234.97
RESOLUTION OPPOSING DREDGING OF THE UPPER HUDSON RIVER
AND CREATION OF A TOXIC WASTE LANDFILL
RESOLUTION NO.: 234. 1997
INTRODUCED BY: Mrs. Connie Goedert
WHO MOVED ITS ADOPTION
SECONDED BY: Mr. Theodore Turner
WHEREAS, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is
reassessing its 1984 decision not to dredge the Upper Hudson River
to remove buried sediment containing PCBs, and
WHEREAS, the EPA has recently released a report that suggests
the Agency may be preparing to reverse its position and order
dredging, and
WHEREAS, PCB landfill projects have twice before been proposed
for agricultural properties in the Town of Fort Edward and have
twice been stopped through legal action, political action and the
vigilance of citizens of Fort Edward, Washington County and
surrounding communities, and
WHEREAS, the Town Board of the Town of Fort Edward has
steadfastly opposed Upper Hudson River remediation options that
involve PCB dredge-and-landfill projects of any kind, and has asked
other municipalities to join Fort Edward in opposition to such
projects based on their negative regional impacts, and
WHEREAS, a PCB dredge-and-landfill project would have
significant, long-term adverse environmental, economic and social
consequences for all Upper Hudson River communities, especially
affecting the agricultural industry, which depends on consumer
confidence in the purity of its products, confidence likely to be
undermined by the presence of a hazardous waste landfill; and
especially impairing the continuing efforts to make local
communities attractive places to live, work and raise families
because a PCB landfill would destroy forever the pastoral quality
of life that is our greatest asset, and
WHEREAS, a Hudson River dredging project would disrupt normal
recreational use of the river and jeopardize future public and
private investments in river-related amenities affecting the entire
Upper Hudson region, and
WHEREAS, the mere possibility of a PCB dredge-and-landfill
project adversely affects land values throughout the Upper Hudson
region and discourages private investment that might lead to the
creation of new jobs, and
WHEREAS, representatives of Washington County and many local
governments have taken an active role in EPA's public meetings and
have repeatedly asked EPA to evaluate all of the adverse impacts of
a PCB landfill on the resources and economy of the county, and
WHEREAS, EPA has conducted no such evaluation and has made no
commitment to conduct such an evaluation before any decision to
establish a PCB landfill is reached, and
WHEREAS, a significant body of scientific evidence
demonstrates that conditions in the Hudson River are improving,
with PCB levels declining in water, sediment and fish, such that
the State of New York has reopened the catch-and-release fishery in
the Upper River, and
WHEREAS, dredging contaminated sediments has been shown to be
ineffective in improving environmental conditions elsewhere, and
WHEREAS, there is no credible scientific evidence that
dredging sediments from the bottom of the Hudson River would
significantly accelerate the improvements already taking place as a
result of ongoing remediation work and the river's natural recovery
processes, and
WHEREAS, EPA itself determined in 1984 that a major dredging
project "could be environmentally devastating to the river
ecosystem and cannot be considered to adequately protect the
environment," (USEPA, Superfund Record of Decision at Page 8) and
determined that "the actual reliability and effectiveness of
current dredging technologies in this particular situation is
subject to considerable uncertainty," (Decision at Page 11), and
WHEREAS, EPA recognized that the many tons of material to be
removed in a dredging project would require an "impractically large
containment facility" (Decision at Page 8), and
WHEREAS, the Town Board of the Town of Queensbury finds there
is no demonstrated environmental benefit to a dredge-and-landfill
project on the Hudson River and many unmitigated long-term
negative environmental, economic and social consequences affecting
the entire region would result, and
WHEREAS, the Town of Fort Edward Town Board has requested that
the Town of Queensbury Town Board join it and other communities in
opposition to the proposed dredging project, and
WHEREAS, the Town Board of the Town of Queensbury finds that a
dredge-and-landfill project would be a gross, unwarranted and
unnecessary insult to the Hudson River itself and the communities
of the Upper Hudson region,
NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT
RESOLVED, that the Town Board of the Town of Queensbury, in
concert with the Town Board of the Town of Fort Edward, hereby
expresses its opposition to Hudson River remediation measures that
involve dredge-and-landfill efforts of any kind and hereby
authorizes and directs the Town Supervisor to transmit notice of
such opposition, in writing, to U.S. Environmental Protection
Agency Administrator Carol Browner; Region II USEPA Administrator
Jeanne M. Fox; U.S. Sen. Daniel Patrick Moynihan and U.S. Sen.
Alphonse D'Amato; U.S. Rep. Gerald B. Solomon; New York Gov. George
E. Pataki; Acting New York State Environmental Conservation
Commissioner John Cahill; New York State Sen. Ronald B. Stafford,
and New York State Assemblyman Bobby D'Andrea and New York State
Assemblywoman Elizabeth Little.
Duly adopted this 2nd day of June, 1997, by the following
vote:
AYES : Mrs. Pulver, Mr. Turner, Mrs. Goedert, Mr. Champagne
NOES : None
ABSENT: Mrs. Monahan
I, Caroline H. Barber, Deputy Town Clerk of the Town of Queensbury,
Warren County, New York, do hereby certify that I have compared the
foregoing with the original resolution as listed above adopted at a
Regular Meeting of the Town Board of the Town of Queensbury held on
the 2nd day of June, 1997 at which a quorum was present and that
the same is a correct transcript therefrom and of the whole
original thereof to date.
IN WITNESS THEREOF, I have hereto set my hand and the SEAL of said
Town of Queensbury, this 18th day of June, 1997.
SEAL
SIGNED:_______________________________________
Caroline H. Barber
Deputy Town Clerk-Queensbury