Time is running out for those who want to share their thoughts on the proposed “Ash for Trash” solid waste management partnership between Onondaga and Cortland counties. There will be a public hearing on the proposal at 6:30 p.m. Tuesday, Jan. 6, 2015, at the Van Buren town hall. People have until Jan. 17 to submit written comments on the subject.
Ash for Trash — known officially as the Cortland-Onondaga Regional Solid Waste Partnership — would allow Cortland County to dispose of 25,000 to 30,000 tons of solid waste at the Onondaga County Resource Recovery Agency (OCRRA) waste-to-energy facility in Jamesville. Onondaga County would then be allowed to truck 90,000 of ash from the waste-to-energy (WTE) plant to Cortland’s landfill.
Opponents of Ash for Trash say the WTE plant releases emissions that are hazardous to people and the environment. According to OCRRA Public Information Officer Kristen Lawton, the facility’s emissions are “far below what is considered potentially injurious to human health.”
If the Onondaga County Legislature does not approve Ash for Trash before the May 2015 expiration date of OCRRA’s WTE contract with Covanta Energy, the county will have to find somewhere else for the 315,000 tons of trash OCRRA currently processes each year. One alternative to Ash for Trash is the creation of a landfill at Site 31, a vacant lot located on Brickyard Road in Van Buren.
Van Buren Supervisor Claude Sykes said he is opposed to building a landfill at Site 31. Sykes said the landfill would cost $40 million to $60 million to build and would lead to increased traffic in Van Buren, Lysander, Clay and Cicero, affecting residents’ quality of life.
“That’s going to impact neighbors and communities on Route 31. All the major arteries would be impacted if the landfill were to be open,” he said. “You’ve got garbage trucks pounding by your house all the time.”
Sykes said the Ash for Trash proposal would reduce OCRRA’s trucking costs and greenhouse gas emissions from the vehicles. Currently, OCRRA hauls the ash from Jamesville to the Seneca Meadows Landfill in Waterloo. Continuing to do so passes the higher costs onto taxpayers.
Michael Plochocki, the Republican county legislator from the Sixth District in Camillus, is the chair of the legislature’s Environmental Protection Committee. Plochocki said “it’s too early to say” exactly what environmental impact adding Cortland’s trash to OCRRA’s WTE plant would have, but the legislature approved engineering firm Barton & Logiudice’s Draft Environmental Impact Statement (DEIS) earlier this month. The legislature will review the Final Environmental Impact Statement (FEIS) in the spring. This is part of the State Environmental Quality Review Act (SEQR) review.
“One thing has been clear: it is the opinion of the Department of Environmental Conservation and the Environmental Protection Agency … that waste-to-energy plants are better for the environment than landfills,” Plochocki said. “That was the case 20 years ago when the county went down the path it’s on and that’s the case today.”
OCRRA’s WTE facility began operating in 1995. It generates electricity by burning solid waste, reducing the trash’s volume by 90 percent. This produces a non-hazardous ash and generates enough electricity to power 25,000 to 30,000 homes. OCRRA sells that electricity to National Grid.
Lawton explained that OCRRA is able to reduce the emission of harmful materials such as mercury, nitrogen dioxide, furans and dioxins during the combustion process, preventing many of these things from being released into the air.
Plochocki said landfills releases a “significant amount” of methane into the atmosphere as trash breaks down. Greenhouse gases such as methane and carbon dioxide trap heat in the atmosphere and contribute to climate change.
Lawton said Ash for Trash would save OCRRA about $1 million and help Cortland County better meet the DEC’s waste management standards.
“We see this as a way to support OCRRA’s green programs in the area,” she said.
These programs include blue bin distribution, recycling education and hazardous waste collection.
Lawton said the WTE plant can process up to 361,000 tons of solid waste per year and Cortland County’s trash would help the facility operate more efficiently.
Plochocki stressed that the partnership is still in its early stages, but the legislature is taking the environmental effects of the plan seriously.
“We’re still some time away from making a final decision,” he said. “Environmental protection in this matter is paramount to me personally and our legislature in general.”
Plochocki said residents’ comments are “very helpful” to legislators as they gather information for the Ash to Trash decision.
Members of the public can submit written comments until 4:30 p.m. Jan. 17, in person at Barton & Logiudice’s office or by mail or email. Direct comments to: Jillian Blake, c/oBarton & Loguidice, D.P.C., 290 Elwood Davis Road, Box 3107, Syracuse, NY 13220 or [email protected].
Want to know more?
To learn more about the Cortland-Onondaga Regional Solid Waste Partnership, visit these websites:
bartonandloguidice.com/cortlandonondagapartnership
cortland-co.org/Legislature/cortland_county_ash_for_trash_pr.htm
ocrra.org/news/details/42
ongov.net/legislature/PHSOLIDWASTEPARTNSHHIP.txt
