MassDEP determines Win Waste Innovations does not meet criteria to expand ash landfill

Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection (MassDEP) Commissioner Martin Suuberg has alerted state officials that the agency will not support the expansion of an ash landfill owned by Portsmouth, New Hampshire-based WIN Waste Innovations.

As reported by Wicked Local, Suuberg related MassDEP's position on potential future expansion of the WIN Waste Innovations ash landfill in a Nov. 16 communication to state Rep. Jeffrey Turco.

He wrote, “While an applicant is free to propose a site assignment modification, and MassDEP will review information submitted, based upon the information presently before MassDEP, the facility fails to meet the necessary site suitability criteria to allow for expansion within the Area of Critical Environmental Concern and therefore would not receive a positive site suitability determination.

“Without a positive site suitability determination from MassDEP, a proposal to amend the facility's site assignment to allow for vertical expansion would not advance to the Saugus Board of Health for consideration.”

James Connolly, vice president for WIN Waste Innovations (formerly Wheelabrator) has told the town’s Wheelabrator Subcommittee that WIN Waste Innovations would like to continue using the adjacent landfill to dispose of the ash remnants that are burned in the stacks.

WIN Waste Innovations projects that the landfill, where refuse incinerated at the company’s waste-to-energy plant is deposited, has enough capacity to accept more ash through the end of 2024.

When WIN Waste Innovations received a permit in 2018 to allow additional disposal capacity while keeping the peak elevation of the ash landfill at 50 feet above mean sea level, Suuberg outlined that MassDEP was clear that additional vertical expansion was beyond the limits of the site assignment.

“Any future proposals for expansion would require a modification to the facility's site assignment and approval from MassDEP and the Saugus Board of Health,” Suuberg wrote. “As the landfill is located within an Area of Critical Environmental Concern (ACEC), an expansion of the landfill {including vertical expansion) would need to meet the site suitability criteria in the regulations with respect to the site assignment.”

According to Wicked Local, Connolly said MassDEP’s letter concerns procedural steps that any proposal involving expansion would need to follow, including a lengthy review by both the town and state.

“We have no such proposal and are currently focused on working with the landfill committee to explore ways in which we can continue providing environmental and economic benefits to the town,” Connolly said.