Meet Eliot Wessler
A profile by Annie Hoyer
Eliot Wessler was born and raised in New York and attended New York City public schools. He’s the youngest of 4 children. His brother had severe asthma. His parents learned of Bethlehem because of its reputation for clean air. Consequently, they began bringing the family to New Hampshire for summers when Eliot was only a little boy.
His parents bought the former Bethlehem train depot, which was in use from the 1880s through the 1920s and later converted into a private home. They enjoyed the Jewish community they found in Bethlehem and became members of BHC. Eliot said of these summer idles, “Virtually all my happy memories of childhood are from my time in Bethlehem.”
Eliot moved around as a young adult, going to college out west, doing graduate work in Resource Economics at Clark University in Massachusetts. He settled in Washington, DC, where he met his wife, Ellen, while working at the same consulting firm. They wound up living in Washington DC for 35 years and raising their two children there. He was (and still is) the cook and food shopper in the family. Between those tasks, his career and the usual demands of child-rearing, the years flew by.
Eliot’s expertise is in energy regulation, and he had several different jobs during that time, some in consulting firms and in the federal government. Ellen worked in budgeting for the federal government. After their son was born, she was lucky to find another woman with a skill set similar to hers, and they shared a job.
Throughout his adult years, regardless of where he was living, Eliot cannot think of a summer when he, and later his family, did not return to Bethlehem for a summer stay. When his family was young, they stayed in his parents’ home, but it was quite small. Ellen suggested they rent a house on Forest Lake in Whitefield. They did so for about 12 years and eventually bought the house next door.
In retirement, he and Ellen spend the warm half of the year at the lake house and the chilly months in St. Petersburg, FL. Both their son and daughter live in DC, but they come up to Forest Lake each year. Eliot is delighted that his parents’ home is now owned by fellow BHC member and former Bethlehem selectman Bruce Caplain.
Eliot feels a special and serious commitment to the Bethlehem area because of his family’s long history here, a history which originated because of the purity of the environment. That’s his motivation for his volunteer work to try to make sure that the Bethlehem landfill closes and that Casella, the company operating it, can’t open new landfills which would primarily be used to dump out-of-state trash.
He expressed his current concern is that the NH legislature is considering passing the Senate’s amendment to HB707, which would make it possible for Casella to expand the capacity of the Bethlehem landfill rather than close it, as is scheduled. In addition, the legislation would make it easier to get permits to open Casella’s proposed landfill in Dalton, virtually right next to Forest Lake.
The Bethlehem landfill has had over 200 permit violations (in contrast to the two other landfills in NH, which together have only a handful of permit violations). He is concerned because of Casella’s irresponsible track record, and the fact that the amendment does not allow for any local control regarding siting of future projects.
Landfills by their very nature “stink, attract varmints, increase noisy truck traffic and are ugly,” Eliot said. When the company was doing test drills, they punctured holes through the liner, and consequently, Eliot added, “PFAS and other chemicals may infiltrate through the trash into the ground water.”
He has written over 20 editorials in several NH newspapers about the state’s need to reform its landfill regulation, including a recent editorial in the Concord Monitor, outlining his strong objections to this bill. He hopes members of the BHC community will stand with the volunteers trying to ensure that NH refuses to allow Casella to expand the Bethlehem landfill.
Eliot’s commitment to the Bethlehem area extends to the BHC congregation. As a child he had a bar mitzvah, and although he considers himself a cultural and not an observant Jew, he has been a long-time member. “I believe in maintaining a strong Jewish community in Bethlehem,” he explained. “It’s a way for me to honor my mother and father.”