Eliot Wessler lives in Whitefield and works with a number of grassroots organizations in New Hampshire’s North Country.

The theme of Governor Ayotte’s inaugural address could not have been more welcoming. She said, “I want you to know I will be a governor for everyone.”

While acknowledging that our state has “real challenges that we have to take head-on,” she spelled out her priorities, notably that it’s essential to find a balance between the need “to grow our economy and increase our quality of life.”

Like all good elected officials, she saved one of her best ideas for last. At the end of her speech, she talked about her priority to preserve the natural environment of our state, particularly New Hampshire’s North Country. She said, “The greatest resource our state has, besides its people, is our beautiful landscape. No other state boasts the natural beauty that we do.”

And that is obviously not just a talking point for Gov. Ayotte. She doubled down on her pledge to put an end to plans to build a giant new landfill in the North Country. She said, “There will be no landfill at Forest Lake in Dalton. We will not allow that beautiful part of our state and that beautiful area to become a dumping ground for out-of-state trash. It’s just not going to happen.”

To which all of the people of New Hampshire, and not just those who live in the North Country, should say, thank you Gov. Ayotte.

The GSL project was a bad idea from the day it was announced, and the evidence against the project has only grown. As Gov. Ayotte has pointed out, it’s hard to imagine how anyone could think it a good idea to site a giant new landfill within a half mile from one of our state’s most beloved state parks. Forest Lake State Park is a one-of-a-kind resource for New Hampshire’s North Country, and an important contributor to New Hampshire’s tourist economy.

Moreover, the site is effectively in the middle of a sand and gravel pit, increasing dramatically the risk to public health and the environment when, not if, the landfill starts to leak due to accidents or simply due to age of the facility. As any soil scientist or solid waste engineer will tell you, siting a landfill in highly-permeable soils like sand is just about the worst place to put a landfill.

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And then there is the issue of out-of-state trash. Our state already is being overrun by out-of-state trash. Last year about 45% of the trash landfilled in New Hampshire came from out-of-state sources, with the majority coming from Massachusetts. Given plans to reserve up to 49% of the GSL landfill capacity for out-of-state trash, allowing GSL to be built in New Hampshire would likely put our state on a glide path for becoming the de facto dump for all of New England.

Casella unfortunately seems to think it can still ram its ill-conceived GSL landfill down the throats of New Hampshire residents. They have so far refused to withdraw their pending permits for GSL.

If the New Hampshire Department of Environmental Services (DES) is forced to continue processing the GSL permit applications because Casella refuses to withdraw them, this will be costly for our state, as it will take significant time and resources that could be used for better purposes such as determining how our state is going to regulate PFAS contamination from landfills and other sources.

Virtually nobody in New Hampshire wants to see Casella build its giant new landfill in Dalton, and nobody wants to see this process drag on for years, especially given the fact that Casella has demonstrated that it is not above bullying state and local officials and litigating out of sheer spite, to get what it wants.

Casella right now has a chance to show respect for the people of New Hampshire and for our new governor. We should all urge Casella to do the right thing and withdraw all pending permit applications for its ill-conceived GSL project.