VILLAGE OF COLONIE: On May 3, Save the Pine Bush members met to discuss the next steps in fighting against the proposed landfill expansion in the Pine Bush and for a rational solid waste police. Village of Colonie Mayor Frank Leak graciously opened the Village of Colonie Family Recreation Center for our meeting.

Mayor Leak told us of a recent visit he made to the Rapp Road landfill at the invitation of Albany County Legislators William Clay and Frank Commisso. The City is installing a plastic covering (costing in excess of $1 million) for the landfill to stop the stench. Mayor Leak explained how the thick pieces of plastic are sewn together with special sewing machines.

The current landfill and the proposed expansion raise many, many questions and issues, ranging from air and water quality, to solid waste policy, to the City of Albany budget, to issues of the role of regionalism in solid waste, to the operation of the landfill. To address this wide range of issues, we have formed committees.

We welcome participation by anyone interested in these issues. There are several ways to get involved.

1) Receive via email general announcements of the activities of the Save the Pine Bush Landfill Committee by subscribing to the listserv by going to http://www.savethepinebush.org click the link in the sidebar “Make a Stink about the Landfill” and then click “Subscribe to the Save the Pine Bush Landfill listserv”.

2) Get more involved by joining a committee. Below is a list of committees, please contact the Committee chair to be notified of meetings and get involved.

Committee Information:

Research—Research solutions to solid waste, encourage reduction & reuse, easier recycling systems. Also, air testing and research other revenue sources for the City of Albany, chair: Lynne Lyons, completethisform@yahoo.com

Community Relations—Letter writing including letters to the editor, lobbying, working on publicity and outreach to community members. Also, work on tort lawsuit case, chair: Lynne Jackson, lynnejackson@mac.com.

Signs & Shirts—Work on making signs and t-shirts to get out the message, chair: Claire Nolan, cbnolou@yahoo.com.

FOIL—Examine Department of Environmental Conservation records acquired under FOIL (Freedom of Information Law). The FOIL committee has discovered some extremely interesting documents, chair: Bert Schou, bschou@nycap.rr.com.

Regionalization—Examine issue of regionalization and how it relates to the issue of the landfill, chair: Tom Gillespie, ThomasAGillespie@gmail.com

Health Survey—Conduct a health survey of neighbors of the landfill, chair: Tom Ellis, pei1996@verizon.net.

Get more information by going to the Save the Pine Bush website at http://www.savethepinebush.org/Action/Landfill.html. With everyone working together, we can stop the expansion of the landfill in the Pine Bush and implement a rational solid waste policy

The next meeting of the entire Save the Pine Bush Landfill Committee will be Wed., June 13, 7–9 PM at the Village of Colonie Family Recreation Center, 2 Thunder Rd., Albany 12205 Directions: Take Central Ave. west. Six blocks past Wolf Rd., turn right onto Locust Dr.. Go one block, right onto Thunder Dr. Follow the parking lot around to the right to the very end.