I live outside of the Crow Lane Landfill fumes. And typically, if something going on in town does not affect me, I do not pay as much attention to it as I would otherwise.

Yesterday I talked to some folks who are affected by the Crow Lane Landfill fumes. Apparently New Ventures, the Landfill operator, has claimed that they have fixed the problem, but they have not.

From what I have heard, this weekend the toxic fumes were for some people at their very worst.

The smell has been described as rotting eggs or rotting cabbage. One family who lives beyond the hospital on the other side of High Street (which is quite a ways from the Crow Lane Landfill) has said the odor woke their family out of their sleep and the stench is so bad that they could hardly breath. One can only imagine what it is like for the folks who live closer to the Crow Lane Landfill.

As I understand it the fumes from the Landfill affect people in different ways. These are some of them:

*Burning eyes
*Scratchy throat
*Headaches
*Nausea
*Earaches
*Dry-heaves

Apparently the odors start in the evening, typically around 8PM and go all through the night.

This is really terrifying folks.

People in Newburyport are at their wits end as to what to do. Obviously they are terrified for their health and their family’s health. We should all be terrified too.

If it is not safe to breath the air in Newburyport, MA, it really won’t matter about anything else.

The hope is that the State will do something immediately. State Representative Michael Costello and State Senator Steven Baddour have been invited to attend Thursday night’s meeting. So have Officials from the Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) and the Sate Attorney General’s Office. Mayor John Moak and members of the Newburyport City Council will be there as well.

People need to pour into this meeting. Numbers count folks. This is a citywide emergency.

And this is the meeting to go to.

This Thursday
September 14, 2006
7 PM
Newburyport, City Hall

Mary Eaton
Newburyport