After 30 years of testing, Hubbardston Board of Health to pursue DEP review of landfill monitoring

Board members told residents at the Town of Hubbardston Board of Health meeting that three decades of landfill monitoring have not shown contamination and that they will pursue a regulatory review with the state to request an end to routine testing.

The board reviewed the most recent monitoring report and discussed how the testing program began at higher frequency and was reduced over time. Members said the town has completed roughly 30 years of sampling with no significant results and that seeking a formal determination from the Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) could relieve the town and taxpayers of recurring testing costs.

Why it matters: ongoing monitoring can be costly; a formal DEP determination that monitoring is no longer required would reduce future costs and administrative burden if the state agrees.

What the board recorded: the board asked staff to prepare documentation and to engage legal or administrative support as necessary to request that the DEP retire routine monitoring requirements for the town landfill. Members noted that testing frequency had fallen from quarterly in the 1990s to once yearly recently and that total historical testing covered a wide suite of organic and inorganic analytes.

Board member Gael (named during the meeting) was thanked for taking responsibility for advancing the paperwork. The chair said the next step is to "go and say, okay. Who do we go to at the DEP ... to say that we've done 30 years, completed 30 years of testing with no bad results." Members discussed obtaining a scanned copy of the historical report and forwarding it to the state as part of the request.

Ending: staff will prepare documentation, coordinate with the town treasurer for invoicing matters and return with a draft request or recommended next steps to present to DEP.