Discussing The Landfill Agreement
By Doug La Rocque
The Berlin Town Board meeting on Thursday, March 12 was quick and routine until, as is often the case, it came to public comment. It was then that a resident of the town questioned the recent vote to accept the Department of Environmental Conservation’s consent order on the landfill, jointly owned with the Town of Petersburgh, and the agreements with Taconic and Covanta. She wanted to know why the original votes were taken in executive session, and why any vote was taken prior to the informational meeting held by the Town of Petersburgh on Sunday, March 8. Town Supervisor Rob Jaeger answered that the vote taken in executive session was completely legal, because it dealt with attorney/client privilege, and also that the Board felt it best not to discuss its options in a forum to which the two companies might have access.
In the end, at its last workshop meeting the Board voted to accept the consent order because it felt it was the most manageable and cost-effective course of action. The consent order requires the towns to install and maintain a leachate collection system. The agreements with Taconic, the company suspected of contributing to PFOA being dumped in the landfill, and Covanta, the successor to Energy Answers, who was hired to close the landfill, total $500,000 in contributions toward the final cost. Supervisor Jaeger said the Board felt this was the best deal they were going to get.
Both agreements and the consent order were approved at a second vote with a 4 to 1 margin. Councilman Steve Riccardi being the sole dissenter. He told The Eastwick Press, in his opinion, there are too many unknowns, and that potential costs are not clearly defined. He added that “I do not want Taconic and Covanta to be able to walk on this.”
His other concern is a clause in the consent order, allowing the towns to turn it back over to the state under a Superfund Designation if the entire operation becomes too much for the towns to handle. Mr. Riccardi is suspicious of this, saying he would like to see proof or a precedent where this has happened before.
Mr. Riccardi closed his comments about being the only negative vote between the two towns by saying, “It’s OK, it’s time to move forward now.”
The only other discussion of note was about the progress of the new water tank. It was noted that the pond adjacent to the reservoir would have to be drained, and talk centered around the best way to accomplish that. Consensus was using a pump with a 2 inch line might be best, but no decision was made.