The New York state Department of Environmental Conservation is holding two public hearing sessions this week on a proposed biochar facility in Saratoga County.
Saratoga Biochar Solutions wants to locate an $83 million facility in the northern Saratoga County community of Moreau, where residents remain divided over the issue.
The proposed plant would have more than 700 tons of biosolids, what critics call sewage sludge, shipped from all over New York state to the Moreau plant per day.
The DEC issued a “Notice of Complete Application” in January regarding Saratoga Biochar’s Air and Solid Waste Management Facility permits.
Saratoga Biochar CEO Raymond Apy doesn’t think any new information will be presented to the DEC that could sway its stance on the project.
“They don’t have—there’s not a new argument that anyone’s possibly going to present to the New York State DEC during this public comment period, or during the public comment hearings, that the DEC and we have not already heard before, has not already been address, has not already been deeply inspected. It’s just not going to happen,” said Apy.
But if something new is brought up?
“We will have to address that. We will have to look at that and say, ‘wow, huh, that’s a good question. How did we miss that?’ And we’ll have to deal with that. I don’t think it’s possible,” said Apy.
Organizers from the Clean Air Action Network linked what they have described as a “rushed” approval for the proposed project by the town’s planning board to then-town supervisor Todd Kusnierz, who lost November’s re-election bid by a 3-to-1 margin.
New town supervisor Jesse Fish did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
The group filed a lawsuit claiming the planning board was unreasonable in its assessment that the facility’s potential environmental impacts would be negligible.
A judge sided with Saratoga Biochar and the Moreau planning board in June, but CAAN board member Tracy Frisch says opposition to the site won’t let up.
“Saratoga Biochar has to get over several hurdles. They have to overcome any town efforts to stop the project. They have to overcome the lawsuit. And we can appeal the second round, but that takes a while to get a judge’s decision, typically. They have to get three types of permits from DEC. And that decision—those permits can be challenged as well. All the opponents have to do is stop it one of those three ways,” explained Frisch.
A virtual hearing will be held Wednesday at 6, and an in-person hearing is Thursday at South Glens Falls Senior High School Auditorium at 6.
Members of the Clean Air Action Network are hosting two information sessions Tuesday at 7, at the Moreau Community Center and the Strand Theatre in Hudson Falls.
The DEC provided a comment on 2/5, DEC subjects all applications for environmental permits to a rigorous review process to protect public health and the environment and remains committed to conducting a transparent permit review process of Saratoga Biochar’s permit applications. To ensure a clear and rigorous review process, DEC encourages anyone from the community who is interested to attend and participate at public hearings and/or submit comments in writing. DEC experts will consider all of these comments during the decision-making process before making a decision on the applications and will keep the community informed upon completion of the process.
