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| May 05, 2024 |
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General News: Hazardous Waste in Mill Lagoons Raise Issues
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| Rips in the lagoon's lining are visible. Photo by Jamie Kamlet. |
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| The edges of one of the lagoons are wrapped in a black liner. Photo by David Noland. |
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| The two blue ovals in the center of this frame show the lagoons near the Moodna. |
January 26, 2012
By Nancy Peckenham
One issue that arose after the 2 Mill property owners failed to pay taxes is the existence of two lagoons where the former Majestic Textile deposited chemicals used in its dye operation from 1963 to 1981. In 2000, the state Department of Environmental Conservation ruled that the hazardous waste in the two lagoons do not represent a significant threat, but added that they will require “removal or solidification in place.”
The lagoons on the banks of the Moodna Creek have never been cleaned up and a DEC report more than a decade ago noted evidence that the liner underneath the lagoon had cracked. Owners did remove 90 drums of hazardous waste materials that had been stored on site.
When Orange County began foreclosure proceedings against the property in 2009 after two years of non-payment of taxes, owner Isaac Landau cited the lagoons as a reason that the county may not want to become the owners of the site. In a document submitted to the court, the owner said that the lagoons are listed in the registry of Inactive hazardous waste disposal sites and said if the county becomes the owner, “there is significant risk that it will be exposed to liability substantially in excess” of its value in foreclosure.
DEC Region 3 spokesperson Wendy Rosenbach said that the risk in a site like the lagoons is that if more information came up that required additional clean-up, the owner could be responsible for the cost. “I’m not saying that it is going to happen, but it might happen,” she said.
(Jamie Kamlet, who brought up the existance of the lagoons in a comment posted on this site, went down to the lagoons on Wednesday with a colleague, David Noland, where they took the photos you see here. Kamlet said that the lagoon was lined with a black material, which had holes in it all the way up to the rim and that it is at least 20 feet deep.)
Click on any image for a larger view.
Comments:
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This is a serious issue. A documentary of the problems here would be great. The town should create a citizens task force to provide guidance of this site to explore issues related to the natural resource and environmental concerns.
posted by j h on 01/26/12 at 5:15 PM
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I couldn't get a direct link, but this will get you to a DEC page. Click on ?Remedial Site Database Search. This will take you to another page, go down about half way and enter in Orange county and Cornwall. This will lead you to another page that lists two disposal sites in Cornwall. http://www.dec.ny.gov/chemical/8437.html
posted by Bruce Blair on 01/27/12 at 9:30 AM
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Forget the lagoons for now. I'm pretty sure Hoffa is at the bottom of one of those things. I want the back taxes first!
posted by J Klein on 01/27/12 at 8:45 PM
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