The DEP is coming to City hall next Thursday night, September 14, 2006 at 7 PM to address the Landfill issue.

This is an extremely important meeting for the City of Newburyport, MA.

The DEP is coming to discuss health issues as a result of the air quality sampling that was done earlier in the year. The DEP has labeled the findings to be a “health hazard”.

This is a City-wide issue. Not only has the air quality been deemed a “health hazard,” but also the runoff is affecting the Little River and surrounding wetlands.

The hope would be that State officials would understand that we as a City are concerned and would not like to be left with this unfortunate and dangerous situation.

And I also gather that the hope would be to try and get at least 200 people or more to be at City Hall that evening

My understanding is that the DEP will present information on what is currently happening and, hopefully, what is going to be done to fix the problem. They will also answer questions.

As I understand it, this is an opportunity to ask questions of the DEP. And I also understand that the hope is that the tone of the meeting would be civil and constructive and that complaints and war stories would be left for another time.

City Councilor Bruce Vogel has offered to gather questions. Please feel free to send your questions to Councilor Vogel at 978-462-5463 or wardfive@comcast.net.

(The Landfill is in Councilor Vogel’s ward, Ward 5, and I am sure that he will do everything in his power to help everyone on this issue.)

I have no idea if there are fliers out for the meeting. If there are, I would be most happy to pass on the word.

Mary Eaton
Newburyport