March 27, 2015
Legislature looks to next step in ash deal
Cortland County legislators will likely wait until June to issue a findings statement explaining why the county accepted earlier this month the environmental study of the proposed ash for trash deal with Onondaga County.
This is because county officials first want a proposed tentative agreement with Onondaga County Resource Recovery Agency to be completed. OCRRA owns the incinerator, which has been operated by Covanta Energy Corp. since 1994.
OCRRA is the agency that Cortland County is working with to negotiate the terms of the proposed ash for trash exchange. The deal would involve Cortland County sending about 25,000 tons of trash to the incinerator yearly and accepting about 90,000 tons of ash yearly in return.
Legislature Chair Susan Briggs (R-Cortlandville) announced the news at the end of Legislative session Thursday.
Briggs said Cortland County legislators have been in discussion with OCRRA and decided to wait to vote on a findings statement until both counties are satisfied with a tentative agreement.
“I’m hoping we will be doing this no later than June so we’re working right along to meet that deadline,” Briggs said during the session.
Onondaga County is expected to issue its findings statement April 15.
Briggs said this morning she has not been in discussions with Onondaga County and does not know why they would approve a findings statement beforeCortland County.
Now that the Final Environmental Impact Statement was accepted by both county legislatures, they must issue a findings statement which explains the reasons for the county accepting the FEIS. A vote was expected to come much sooner since the Legislature was allowed to issue a findings statements at least 10 days after passing the FEIS.
Pat Snyder, the attorney representing Cortland County in the ash for trash deal, had said in previous interviews with the Cortland Standard, there is not a strict deadline for the county to issue the findings statement.
Briggs said after session theLegislature decided to wait to vote on a findings statement because it will also include the financial benefits of the proposed deal, as well as the reasons for approving the FEIS.
Financial details of the dealhave not yet been released to the public and Briggs said they would be once a tentative agreement is made.
“There will be enough time for review,” Briggs said regarding the time between when the county releases the financial information until the time the Legislature votes on the findings statement. “That’s been the goal.”
Prior to session, county Democrats discussed in caucus how the county needs to improve its recycling efforts, hoping to organize educational programs for residents so they understand the benefits of recycling.
Legislator Tom Hartnett (D-LD3) said during caucus thatthe state Department of Environmental Conservation is going tobe requiring landfills in the future to trap methane, compost andembark on other potentially costly initiatives.
Hartnett said in a previous interview with the Cortland Standard that complying with the regulations would be costly considering the existing operations at the landfill and ongoing deficits in the solid waste fund.
He noted during caucus thatthe ash for trash deal allows the county to “piggyback” withOnondaga County, sharing certain services and potentially avoiding any costs that go along with the regulations.
“We’ve got to jump on board,” Hartnett said, referring to improving recycling initiatives in the county.
After Cortland County votes on a findings statement, contract negotiations would still need to be finalized.
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