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DEC, town seek warrants to inspect unpermitted landfills

May 15, 2019 12:15 pm
MidHudsonNews [dot] com is reporting things are heating up in Saugerties over two unpermitted debris landfills owned by Joseph and Rachael Karolys on Goat Hill and Fell Qui roads. The state Department of Environmental Conservation is seeking a warrant to test the landfills, as well as a transfer station, according to a May 14 letter sent to an environmental attorney hired by Catskill Mountainkeeper. Saugerties town officials are at the same time pursuing their own warrant and fighting the operation, which is alleged to have dumped unprocessed construction and demolition materials from New York City, in piles up to 30 feet high, since 2016. The piles are estimated at 46,000 cubic yards, for each of the two dump sites. Town Supervisor Fred Costello spoke at a meeting organized by Catskill Mountainkeeper, the Woodstock Land Conservancy, and Dump Here Never, to more than 150 concerned neighbors at Saugerties High School, May 14. All demanded swift action. Representatives from the offices of U.S. Rep. Antonio Delgado; state Senator George Amedore; and incoming Ulster County Executive Patrick Ryan, also attended the meeting. Representatives of the DEC did not attend, nor did the Karolys or their representatives. According to neighbors, dozens of semi trucks each day deliver construction and demolition debris to the transfer site on Route 212, where it is stored in outdoor piles. It is then loaded onto dump trucks, which take the waste to the two undeveloped sites. The property owners have refused to grant the DEC access to the properties. Read the full story at MidHudsonNews [dot] com.