By Paul Post<\/p>\n
Developers of a proposed, highly controversial biochar facility anticipate a fall groundbreaking, pending approval of required permits by the state Department of Environmental Conservation.<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/span>But the Moreau Town Board is seeking a moratorium on all new construction within industrial zones, which could block the project.<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/span>Saratoga Springs-based Saratoga Biochar Solutions says it will take legal action if the town succeeds with such efforts.<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/span>\u201cWe would absolutely file an Article 78 complaint if it comes to that because it\u2019s unlawful, it\u2019s arbitrary, it\u2019s capricious; it\u2019s targeting one company,\u201d said Ray Apy, CEO, founder and owner of the Saratoga Springs-based firm. \u201cIt\u2019s absolutely illegal.\u201d<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/span>However, opponents concerned about potential environmental hazards, say they\u2019ll file suit to prevent construction if the company obtains the air quality and solid waste handling permits it needs from DEC.<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/span>\u201cYes, that is definitely a consideration,\u201d said Tracy Frisch, chair, Clean Air Action Network of Glens Falls. She said her organization has already retained San Francisco-based Earthjustice, a high-profile national non-profit that\u2019s dedicated to litigating environmental issues.<\/p>\n Frisch said 55 local, state and national organizations are supporting efforts to stop construction of the proposed $45 million facility at Moreau Industrial Park, in the northeast corner of town.<\/p>\n <\/span><\/span><\/strong><\/span>Plans call for processing 225,000 tons per year of wet biosolids and chipped waste wood, to produce biochar fertilizer used on lawns and farm fields. Because of its high carbon content, biochar is sometimes also used as an alternative material in asphalt.<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/span>The company says most processed material would be municipal sewage sludge trucked from within a two-hour\u2019s drive of Moreau from Vermont, western New Hampshire, northwest Massachusetts, the Hudson Valley and Central New York.<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/span>City of Glens Falls sewage sludge is currently incinerated at the large waste-to-energy plant on River Street in Hudson Falls, across the Hudson River about a mile from the industrial park. But this is only a small percent of the material brought there, comprised mostly of municipal solid waste.<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/span>Apy said the biochar facility would create about 100 construction jobs, 25 permanent full-time positions and add to the town tax base, although the company would seek whatever local, state and federal tax incentives are available.<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/span>Material would be processed by pyrolysis, which superheats biosolids to more than 1,100 degrees in a low-oxygen enclosure. The company says this will eliminate any toxic chemicals in biosolids, which it says are only present in trace amounts.<\/p>\n But opponents disagree, arguing that this would be the largest, and only second plant in the country that uses sewage sludge to make biochar. The other is a much smaller facility in California\u2019s Silicon Valley, Frisch said.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cThere\u2019s nothing out there that says this is a proven system,\u201d said former Town Coucilwoman Gina LeClair, spokesperson for Not Moreau, a large group of anti-biochar facility residents. \u201cThey\u2019re going to work on this and hope they get it right, and sell it to any city that has a sewage sludge problem. That\u2019s not our problem to solve.\u201d<\/p>\n LeClair said the Glens Falls area has one of the state\u2019s highest cancer rates. (Warren County is 10.9 percent above the state average according to www.fightcancer.org).\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Although remediated, Moreau has been burdened with multiple hazardous sites in recent years and the town borders the Hudson River where the largest Superfund cleanup in U.S. history was completed a decade ago with the partial removal of PCBs, a potentially cancer-causing substance, which General Electric Company discharged into the river from plants at nearby Hudson Falls and Fort Edward for more than 30 years.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cThis area isn\u2019t healthy,\u201d LeClair said. \u201cIt doesn\u2019t seem very safe and now we\u2019re adding more. Especially with an unproven system in a community burdened with the impacts of all these past and present pollutants.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n The industrial park was created in the early 1990s, but has never lived up to its advance billing as a means of generating substantial economic growth and job creation. Hexion Chemicals is the only business there.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n The town\u2019s proposed moratorium, if allowed, would likely involve a review of permitted uses in industrial zones. Things such as light manufacturing might only be allowed if the town board has its way.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n The industrial park is just over a mile from Bluebird Road Elementary School and the adjacent Moreau Town Recreation Park.