Development Authority to consider many environmental effects of landfill expansion

The Development Authority of the North Country will begin the environmental review process for an expansion of the solid waste management facility by asking the public what environmental issues need to be examined.

DANC is planning a 146-acre expansion to the south of the landfill, which is 78 acres and sits off Route 177. The facility has space for about 10 more years of waste disposal, at current volume.

DANC expects the capacity to accommodate 62 years of trash at the current rate of disposal. Like the current landfill, the expansion will be built in cells using two levels of liners, each with soil and plastic barriers. Leachate is collected from the liner system for treatment at the sewage treatment plant in Watertown.

DANC has developed a draft scoping document that, when finalized, will determine what potentially adverse effects from the expansion will be researched.

“The scoping document certainly identifies some of the more obvious significant impacts, which is the result of entire teams working on this project who have been involved in similar projects and the environmental setting in which it’s been proposed,” said Richard R. LeClerc, solid waste management division manager. “We’re reaching out to ensure that we are aware of and will consider all potential impacts. We will then evaluate them and, based on the significance and nature of the impacts, decisions are made with how to deal with those impacts.”

The draft scoping document is available on DANC’s website. Written comments on the scope of the statement will be accepted until 5 p.m. Dec. 16 by the authority, whose offices are also in the Dulles State Office Building.

DANC will host a public hearing on what will be included in the draft environmental impact statement at 7 p.m. Wednesday in Conference Room 100 at the State Office Building, 317 Washington St.

The authority will complete the scoping document in February using the public comments. Then a draft environmental impact statement will be prepared. The statement will outline details of the proposed southern expansion, the extent of the environmental effects and proposed mitigation measures for the significant effects.

Meanwhile, DANC and Jefferson County have begun discussions on whether DANC can use an additional 20 acres of land for borrow material, sediment in a drumlin hill formation that will act as the wall around the landfill.

“It’s not an acquisition at all,” Mr. LeClerc said. “We are not expanding our footprint in any way.”

The scoping document says the environmental impact statement will address soil and geological effects, especially in terms of erosion during construction. Storm water management also will be discussed in the impact statement, as will the change to the ecology and land use in the rural, undeveloped setting, the change to the landscape and air quality, increased traffic and noise and any effect on historic and cultural resources.

The scoping document mentions that other options for waste disposal and expansion sites will be included in the statement.

At the same time as the environmental quality review process, DANC will work through a wetlands permit process with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers for the 13.5 acres of federally regulated wetlands in the project boundary. To replace that area, 28.6 acres of wetland will be restored and 650 feet of stream bank enhanced along Sandy Creek in the Lakeview Wildlife Management Area.

“The permit for wetlands is a separate but related action,” Mr. LeClerc said. “The SEQR process is much broader and through the state, so we’re on different timelines with different responsible agencies.”