TOWN OF ULSTER, N.Y. >> A proposed public authority that would oversee solid-waste matters in Ulster, Greene and Sullivan counties will need to focus on disposal options, but no specific plan has been discussed, according to an Ulster County lawmaker who attended a closed-door meeting about forming such an authority.
“Just a variety of potential solutions,” Legislator James Maloney said about what was discussed at the Jan. 24 meeting. “They talked about everything.”
Maloney, R-town of Ulster, said conversations about specific disposal options were brief but clearly were of concern to some people.
“One guy said, ‘Oh, we’ve got to have the landfill,'” Maloney said. But the legislator said he considers that the “least desirable of the solutions.”
Representatives from Ulster, Greene and Sullivan counties who attended the meeting focused primarily on a report by consulting firm Cornerstone that outlined costs, labor, operations and properties involved in current solid waste operations. The report also contained information about how much solid waste is generated in three counties and how the proposed authority, which would be known as GUS (Greene-Ulster-Sullivan), might be run.
A 44-page summary of the feasibility study was given to a reporter in hard-copy form after the private meeting. The full text of the study was not provided.
The summary estimates GUS would have an operating budget of nearly $32 million and employ 30 people for Ulster County, 18 for Greene County and 18 for Sullivan County.
The summary notes there currently are transfer stations and landfills that are owned by the Ulster County Resource Recovery Agency and by Sullivan County. A Jan. 25 story in the Freeman incorrectly characterized that portion of the summary as saying the landfills could be used by the new authority. In fact, the landfills are closed and, due to state regulations, cannot be reopened.
“The report was just trying to be informative, saying that there are three closed landfills in Ulster County under the auspices of the RRA,” said Resource Recovery Agency board Chairman Fred Wadnola.
Agency board member David Gordon said he told the attendees at the Jan. 24 meeting about his visits to two solid waste plants in Europe, where trash is converted into a material used as fuel for equipment in manufacturing plants.
“I told the people in the room that we were looking at other technologies and that, in particular, I had investigated a technology that might be promising and that we would have more information on that forthcoming sooner rather than later,” Gordon said.
He also said people at the meeting acknowledged that landfills currently used for solid waste disposal are running out of space.
“We all want to do something else,” he said. “That is on everybody’s mind. …
“As we hopefully develop GUS, we’re going to be moving in parallel with looking at other technologies and other ways to deal with our trash,” Gordon said.
Ulster County Legislator Manna Jo Greene said the Jan. 24 meeting, which she attended, made it clear to her that a county committee needs to complete its report about nearly two years of site visits to various types of solid waste facilities in the Northeast.
“I think there was an overall sense in the room that ultimately people want to get away from exporting waste, long hauls across the state or across states, and also concern that some of the existing facilities are going to be closing,” said Greene, D-Rosendale.
Wadnola, who supports the creation of a multicounty public authority, said disposal options are expected to be discussed by the three counties’ legislatures as the prospect of creating GUS moves ahead. And he said Gordon’s presentation would be among the options considered.
“I think it will be discussed prior to the formation of GUS, if GUS ever happens,” he said.
“I think it should happen,” Wadnola said. “But you have to get three counties to agree.”
The Jan. 24 meeting was attended by, among others, Ulster County Legislature Chairman Ken Ronk, Sullivan County Legislature Chairman Luis Alvarez and Greene County Legislature Chairman Kevin Lewis. In all, members of the Ulster County Resource Recovery Agency board and 17 other people were in attendance.
Ronk, R-Wallkill, said after the meeting that “I think that it’s a great possibility” that solid waste disposal might someday be handled on a three-county basis.
