’til death do us part?’til death do us part?OR ALMOST TWO DECADES MERC’s own-ers have serenaded our two cities with endlesspromises of odor-free and problem-free opera-tions. Now Casella is walking Saco City Hall downthe aisle to a new, long-term contract proposal.

According to our research, this contract does the following:

• Admits that trucks going to MERC damage Saco’s roads,but makes Saco pay to fix that damage;

• Mandates our “understanding” that odor from the incin-erator is a fact of life. MERC slaps these legal handcuffs onus despite their grand and failed promises two years ago to“overwhelm” odors with awe-inspiring technology;

• Includes MERC officials as judge and jury when decidingwhat constitutes an odor violation;

• Requires our “understanding” that stuff MERC is notsupposed to burn will occasionally slip by undetected;

• Raises tipping fees to compensate MERC any timeBiddeford or Saco pass tougher laws to monitor the plant;

• Allows more than a 40% increase in the amount ofgarbage the plant can accept;

• Imposes many other provisions that, collectively, all butdestroy any prospect that Biddeford and Saco will cooper-ate in the future to impose tougher pollution controls andnuisance monitoring on MERC.

MERC Contract HearingSaco City HallTuesday, January 22, 7:00 p.m.

No matter how you feel about this contract proposal,whether pro or con, we can all agree on one thing. Saco’spublic hearing on Tuesday, January 22nd is one of the mostimportant events of the next quarter-century. Twenty yearsago, most of us could not fathom what life under MERC’splume would be like. This time all of us, especially thosewith children, need to act to protect our future.

Speak now or forever hold your peace: Saco’s at the altar.

F

Twin Cities Renaissance is a non-profit organization concernedabout the profound, negativeeffects of burning garbage indowntown Biddeford-Saco. If youwould like to be part of our net-work as we study these seriouseconomic , environmenta l andhealth consequences, send a briefnote to mrob@maine.rr.com, orPO Box 861, Biddeford, ME 04005.

Want to stay tuned?

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