Residents complain that the noise, smell and dust from the landfill are already impacting their quality of life.
South Hadley residents, who refer to the town landfill as "mount trashmore," protested plans Thursday to expand the dump.
SOUTH HADLEY – A dozen protesters stood on Newton Street across from the Town Common on Thursday afternoon, holding signs that read, “Stop Mount Trashmore,” "Help save what’s left of the Bynan Conservation Area,” and “Vote No on Article 12.”
Article 12 refers to a vote coming up at the special Town Meeting on Monday.
All of the signs referred to the ongoing landfill expansion in South Hadley, which is designed to avoid the shutting down of the facility and the loss of over $1 million in host fees for the town.
The group of protesters, which calls itself SHAME (for "South Hadley Against More Expansion"), is mostly from the Old Lyman Street area and is headed by resident Christine Archambault.
They have been vocal and persistent, and the demonstration is only the latest of the strategies that have drawn attention to their cause.
The town contracted with Interstate Waste in 2009 to expand the landfill, but in the past year and a half those who live near it have been complaining to the selectboard and other committees that the noise, smell and dust from the landfill are already impacting their quality of life.
In May 2011, a half-dozen of residents testified before the selectboard about noxious effects. The following year group member Suzanne Cordes gave a PowerPoint presentation to the selectboard about a crack that had developed in a berm at the landfill..
This August, the Department of Environmental Protection imposed a $20,000 fine on Interstate Waste, the company that runs the landfill, for "willful violations" that were causing nuisance odors..
The citizen group has also filed a complaint with the state Attorney General to protest the silencing of a resident who tried to ask a question about the landfill at a Conservation Committee meeting that included Interstate Waste representatives.
The current focus of the citizen group is the encroachment of the landfill into the Bynan Conservation Area. Article 12 is about delineating what's protected and what's not.
The activists have succeeded in getting results from the town and from Interstate Waste, though not nearly to the degree they want.
The selectboard has created a Landfill Advisory Committee that includes resident members. Interstate Waste has attended selectboard meetings, listened to the residents' complaints and made efforts to correct them.
Several people among the protesters admitted that conditions have been better lately, but said they doubted it would last.