The vacancies came under public scrutiny recently as the council gave DES guidance on its proposed updates to the state’s landfill regulations. (Hadley Barndollar | New Hampshire Bulletin)
A former toxicologist from the Department of Environmental Services will serve as the public health expert on the Waste Management Council, a body whose vacancies critics have said tilt it toward industry.
Jonathan M. Petali, of Manchester, filled one such vacancy after the Executive Council approved his nomination to the council Wednesday. After spending more than five years at DES as a toxicologist, Petali now works as a human health risk assessor at Battelle, a science and technology nonprofit, according to his LinkedIn.
Petali filled one of the five open seats on the Waste Management Council, which is designed to have 13 members. There are still open positions for a public interest representative, a municipal official, one of the two slots for an elected official, and a member of the business or financial community, according to the council’s webpage.
Two of the occupied seats – making up a quarter of the council before Petali’s appointment – represent the private solid waste management industry and private industries that generate hazardous waste. Other represented slots include one elected official, a licensed sanitary or environmental engineer, a person in the municipal public works field, a member of a community that recycles or recovers solid waste, a local conservation commission member, and an associate professor of environmental sciences or sanitary engineering.
The members decide on administrative appeals from DES’ Waste Management Division, advise the division director, and submit an annual report to the governor and Executive Council.
The vacancies came under public scrutiny recently as the council gave DES guidance on its proposed updates to the state’s landfill regulations. Critics said these rules were disproportionately shaped by industry; the missing seats on the council only added to these concerns. At a March committee hearing, Rep. Linda Haskins, an Exeter Democrat, said the vacancies undermined public confidence.
“The fact that these vacancies have happened over years and haven’t been addressed puts the public in the backseat when it comes to how the process is set up,” Haskins said.
Michael Wimsatt, director of the waste management division, told the Bulletin in June that, though he would like the vacancies to be filled, he didn’t feel the empty roles negatively impacted the rulemaking process, pointing to public listening sessions and private meetings with industry and environmental groups.
Gov. Chris Sununu’s office did not immediately respond to a request for comment about the status of the other vacancies. In June, his office said it can take time to fill volunteer positions such as those on the council, that recruitment and application acceptance was ongoing, and that there was still “robust opportunity” for public comments on rules, permits, and more.
The campaign of Joyce Craig, the Democratic nominee for governor and former Manchester mayor, said in August she would support a pause on new landfills in the state until a full council could review the regulations. She broadened this position recently, saying earlier this month that there would be no new landfills nor expansions under her administration.
“As far as I understand, there’s not a need for more landfills for trash that’s being generated in New Hampshire,” Craig said the night of her primary victory.
Kelly Ayotte, the Republican nominee and former U.S. senator, has said she would consider new landfills on a case-by-case basis but that she opposed the one being proposed in Dalton.