A plan by a company called L.B. Railco to build a transfer station and landfill to handle construction and demolition waste and contaminated soil in Millbury, Mass., is facing sizable opposition from local authorities, as well as state regulators.
While on the surface the opposition is another case of NIMBY (Not in My Back Yard) preventing a facility from building in a city, Ray Houle, Millbury’s town manager, stresses “It is not a NIMBY thing.” Defending his position, Houle noted that a Wheelabrator waste-to-energy facility operates in the area and has not received opposition from the city.
What is creating problems, Houle stresses is that LB Railco is attempting to circumvent the permitting process through its claim that it is a rail company, and not a waste management company. As a rail company LB Railco is exempt from permitting issues, allowing it to open and operate a transfer station.
According to Houle, the company is hoping to have a transfer station and landfill open and operational by the first half of this year.
Along with the town of Millbury, other groups and agencies that have sided with the town include the state of Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection and local waste management companies. Houle says that private haulers oppose the building of the site because L.B. Railco would be able to avoid the permitting process that other companies must go through.
Another concern expressed by city leaders is that the proposed site is close to a waterway, as well as the town’s well head, Houle notes. Any spill into the river could affect towns throughout the area.
While the city of Millbury and the state DEP oppose the project, the decision has been moved to the Surface Transportation Board. The STB has put a temporary halt on the project, and is expected to make a final ruling on whether L.B. Railco can build at the site in the very near future.
Railco has sought an exemption under a 1925 Federal Railroad Act, which would give it permission -- as a rail company -- to operate the transfer station without needing a permit.
However, some opponents of the project say that the rail company is basically a waste management company first and foremost. According to John Giorgio, Millbury’s town counsel, in a letter sent in opposition to the siting that appeared in the Woonsocket (Mass) Call, he wrote, "L.B. Railco is a rail carrier in only the most tenuous sense: it is in reality a waste disposal company that is under the same corporate umbrella as Waste Solutions Group, which operates and manages landfills and other waste processing facilities. Merely because it provides horizontal integration of its waste processing and transport operations, L.B. Railco seeks to evade state and municipal statutes and by-laws that apply to all similar facilities."