The much-debated new rules for landfills in New Hampshire were easily approved by a legislative committee Thursday but the issue is certain to remain on the front burner.

JLCAR, a committee of 10 senators and representatives who approve rules that guide government agencies, approved new rules from the state Department of Environmental Services about the construction, siting and maintenance of landfills in the state. The 9-1 vote came after hearing from DES officials that the new rules were stricter than existing rules, a claim which has been disputed by some.

Rep. Carol McGuire, R-Epsom, made the motion to approve the new rules, blocking public comments from seven people who had signed up to speak at the hearing.

“Most of the issues we have heard from, and we have had voluminous public testimony, appear to be based on the policy of landfills rather than the specifics of rules,” McGuire said. At least two public hearings have been held on landfill rules.

McGuire noted that a number of bills concerning how landfills are placed, given permits or monitored have been filed by legislators to be taken up in January – at the moment, there are six of them.

“If any of those bills pass and change requirements, the rules will have to be updated,” she said. “That’s my main goal, to separate the policy discussion … from the rules discussion. JLCAR is not a policy committee, we can only go by what is currently in the law.”

The only vote against came from Rep. Peter Schmidt, D-Dover. He said DES’ description of the new rules being stricter “is almost disrespectful to the amount of opposition that these rules have received from the public. The fact they may be better in a whole series of ways does not mean they’re good. Better is not a sufficient response. These rules are not protective enough.”

Wayne Morrison, spokesman for North Country Alliance for Balanced Change, a group leading the charge against the Dalton landfill proposal, said after the meeting that the vote and lack of public comment showed that “once again, government is not working in the best interest of the people.”

Roughly 16 members of the group showed up at the Legislative Office Building on Thursday. Morrison said the group, which was formed in 2008 to fight a drag strip near Dalton, “was in it for the long haul” and that Thursday’s decision, which came after the group sat through four hours of JLCAR discussion on rules ranging from dental anesthesiology to animal training, “has made us much more committed.”

He reiterated past comments from the group and some environmental groups that the new rules were not better than existing rules despite some improvement in some areas because “there are glaring areas where they are much worse.”

“This will make it easier to site a landfill anywhere in New Hampshire,” he argued.

The main concern with landfills is what is sometimes called “trash juice,” caused by rain that percolates through the garbage and trash, eventually seeping out the sides, carrying contaminants or toxins into local waterways and soil. This issue has drawn attention because of some landfill leaks in the state and the increase in intense rain storms caused by climate change.

Current rules don’t have standards for “hydraulic conductivity,” which quantifies how fast liquid can travel through the ground in the event of a leak. That figure is a function of multiple factors, including the types and amount of soil around the landfill.

While the rules don’t specifically target the Dalton project, which is in the very earliest stages, that plan has cast a long shadow over the process of making rules, with critics arguing it has influenced the agency. DES says it has received seven proposals to modify existing landfills as well as one to build the new landfill in Dalton. Casella first proposed building a landfill there in 2019.

Gov.-elect Kelly Ayotte strongly opposed the Dalton landfill during her campaign. Gov. Chris Sununu was more of a supporter.

Sen. Tara Reardon, D-Concord, is a member of JLCAR but was not present for the meeting. Some have argued that the fact her husband, former Concord Mayor Jim Bouley, is a lobbyist for Casella means she should not vote on landfill-related matters.

David Brooks can be reached by email at dbrooks@cmonitor.com.