I’m pleased to announce that a bill requiring the clean-up of the Coakley land fill in Greenland and North Hampton passed the legislature and was signed into law by the Governor this term. I was a co-sponsor of this bill that included many representatives and state senators from the Seacoast area.
In my testimony to the NH House Environmental and Agriculture Committee I said that with PFOA and PFOS contamination spreading throughout New Hampshire and the United States, our town of Greenland is feeling the fear of the harm these emerging contaminants are creating because we sit right next to what is now an infamous EPA superfund site that people doubt was ever properly contained.
Our frustration is that while only part of the Coakley site sits in Greenland, we were not a contributor to the contaminants that were depostied there and we are not a member of the Coakley Landfill Group. One can imagine not only concern about a spreading plume of ground water with who knows what it contains that is moving in Greenland’s direction, but also we have little to no say in the mititgation and remediation of the problem that is creating health worries among the businesses and private property owners and families who live near the site.
Our Selectboard is working with the city of Portsmouth on bringing water to certain residents of Greenland. However, there is an immediate concern because of the unkowns associated with this site. Our Planning Board says it has no new projects for 6 months and real estate companies say this issue is having a negative effect on home sales in Greenland.