A Long and Ugly Fight

Approving a new landfill is going to require years of litigation:

Ulster County Resource Recovery Agency officials say they’ll be ready for discussions about establishing a county landfill once the current debate over a flow-control law has ended.

Finding a property with at least 200 acres was discussed during an agency board meeting on Monday at which member Charles Landi provided a list of 93 properties that would meet the size requirements.

“I’ve been doing this in my spare time, thinking that maybe, at some point in time, we might be looking at one of those (properties) as a landfill,” said Landi, a former city of Kingston alderman.

The list includes three properties in Denning, two in Esopus, one in Gardiner, 21 in Hardenburgh, three in Hurley, two in Lloyd, one in Marbletown, three in New Paltz, six in Olive, four in Rochester, one in Rosendale, one in Saugerties, 11 in Shandaken, 21 in Wawarsing and 13 in Woodstock.

No one is going to want this thing. Garbage trucks by the hundreds will descend upon the town that ends up with the short straw. I would expect there to be a protracted battle no matter where they decide to put it (assuming they approve it in the first place).

Landi goes on to suggest that the old landfill in Wawarsing could be lined and reopened, which might be the path of least resistance, especially if the county somehow sweetens the deal for the town. There is, however, a strong argument for ensuring that a new landfill incorporate the latest in environmental technology; no word on whether this is possible in Wawarsing.

Whatever happens, if the county legislature decides to go for it, we're going to be reading stories about this for years to come.