HydroQuest-Landfill Site Selection Study

To: All interested parties

From: Greg Ollivier

UCRRA Executive Director

RE: HydroQuest Report and Landfill Concerns

You are being provided this letter along with a copy of a report that was prepared by HydroQuest for Ulster County Resource Recovery Agency (UCRRA). I think it is important to take a minute and explain that UCRRA is a Public Benefit Agency created by the state at the request of the county approximately 30 years ago to deal with the county’s solid waste. UCRRA is not a county agency and is not directly controlled by the county. The county legislators do have influence over UCRRA as they appoint the 5-member board that governs the agency.

There were various reasons for this study. First, the Solid Waste Management Plan that directs UCRRA’s actions requires the investigation into potentially developing a local landfill to handle Ulster County’s waste. Secondly, at the time the study was commissioned, there was concern that the Seneca Meadows landfill where the waste currently is shipped might be closing in 2025. These issues combined with others such as a concern over the emissions produced by the diesel trucks that haul over 100k tons of waste over 200 miles away each year prompted UCRRA staff to consult with DEC (New York’s governing body for solid waste issues) about the potential of developing a landfill in the county.

The first thing UCRRA staff did was consult with DEC to get advice on moving forward with a                   study. DEC recommended that staff look at maps and other data to first eliminate all areas that are not suitable for placing a landfill and then move forward from there. The next two paragraphs are a debrief sent to me by staff to inform me of what happened next.

In April 2021 UCRRA engaged with a research student to conduct a GIS Analysis utilizing ArcGIS Pro to analyze how various geographic and environmental variables interact and demonstrate what areas of the county may be suitable for further investigation of a solid waste landfill. The proposal was to make a series of maps that highlight potential areas in Ulster County that may be suitable for a solid waste landfill, and document the methodology behind the geospatial analysis to provide more context for the findings and support future endeavors to understand the implications of a potential solid waste landfill. However, due to the misrepresentation of the project by local press media, the individual ultimately backed out of working on the project.

In July 2021 UCRRA engaged with HydroQuest to conduct a GIS Analysis to identify a number of potential sites in the County that conform to NYSDEC landfill siting criteria, are protective of the environment and are not situated in heavily populated or Environmental Justice Areas. A step-wise elimination process using a combination of many GIS database tools and rigorous geologic and hydrologic assessments would be involved in this study. The goal of this project is to identify any number of sites within Ulster County that exhibit physical characteristics potentially suitable for the development and operation of a county landfill. The proposal had set the completion date as December 31^st, 2021, and was provided to the Board with little further public discussion.

When the study was reviewed it was determined by UCRRA’s governing board at the time that there would need to be a more comprehensive study performed before any decisions could be made concerning the development of a local landfill. A decision was made to not officially receive the document as a completed report and not use it to inform any decisions concerning the question of a local landfill.  Because the report was left as a draft document and would not be used by UCRRA it was not released to the public because it would only serve to cause undo concern by residents.

Where we are now. I was hired in October 2022 and tasked with moving forward with a broader or more comprehensive study. We released a Request for Proposal (RFP) seeking proposals that will tell us how much a study would cost and how long it would take. We have not commissioned a new study. We have not decided that a local landfill is feasible. We have not determined a suitable location for a landfill. None of us know if it is even possible to develop a local landfill in Ulster County.

We have also released a Request for a Statement of Interest (RSOI) for waste diversion. We want to dramatically reduce the amount of waste being landfilled to reduce the need for landfilling altogether. Both the RFP and RSOI can be found and reviewed on our website.  We will be transparent with this process.

Feel free to contact me with your questions. goll@ucrra.org

Respectfully

Greg Ollivier

Executive Director UCRRA