I received this letter this afternoon that seems appropriate and adresses a current topic, – Lil

Friends of Walpole:

We are concerned citizens of the Town of Walpole who want to bring to light an issue that we are all facing in regards to Ruggerio LLC, a company based out of Vermont.  For those of you who do not know who Ruggerio LLC is, they are a garbage hauling company who currently has a processing facility located in Walpole handling Construction & Demolition debris (C&D) and now wants a permit to handle garbage.  This company was approved for a permit back in 2013 in regards to handling C&D under the duress of the land abutters.  The nearby residents as well as members of the Town were assured that there would not be any Municipal Solid Waste (MSW) or garbage, as we know it, in the facility.  As it turns out, Ruggerio has now applied to the State of NH-DES for a modified permit to allow them to handle garbage.  If approved, they would double their garbage hauling capacity from 200 tons a week to 400 tons a week.  By doubling their capacity, the number of diesel trucks going in and out would increase twofold as well as the noise level doubling when they drop their metal containers weighing several thousand pounds.  As capacity increases, the obnoxious odors emanating from the garbage will be potentially overwhelming.  Once approved, Ruggerio would be allowed to maintain on site on any given day, 60 tons of recyclable materials, 12 tons of unprocessed garbage materials, and 60 tons of garbage.  That’s a total of 132 tons at any given time on any given date.  The NH Department of Environmental Services (DES) does not specify a length of time on these operations so our children’s children will be affected by these operations.

Ruggerio is originally from CT and moved to Vermont and has now chosen to bring their garbage into Walpole due to the regulations that were implemented this year as well as forthcoming regulations in Vermont.  They receive their garbage from areas where they have contracts such as Vermont and Massachusetts.  This garbage is being brought into our small New Hampshire town and will potentially make this operation bigger than the current Keene Transfer Station site.  This is due to the fact that they just purchased many more acres of land adjacent to their current site.  According to the application submitted to the State of NH, their intention as well as to the expansion for garbage is to create a composting site of unknown size due to the strict regulations that are being implemented in Vermont.  In regards to the composting site, the City of Keene originally had their own composting site but due to the noxious odors shut down the composting site.  Another issue that comes up the most people do not think about is the rodent population from the increase in garbage.  As silly as it may seem, Ruggerio advised the State of NH that the feral cats currently living around the facility would take care of the rodent population.  Do we really want to allow Ruggerio to bring this to our little town?  The Town of Walpole already has their own processing/recycling facility that handles all of our needs and is run by people we have known for years.

As residents of the Town of Walpole who have lived here for 20+ years as well as lifelong residents, we are bringing this issue to light so others can know what is happening in their town.  Do we want Walpole to be known as Vermont’s trash facility or as the New Hampshire village we know and love.

Let’s looks at the potential economic impact of allowing this to go forth.  We could be the town where all surrounding municipalities bring their garbage to.  Property values will decrease as no one will want to live in our neighborhood or even out town with a garbage dump in our backyard.  Let’s not forget Houghton Brook which is only 150 feet from their site and which will certainly be impacted by runoff from all kinds of liquids draining from the bottom of the dumpsters left on site.

On a final note, let’s discuss how Ruggerio LLC already built a pole barn on their current site without getting permission and a building permit from the Town of Walpole.  If they can do this without Town approval, do we really believe that they will follow the rules and regulations set forth by the State.  In the past Town of Walpole Meetings, it was brought forth that Ruggerio had some “issues” that needed to be corrected from a NH State Inspection but the details of what the “issues” were was not brought to light.  Ruggerio also stated that the pole barn was built to house the dumpsters which would be housing the garbage without even applying for the permit yet.  Are these the kinds of neighbors and businesses we want in our town?

For more information, please see the Walpolean Minutes of 8/11/15 and there will also be a petition about town requesting signatures for those who do not wish to see Walpole marred by a garbage dump.

Respectfully submitted by,

Richard & Karen O’Brien

Frank & Tabatha Anderson