<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/span>Apy said plans call for constructing the biochar plant in three phases with final build-out expected within 10 years.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019re not expecting a problem, but it\u2019s best to take a conservative approach,\u201d Apy said. \u201cWe want to start slow and ramp up operations over time while we\u2019re testing stack emissions with a continuous air monitoring system, and noise and odor monitoring as well, so we know exactly as we try to grow what this going to be like. If we need to correct course in any way, we can do that early while we\u2019re at a very small scale operating capacity.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n MDPI, a Swiss publisher of scientific journals, says, \u201cSewage sludge pyrolysis is considered an acceptable method, from an economic and ecological perspective, for the beneficial reuse of sewage sludge. During the pyrolysis process, the sludge volume is reduced by 80 percent, pathogenic agents and hazardous compounds from sewage sludge are eliminated, metals are immobilized in solid residue and organic and inorganic fractions are immobilized in a stabilized form of pyrolytic residues (biochar). The biochar generated by sewage sludge pyrolysis does not contain pathogenic agents and is rich in carbon and nutrients.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n PYREG.com (July 2022) says the Danish Environmental Protection Agency has approved biochar made from sewage sludge for use in farming; the third European country to do along with Sweden and the Czech Republic.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n The company says it will not import sewage sludge from New York City because trucking from that far away is cost-prohibitive.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Apy said his firm looked at numerous other sites across the state before choosing Moreau. Previously, it gave serious consideration for building a plant in New Windsor or Wallkill, both in Orange County in the lower Hudson Valley.<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/span>But New Windsor adopted a moratorium on all new development and Wallkill has a local law prohibiting the importation of waste products. Moreau has no such law, which made it a viable option for Saratoga Biochar, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Northeastern Biochar, which Apy is part owner of.<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/span>The emotionally-charged issue has already factored heavily in local politics. Last November, anti-biochar candidates on the Moreau United slate were elected by a roughly three-to-one margin, which included the defeat of incumbent Supervisor Todd Kusnierz, the sitting Saratoga County Board of Supervisors chairman.<\/p>\n The town Planning Board approved plans for the biochar facility in August 2022 contingent on several conditions including the issuance of air quality and solid waste handling permits by the DEC. Frisch said DEC must also make a beneficial use determination.<\/p>\n Opponents filed an Article 78 proceeding after the Planning Board\u2019s vote. Such action allow parties to question the determination of a government agency. But New York State Supreme Court, in a 49-page ruling, found only minor issues with the Planning Board\u2019s decision.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n The plant would use 30,000 gallons of water per day during biochar processing. Frisch said this water, allegedly containing harmful pollutants, would pass through the City of Glens Falls wastewater treatment plant that isn\u2019t equipped to remove such things, and that a state permit isn\u2019t required for sending such water to the plant.<\/p>\n But Saratoga Biochar Solutions President Bryce Meeker said, \u201cThere is nothing toxic about our wastewater. DEC would require a permit for sending any toxic wastewater to a wastewater treatment facility. Since there is nothing toxic in our wastewater, there is no need for a permit. These are both red herrings and misinformation being promulgated by our opposition, in an attempt to make something out of nothing.\u201d<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/span>A public comment period on the DEC\u2019s upcoming permits decision was recently extended from March 4 to March 18.<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/span>\u201cWe are not anti-business,\u201d Frisch said. \u201cSome business interests are opposing it as well . because this is not going to be good for communities.\u201d<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/span>Sewage sludge from Moreau currently goes to the Saratoga County waste treatment facility in Mechanicville. Apy said Saratoga Biochar can save the town money by processing it at less cost.<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/span>\u201cIf we don\u2019t get our permits at this point it will be a political decision, not a technical one,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" By Paul Post Developers of a proposed, highly controversial biochar facility anticipate a fall groundbreaking, pending approval of required permits by the state Department of Environmental Conservation. \u00a0But the Moreau Town Board is seeking a moratorium on all new construction within industrial zones, which could block the project. \u00a0Saratoga Springs-based Saratoga Biochar Solutions says it […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":89,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-37258","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-business-news"],"yoast_head":"\r\n