Carroll Concerned Citizens Rally To Fight Proposed Landfill


FREWSBURG – There was standing room only Wednesday night at Frewsburg’s High School Auditorium during a DEC Public Comment session regarding Sealand Waste’s  proposed landfill in the Town of Carroll.
Polly Hanson leads a collision called Carroll Concerned Citizens as was emotional when she spoke.
“This is democracy in action, thank you, thank you, thank you, ” said Hanson. “As you can see from the amount of turnout on this stormy evening, and the number of letters the DEC have already received, the town has not changed there mind.”
In addition to the many community members taking a stand against the landfill, multiple county officials spoke against it.
County Executive George Borrello said that the Town of Carroll has laws in place to prevent landfills after years of contamination caused problems.
“These are not laws that were just passed recently,” said Borrello. “These go back 15-20 years.”
“They (the town) had put measures in place to prevent that from happening again.”
Only a select few spoke in favor of the project.
A woman who represented the company gave a presentation before the public comment period explaining what Sealand Waste was all about.
Some are calling Wednesday’s public comment session a final stand against Sealand Waste.
Borrello said either way the DEC’s decision is very important for the life of the project.
“If the DEC does deny them the permit, which I’m hoping they will, then I don’t see how they could move forward,” said Borrello.
The executive also said that if the DEC accepted their permit, the company would have to fight Carroll’s local law in court.
“They would have to have a higher court invalidate the local law,” said Borrello.
Borrello said this law has been in place for a long time and did not specifically target Sealand.
The DEC will continue to accept public comment until Monday, February 12, 2018.

You can submit comments by mail or email to:
Charles Cranston, NYS DEC Division of Environmental Permits
182 East Union, Suite 3
Allegany, New York 14706-1328
Phone: (716) 379-6415
Email: R9DEP@dec.ny.gov

The Draft Environmental Impact Statement (DEIS), draft permits, permit applications, and supporting documents for this project are available for review at www.sealandwaste.com/application-documents.

1 Comment

  1. Excellent coverage! Hundreds of people showing up to oppose and outside company placing a dump in their midst! 35 Frewsburg citizens gave heartfelt, compelling explanations of why they were concerned about having a landfill in Frewsburg. Those attending included school bus drivers, Amish elders and town officials, teachers, farmers, mothers and fathers of school children, and members of the county’s astronomy center Martz Kohl Observatory. Many expressed alarm that 77 garbage trucks per day coming and going through the town’s congested intersections, past the elementary school, along rural roads with no shoulders that are used by buggies and tractors and school buses – roads unable to handle safely the current traffic — would mean certain danger to school children. They recognized that school buses dropping off children on hilly terrain, turning around in driveways along the garbage truck routes would be hazardous. Martz Kohl Observatory would be unable to function if lights, waste dust and headlights from garbage trucks associated with any dump were to occur. On a snowy, miserable night a town came together to say once again to the DEC “NO DUMP” in Frewsburg.

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