Town of Warren v. Hazardous Waste Facility Site Safety Council

In 1980, the Massachusetts legislature enacted the Hazardous Waste Facility Siting Act (siting act). The purpose of the siting act was to immediately encourage and expedite the development of hazardous-waste treatment and disposal facilities to protect the general welfare. The siting act provided communities that hosted such facilities with a significant role in the siting process. The purpose of providing host communities a larger role in the siting process was to decrease local resistance to the siting of such facilities. The siting act provided that a local-assessment committee was to be formed to oversee the siting process and participate in the selection of an agreeable site for hazardous waste. Before a facility could be constructed, a siting agreement between the developer and the host community was required. If no siting agreement could be reached, then the developer and the host community had to submit to final and binding arbitration. Once a siting agreement was established, the developer was eligible for a license if it could be established that the developer’s facility would pose no greater risk to the local community than the risk similar facilities located in other municipalities posed to their respective areas. Persons aggrieved by the final approval of a facility were permitted to appeal to the superior court.