By LISA NUGENT

“The Choice is clear…”

For decades, the Mechanic Street landfill was regularly polluted and contaminated with highly toxic materials by the many plastics and chemical manufacturers in Leominster. The landfill is also directly adjacent to the Nashua River, which was at one time among the 10 most polluted rivers in the United States. Decades of effort and resources have gone into getting both the landfill and the Nashua River to a somewhat stable state. We should emphatically and diligently keep any organization from tampering with either the landfill or the river, especially organizations that do not possess the highest degree of skill, knowledge, and ethics regarding the environment.

The Fairgrounds’ own mailer claims that their construction on and monitoring of the landfill would be an improvement over the city’s current management. They say they will have the right people to properly handle the landfill for their project, but it’s imperative that we keep in mind that the City of Leominster will retain ownership. Who do we think will be responsible should something go wrong? If abutters are poisoned; if the Nashua River becomes contaminated and adversely affects other towns’ water; if landfill toxins sicken people at events held there or kill expensive visiting racehorses; if there is a methane explosion caused by site compression: who do we think will be responsible?

Any lawsuit would include the owners of the landfill – the City of Leominster.

Part of the proposal the City Council may eventually vote on includes allowing The Fairgrounds to take over management of the landfill. The Fairgrounds presents this as a positive: the City allowing a private company to take over management of public safety infrastructure. Should any issues arise, given that the City of Leominster elected to allow them to alter and monitor the landfill, the City would be deemed just as much at fault as Fields, Whitney, and their engineers. And who would be ponying up the money to pay any exorbitant litigation fees and/or any monies awarded to the plaintiffs? You guessed it – Leominster taxpayers.

Aren’t we, as a city, savvy enough to avoid such risk? With the City of Leominster retaining ownership of the land, shouldn’t we be looking to enter long-standing agreements with organizations and people of sterling reputations, unmarred by costly litigations (unlike Baystate investor Richard Fields)? This will be a long-standing commitment, and we should be fully aware of what we are getting into. Before deciding that you are for The Fairgrounds, please take the time to research the people involved and the huge liability Leominster would be exposing itself to.

If the city ends up in court due to the actions of an organizatio or individual that is leasing/licensing the land, those costs will come out of the citizens of Leominster’s pockets.