Neutral no more, Gray pushes for landfill passage

Milton Selectmen Chairman Tom Gray, seen at this month's Deliberative Session, is now a staunch supporter of the proposed ReEnergy landfill. (Lebanon Voice file photo)

MILTON - While two of Milton's selectmen and a host of respected Milton residents remain dead set against a proposed landfill on Piggott's Hill, Selectmen Chairman Tom Gray is an unabashed cheerleader, saying the tax relief to be gained could mean the difference for older people struggling to stay in their homes on a fixed income.

"Those people who are against the landfill, they aren't worried about whether they can afford to stay in their homes," Gray said on Thursday.

Gray recently explained his support for the 54-acre landfill in a two-page letter sent to random Milton residents. The letter drew scrutiny from some within the town's anti-landfill forces who felt it inappropriate for a selectman to be "electioneering" for the landfill's passage, but the state's attorney general's office determined on Thursday there was no impropriety.

"There's nothing wrong with him having a position," a spokesman for the AG's office said.

Gray said the letter - a copy of which was obtained by The Lebanon Voice - was written on his personal stationery. He didn't give an exact number on how many he'd sent out, but said there were a lot and that he hoped to send out more.

Asked if he paid for the stamps for postage, he replied only, "I paid for some of it."

Landfill opponents have organized as CALM (Citizens Against Landfills in Milton) have placed signs around town, mostly now obscured by snowbanks.

Meanwhile, ReEnergy Recycling Operations, the proposed landfill operator, delivered a slick mailer to Milton residents on Thursday touting the benefits of the landfill, including $500,000 in revenue to the town every year of operation as well as 15 full-time jobs and another $500,000 in goods and services purchased each year that will also aid the town's economy.

Gray's fellow selectmen, Mike Beaulieu and Andrew Rawson have both come out adamantly opposing the landfill, which is expected to receive approximately 300,000 tons per year of residual materials, mostly construction and demolition debris that can't be recycled.

On a given operating day, an average of 30 trucks would deliver about 1,000 tons to what has been a mostly inactive gravel pit about a mile from Exit 18.

Gray, who characterizes the fight as between the town's haves and have nots, said people are having a hard time making ends meet, and the elderly, especially, need a break.

Gray admitted that last year when the project was first proposed, he'd been neutral, only saying that the voters should decide, but recently he changed his opinion because he felt this would help with the tax burden facing hard-pressed residents on fixed incomes.

Meanwhile, a broad coalition of environmentalists, farmers and other townspeople have voiced concerns about the possible negative impact on the town, which depends heavily on summer tourists and the lure of a pristine Milton Three Ponds watershed for much of its revenue.

The Three Ponds Protective Association Board of Directors recently stated, "the very idea that town officials are considering this is already causing a diminution of the value of waterfront properties. ... The risks of serious harm to aquifers, Three Ponds, and the Environment are too great."

Gray, however, claims that the landfill will be administered safely and other similar landfills like Turnkey in Rochester have had "no (environmental impact) issues."

If the landfill is approved the facility is slated to be accepting residues in mid-2017.

Milton voters will decide the issue on Election Day on March 10.