Amenia dump plan is unveiled

By Dan Shapley Poughkeepsie Journal February 15, 2006

AMENIA — Twenty-three years after the town landfill was flagged as a hazardous waste site, the Department of Environmental Conservation has proposed a $5.5 million plan to bury the waste beneath an impermeable barrier.
The pollution is a health risk only for trespassers who might touch contaminated soil, state officials said. Tests showed no pollution flowing off site via ground or surface water.
Under the plan, soil contaminated with polychlorinated biphenyls, heavy metals and volatile organic compounds near a wetland would be dug up and put in the center of the landfill. A thin membrane and more than 2 feet of earth would cap the hazardous waste.
It would then be suitable for commercial or industrial development, or for use as a park. The landfill is west of Route 22 about midway between Amenia and Wassaic.
"We want to choose a remedy that will last," DEC project manager Karen Maiurano said.
The remediation work could be completed in a single construction season.
Negotiations lie ahead
Starting work could be delayed as the DEC negotiates with the 36 people, municipalities and companies that might share liability for the site. Thirteen of those "potentially responsible parties," including the Town of Amenia, are cooperating as the Amenia Landfill Group. It has spent upward of $1 million, its attorney, David Graham, said.
The site is on two parcels with separate owners, neither of whom are part of the group.
Karl Saliter, of Sharon, Conn., owns two acres where he ran Sharon Oil & Gas from 1975-1997. He said he had nothing to do with the pollution and wants to be freed of liability.
"I have a buyer for the place, but the buyer naturally doesn't want to buy anything with an environmental cloud hanging over it," he said. "I don't own it. It owns me. It's not funny. The damn thing has completely taken away my life's work and my retirement."
The other owner, referred to in documents as G. Theoharis and Theoharis Theoharis, has not cooperated with the cleanup despite his liability, according to a letter the DEC sent to him Monday. The Journal couldn't reach him.
If those responsible don't agree to the cleanup, the DEC could do the work and sue for reimbursement. The Amenia Landfill Group doesn't want that, Supervisor Janet Rea-gon said.
"If indeed we can work out the ownership issue, and the (cleanup plan) is something people can live with ... the cost to the town will be substantial," she said, "but not anywhere near what it would cost to go the legal route."

Dan Shapley can be reached at dshapley@poughkeepsiejournal.com

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