Sludge Watch ==> Corinth NY - rectum of the Adirondacks?

[maureen.reilly at sympatico.ca]

http://timesunion.com/AspStories/story.asp?storyID=499623&category=SARATOGA&BCCode=&newsdate=7/14/2006

Corinth extends ban on waste businesses

By LEIGH HORNBECK, Staff writer
Click byline for more stories by writer.
First published: Friday, July 14, 2006

CORINTH -- The Town Board voted unanimously to add another six months to its 
moratorium on trash plants Thursday.

As a result of the vote, town officials will not accept any applications to 
open a business that deals with waste in any form until January. The board 
members are writing a new law to prevent commercial trash burning in 
Corinth.

Councilman Mitchell Saunders, who was the only vote against imposing the 
moratorium in January, said yes this time. He thanked members of the 
community for their research.

"It took three months for me to get my feet on the ground and understand 
what we're dealing with here," Saunders said.

Residents clamored for restrictions after a Manhattan-based real estate 
investment firm, Philmet Capital Group LLC, bought the former International 
Paper mill in September for $2.7 million. Rumors quickly circulated that 
Philmet intended to open a waste-to-energy plant on the site. Company 
officials have since said they don't intend to burn trash at the mill but 
they do want to import papermaking sludge into the landfill on the former IP 
land.

Many residents are also opposed to a plan by local builder Ralph Petruzzo to 
open a recycling plant to turn sewer sludge into fertilizer on Main Street.

"We all know what's in sewer sludge," said Patricia Goldberg of Lake 
Luzerne. "You're known as the gateway to the Adirondacks, you will become 
known as the rectum of the Adirondacks if you don't stop this."

About 50 people were at the Town Board meeting. About half of them spoke, 
all in support of extending the moratorium.

The board is now reviewing a first draft of a new law. The Board of Trustees 
in the village of Corinth passed a new law banning solid and sanitary waste 
management, including the processing, incineration or disposal of waste.