Emergency Appeal and the Landfill 
Emergency Appeal
and the Landfill
Thank you to all who contributed to our emergency appeal last September to fight the expansion of the Albany Landfill into the Pine Bush. People generously contributed nearly $7,000 in just six weeks.Volunteers and Save the Pine Bush’s hydrology expert reviewed the City of Albany’s Draft Environmental Impact Statement (DEIS), no small task, as this document fills six, three-inch binders and weighs about 25 pounds. Lewis Oliver, SPB’s lawyer, submitted comments on the DEIS for SPB. The Pine Bush is classified as a “principal aquifer.” The Clean Air and Water Act prohibits constructing a landfill on a principal aquifer. According to the law, the City is out of luck to expand the landfill.
However, DEC appears to be ignoring that law. The City submitted responses to SPB’s comments in the Final Environmental Impact Statement – FEIS – (a much smaller document, only one 3-inch binder, weighing in at about 5 pounds). In the FEIS, the City asked for a variance to allow the construction of the landfill. Only the law states that variances cannot be issued after December 31, 1995. The City is a little late. Despite these laws, DEC made record time in approving the City’s landfill permit; DEC issued the permit one business day after the 10-day comment period on the FEIS ended.
Save the Pine Bush is currently reviewing its options to stop the City from constructing the landfill.
published March/April 2000 Newsletter
Last Updated 3/9/00
