Casella dumps on MCI

John W. Casella, Chairman and CEO of Casella Waste Systems (the landfill in Coventry, VT), took to the editorial page of newspapers in the U.S. last week to enlighten the public with some facts about the dumpsite.

Coincidentally, through Casella’s explanation, the landfill comes off clean as a whistle. The real culprit, according to him, is the citizens generating the waste that Casella, for no small fee, processes and disposes of.

Local non-profit environmental group Memphremagog Conservation Inc. (MCI) and its American ally Don’t Undermine Memphremagog’s Purity (DUMP), were also targeted by Casella’s editorial, which suggested their opposition to leachate from Coventry dump reaching lake Memphremagog was taking time and resources away from addressing the real issues putting the natural resource (the lake) at risk.

“It’s a joke,” said MCI President Robert Benoit, after toning down a more colourful critique.

According to Benoit, as of Oct.23, Casella will no longer be permitted to send leachate from the landfill to be treated at the Newport water treatment facility, which ends up in Lake Memphremagog. Instead, the company will have to truck the wastewater roughly two hours to another facility, representing a major cost increase.

Benoit said Casella’s letter was an attempt to point the finger at other polluters and downplay the effects of leachate in the lake so that the company could continue processing wastewater in Newport. There is always the possibility for Casella to reapply to have its leachate processed in Newport, if it is demonstrated that

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