendale Road, Mayor Higgins has stated in the press that people's fears should be eased. The DPH finding came on the heels of a forum in July in which residents were encouraged to trust the expertise of Dr. Peter Shanahan, a hired consultant who contended that it is unlikely that the Barnes Aquifer would be affected by escaping leachate from the landfill.

The city maintains that it has done its due diligence, and has completed remediation tasks as required by the Department of Environmental Protection. These include elaborate leachate and gas collection systems, a $500,000 flare (to burn off the methane emitted by the landfill), and the capping of cells (portions of the landfill) that are filled to capacity. The city has picked up the bill for professional sniffers to investigate odor complaints and conducted air and water tests through other private firms and the DEP.

But for residents who live near the landfill, some organized in a neighborhood watchdog group called Citizens United for a Healthy Future, all the improvements the town has made aren't enough. While experts are telling them not to worry, they see evidence to the contrary every day. They still smell the odors, a mix of methane, carbon dioxide, and decomposing trash. Seventy-year old Joanne Bushie of Park Hill Road said, "I have to put my air conditioning on and shut my windows. It comes down the hill and hits my house. I smell it in my cellar."

And they see physical changes. Bushie remembers that when she was a child, she and her friends played in the brook at the end of Park Hill Road. "We used to have beautiful brown trout and rainbow trout," she said. The area around the current landfill site was once a farm owned by the Pizarra family. Bushie and her friends would walk the cows down to drink in the brook. When she started her family there, her children would play in the woods and brook as well.

But sometime in the '70s (she doesn't remember exactly when), "The brook started turning to jelly. We saw black spots on the fish and then they died." She said she feels sad, "because I remember how it was." She adds, "People who don't live here don't give a damn," a sentiment expressed by many in the neighborhood.

Full Story: http://www.valleyadvocate.com/article.cfm?aid=8503

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