This deal smells

Hmmmm, this story in today's Daily News gave me a little pause.

It seems there has been some kind of a deal struck between the city and New Ventures, the company that owns the landfill.

Mayor John Moak said the proposal is the result of "conversations" between the company and city officials. Details of New Ventures' proposed amendments to the host agreement were outlined in a letter given to the mayor and City Council this week.

At the heart of the proposal is to increase the traffic into the landfill — which has been a major point of contention for many of the neighbors — from 35 to 70 trucks a day.

(Me: Does anyone realize how much truck traffic that would be? One truck every seven minutes over an 8-hr. day, going through a residential area.)

In return, the agreement would release the city of some potential responsibility for cleanup, since the state's Department of Environmental Protection last year declared the dump a "21E" contaminated site rather than a solid waste landfill.

So there is potential liability for the city? From what I understand, the city never owned the site. The city contracted with the previous owner to dump city waste there.

New Ventures argues that because of the designation change, all those entities that have dumped at Crow Lane over the years — including the city — must help pay for the closure costs. The company argues that would cost the city $2 to $3 million.

This seems ridiculous to me.

(Mayor John) Moak also said New Ventures' proposal would release the city from liability on some of the issues from 21E but not all.

So there IS liability. This is useless. Guess we'll all just have to wait until Monday night. The public part of the meeting doesn't start until 7:30.

But wait, I just got this email, from Ron:

Just a little rough calculation to help understand how much more volume the landfill owner is asking for.

I heard the approximate volume increase is 70,000 cubic yards. If you remove the roof from Newburyport City Hall and fill the building with construction trash, I estimate it would hold 7,000 cubic yards. So the landfill volume increase is 10 city halls (70,000 divided by 7,000).

Picture 10 city hall buildings side by side. That's the additional volume we'll be trucking into Crow Lane in exchange for a promise that the landfill owner won't sue the city.

Good deal? You decide.