The House approved House Bill 602, which would establish a two-step application process for siting landfills in the state. Under the bill, the Department of Environmental Services would do a preliminary assessment if a location would meet state regulations and rules before going forward with the full application process.
Supporters of the bill said it would save the state and developers time and money and take the pressure off state employees who are consulted by developers as they begin the current landfill application process, putting them in a bad position. Rep. Kelley Potenza, R-Rochester, said the process is similar to other states’ around the country. “We’ve been lagging behind most states for decades. This brings us in line,” she said, and will speed up the process because DES will have already evaluated the site.
But Rep. Kevin Verville, R-Deerfield, said the legislature ought to let the department move forward with adopting new rules and regulations for landfills before passing any more legislation. He said all of these bills on landfills are about the one proposed near Dalton and has a new application. “This bill is a fix to something being done that is not complete,” he said. “We don’t know if there is a problem.”