By Joyce Kryszak
Albion, NY – Last month, the Albion Town Board unanimously rejected a proposal that would have re-opened the Towpath Landfill. Now, a lawsuit has been in Supreme Court to have that decision thrown out.
Residents overwhelmingly cried foul. And the town board responded, turning down a more than million dollar offer from Waste Management to re-open the former landfill. The dump, located along the Erie Canalway, was closed about ten years ago after former owners left it an environmental mess.
Craig Slater is bankruptcy trustee charged with repairing the site and finding a new owner. He and the potential suitor, Waste Management, filed the petition last week in supreme court. Slater says the town's decision was arbitrary and ignored the facts.
"I think we have an excellent record. It's not often you have a 100-page DEC (Department of Environmental Conservation) decision saying this permit is granted," Slater said. "I think the combination of that with the Canal Authority agreement and the DOT (Department of Transportation)approval that we have a very compelling argument."
But Albion town attorney Dan Spitzer says Slater is twisting the record. He says the Canal authority initially opposed the plan. He says the authority only signed off on the plan when it was indemnified against it's responsibility for former clean-up costs. And Spitzer says the DEC approval is a mere checklist opinion that ignores local considerations -- such as the impact on the Erie Canal.
"You have to look at the canal as a total asset," Spitzer said. "Nobody is going to use this canal if it's not worthwhile along various parts of it.
"You have to preserve the pristine, aesthetic impact along the canal. That just doesn't work by putting a 200-foot dump on top of it."
The case will initially be heard in State Supreme Court on July 14th. However, both parties say it will likely be a long time before the case is decided and the issue is buried once and for all.