General News: Town Votes for Contract with Taylor Biomass
November 17, 2011
By Charlie B. Scirbona
The Cornwall Town Board voted to sign on with Taylor Biomass for the town’s solid waste removal.
The board voted Monday, four-to-one to sign the 20-year agreement with Taylor Biomass for waste removal. The single dissenting vote came from Councilman Al Mazzocca, who was concerned about passing the agreement off on future town boards.
Councilman Randy Clark was concerned about that as well, but eventually changed his opinion. One of the major factors for his change of heart came from the realization that every municipality that doesn’t sign on with Taylor will have to make up for the revenue lost to the county from those that do go with Taylor.
The town joins the City of Newburgh, the Village of Montgomery and the Town of Walden in signing on with Taylor Biomass. The Cornwall-on-Hudson Board of Trustees also discussed the agreement with Taylor Monday.
Also on Monday, the village board met with Jim Taylor to discuss concerns with the contract. Trustee Andrew Argenio said he was concerned that Taylor had a permit to build the gasification plant, but not to operate the plant. Taylor explained that this was because the Department of Environmental Conservation’s permit rolls over into an operating permit.
Taylor added that the reason his company was asking for a 20-year contract was that the loan for the project from the Department of Energy was a 20-year loan and the DOE required all the commitments to the same time period.
The village boarded ended up not taking action on the contract Monday, however Deputy Mayor Mark Edsall said that talking with Taylor had given the board the information they wanted needed to make a decision eventually.
