New Hampshire House committee advances amended landfill moratorium bill

New Hampshire House lawmakers have agreed to seek a three-year pause on new landfills, the New Hampshire Public Radio reports. This week the House Environment and Agriculture Committee voted 13-1 in favor of an amended House Bill 171.

Legislators had initially hoped to enact a temporary moratorium on new landfills, but they are lowering their aim in an attempt to strike a balance in negotiations with the New Hampshire Senate and Gov. Kelly Ayotte.

The New Hampshire Senate has its own version of the bill, Senate Bill 226, which proposes a six-year moratorium. Ayotte has endorsed a one-year moratorium on new landfills in the state.

State Rep. Kevin Scully, a Republican who voted against the House bill, tells the Concord Monitor he agrees a moratorium is necessary but that he’s not in favor of a three-year pause.

“I honestly believe that there would be almost zero chance that a three-year moratorium would pass the Senate,” Scully says. “I think it’s a much easier sell with the other body if we make that one year and I think the tea leaves are that the governor will also be in favor of that.”

RELATED: New Hampshire legislators consider moratorium on new landfill permits

State Rep. Johah Wheeler, a Democrat, tells the Monitor the House should hold firm on its original position of a five-year halt on new landfill permits, saying he heard from several residents across the state who want stronger protections for the environment and public health.

State representatives say they are moving carefully to shape the bill in a way that ensures a landfill moratorium passes this year, the Monitor reports. Last year the House approved similar legislation only for it to fail in the Senate.

An ongoing controversy around Rutland, Vermont-based Casella Waste Systems’ Vermont, proposed landfill near Forest Lake in Dalton, New Hampshire, has kept the issue central in nearly every legislative hearing on landfills.