What they lack in cash, they make up in creativity

Sandy Blanc's sign on McKeagney Road. (Courtesy photos)

MILTON - While the campaign coffers for Milton's anti-landfill forces may not stack up against those of corporate giant ReEnergy, when it comes to creativity and passion, that's another matter.

ReEnergy has spent thousands of dollars in its campaign to woo residents with several slick mailers. On Saturday signs pushing a "Yes" vote to allow the landfill popped up all over Milton touting the economic benefits of the landfill

But some residents like Sandy Blanc of McKeagney Road have taken the challenge to get their word out as well, though they have much less money to tap into.

Blanc spray-painted her anti-landfill message on a snowbank near her house, and she said on Saturday she knows it got through to at least one Milton resident already.

"As I'm making the sign, someone stopped and said they didn't understand (Referendum) number three," she said on Saturday. "I explained it and they said they are now dead set against the landfill."

A sign by Jamie Lynn Downs

Blanc, who has called Milton home since 2007, said there is a lot of propaganda about the benefits, but the negative impact on the environment is the No. 1 reason she wants to keep the proposal from going forward.

"Almost all landfills have failed," she said, "and naming it the Milton Environmental Park is so misleading."

ReEnergy, which operates recycling facilities in New Hampshire, Maine and Massachusetts, is proposing a construction and demolition landfill on Piggott's Hill a short distance from Exit 18. The site is now home to a gravel pit.

If Referendum 3 passes by majority vote on Tuesday, it will enable them to move forward with constructing the facility, which will include a 54-acre landfill where nonrecyclable material will be deposited.

That material to be dumped would include two types of debris: 1) materials left after other construction debris has been recycled and 2) bulky waste that would include larger materials that can't be reused, including carpeting, fiberglass Insulation, siding, shingles, glued wood, plywood, flooring, and vinyl siding.

About 30 trucks a day - about three an hour during daylight hours - would deliver the material traveling south on Route 125 from Exit 18 to the dump site.

A sign by Selectman Andrew Rawson

ReEnergy said it anticipates creating 15 "good paying" jobs with the site, and green signs urging a "Yes" vote on Referendum 3 are everywhere throughout Milton touting the jobs angle.

However, James Hill, who owns a small parcel of land near the proposed landfill site and whose family has owned property in Milton on Milton Three Ponds in Milton since 1965, said ReEnergy is all about saying the "coulds" and the "shoulds" but short on guarantees.

Hill, who lives in Farmington, but is known to many as "The Singing Kayak Guy" of Milton Three Ponds, says, in fact, ReEnergy makes no promises of benefits to Milton, just noise, pollution and the fouling of its natural beauty.

"They make no promises, but I can promise you this," Hill said. "What will happen is I know we will have noise from trucks, and heavy-duty machinery up in the area of the landfill."

Hill said that lead paint, asbestos and other toxins are sure to be present in such material.

"Asbestos goes airborne," he said. "How do we know how far it will fly?"

Hill said he's loved spending summers at Milton Three Ponds since the '60s, and remembers when he first started, "there were no loons, there were no eagles. Now we have both. This can't be good for them, either."

Hill added that wildlife in the area of the landfill will also be compromised and driven out from the pollution and noise.

Meanwhile, Les Elder has begun an effort to get more anti-landfill signs out and about on Milton streets.

"Vote No On #3 Signs" are being printed up today.

To order one contact Les Elder or Eric Knapp.

Residents can also consider making a small monetary donation to help offset rush delivery printing costs by sending donations directly to:

Les Elder, 14 Casey Road, Milton NH 03851 or via Paypal atelders@metrocast.net