County chair wants to move on trash plan
Ulster County Legislature Chairwoman Tracey Bartels expects that a longterm solid waste management plan will be flexible enough to include both market requirements for disposal and aspirations of lawmakers to develop an environmentally friendly local solution that reduces use of landfills.
The update was provided during an interview Tuesday, with Bartels noting that there has been an abundance of site visits and studies done over the past few years but lawmakers have been slow to develop their vision.
“I believe that this county has its moment of opportunity but I feel like we’re heading into a moment of crisis if we don’t take some kind of action,” she said.
Ulster County Resource Recovery Agency board members last week put off approving a $115,000 contract with consulting firm Cornerstone Engineering to allow Bartels an opportunity to evaluate whether there would be any conflicts with goals by lawmakers.
Over the past several years, agency officials and lawmakers have conducted both joint and separate studies of disposal options that include burn plants, landfill operations and waste-to-fuel facilities.
While a legislative committee has produced a document of about 800 pages consisting of individual reports, that group never completed a final document or made recommendations. At the same time, agency officials, some of whom participated in the committee, have conducted their own site visits that have included facilities in England and Italy.
“We’ve begun discussions of (a multi-county agency), we’ve circled around conversations of local self-reliance ... (but) not being specific about what the final disposition of solid waste would be, the agency’s been going down the road of new technologies,” she said. “All those things are on the table. At the same time, we know that Seneca Meadows landfill is scheduled to close.”
Under the proposed contract, Cornerstone would develop a disposal plan covering 2020-29, with agency policy expected to be shaped by anticipated state rule changes.
The agency has been seeking to have a long-term solid waste disposal plan in place since submitting a proposal to the state Department of Environmental Conservation in 2011. That document was never finalized and in April 2018 the agency was initially given six months to respond to question before it granted a one-year extension in September to submit an entirely new document.
Bartels said the Legislature will need to approve the long-term plan before it is sent for state approval. She added that if agency officials determine that a local facility is needed, that it would be better for lawmakers to have information in advance because they will have to vote on any bonding over $500,000.
“I believe we should move from the outset with some kind of discussion about where we’re headed,” she said.