Report on tri-county solid-waste disposal agency delayed

Ulster County Resource Recovery Agency officials expect it will be at least another month before they get a report on solid waste disposal options that could be put in place by a public authority covering Ulster, Greene and Sullivan counties.

The update was provided during an agency meeting Wednesday, with the officials saying their consul- tants are still gathering information.

“They’re still working on it,” agency Executive Director Tim Rose said. “It’s a big report. They were looking to do it this month, but, with the holidays, we said, ‘Let’s do it in January,’ because we didn’t know if there were going to be a lot of people around.”

Board members in August approved a $39,700 contract with Middletownbased Cornerstone Engineering and Land Survey- ing. They had expected it would take about two months to determine how administration could be handled under a threecounty agency.

“They are trying to compile all this data together and hoping to have something in a few weeks,” Rose said.

While officials in Greene and Sullivan counties have agreed to provide information needed for the study, the entire cost is being paid through the Ulster County Resource Recovery Agency.

Goals listed in an Aug. 15 letter from Cornerstone officials include creating efficiencies that reduce longhaul trucking.

“It is anticipated that coordination resulting from the combination of the various county assets under one organization will facilitate a greater level of efficiency and provide a broader range of services than can currently be obtained through each county maintaining independent operations,” they wrote.

Cornerstone officials said the larger volume of solid waste could create discounts for disposal, while more recycling material would provide a better selling position with commodities markets.

The proposal for a study does not specifically say a landfill would be considered, but agency officials acknowledge that would be one of the options. There has also been recent reviews of biowaste energy fa- cilities, which board members have said should be considered by the counties.

“The conceptual model will identify the facilities within each county that should remain operational and will also look at whether the model would benefit from the development of new facilities,” company officials wrote. “In addition to facilities, Cornerstone will identify staffing and equipment necessary to oversee and operate the proposed model.”