Attorney to tackle J&L site questions

CANTON — An Albany attorney specializing in environmental law will immediately begin researching whether St. Lawrence County should foreclose on the contaminated 54-acre former Jones & Laughlin Steel Corp. property and subdivide 10 acres to sell to a wood-chip plant.

The Legislature's Operations Committee unanimously hired Gary S. Bowitch for $185 an hour. Legislator David W. Forsythe, R-Lisbon, abstained. He said Mr. Bowitch is representing his father, Donald H. Forsythe, in a state Department of Environmental Conservation lawsuit over contamination at his insurance company, Wilder Forsythe, Ogdensburg.

Mr. Bowitch will be paid from the county's $183,000 Environmental Remediation Fund, designed to help the county redevelop blighted, tax-delinquent properties.

County Treasurer Robert O. McNeil said Mr. Bowitch's initial focus will be the J&L property so that Northern Biofuels Energy, Chateaugay, may establish a 125,000-ton wood chip plant to supply Newton Falls Fine Paper's and other companies' heating facilities with wood.

"We need to know if we can subdivide the part that's not heavily polluted," Mr. McNeil said.

The company, he said, would like to set up shop on 10 acres that do not house buildings or mine shafts. Mr. Bowitch will meet with legislators at a special Finance Committee meeting at 4 p.m. July 27 to discuss whether subdividing the property is feasible.

Mr. Bowitch also will be asked to look into what procedure should be used to address scores of other blighted properties on which the county has balked at foreclosing over potential liability issues. DEC has the ability to sue a current property owner for environmental cleanup costs, regardless of who actually caused the contamination.

"There are 15 or 20 that if we had no liability, we'd foreclose immediately," Mr. McNeil said. "Those are questions we need Mr. Bowitch to address."