VILLAGE OF COLONIE: On May 3, Save the Pine
Bush members met to discuss the next steps in fighting against
the proposed landfill expansion in the Pine Bush and for a
rational solid waste police. Village of Colonie Mayor Frank
Leak graciously opened the Village of Colonie Family Recreation
Center for our meeting.
Mayor Leak told us of a recent visit he made to the Rapp Road
landfill at the invitation of Albany County Legislators William
Clay and Frank Commisso. The City is installing a plastic covering
(costing in excess of $1 million) for the landfill to stop
the stench. Mayor Leak explained how the thick pieces of plastic
are sewn together with special sewing machines.
The current landfill and the proposed expansion raise many,
many questions and issues, ranging from air and water quality,
to solid waste policy, to the City of Albany budget, to issues
of the role of regionalism in solid waste, to the operation
of the landfill. To address this wide range of issues, we have
formed committees.
We welcome participation by anyone interested in these issues.
There are several ways to get involved.
1) Receive via email general announcements of the activities
of the Save the Pine Bush Landfill Committee by subscribing
to the listserv by going to www.savethepinebush.org click
the link in the sidebar “Make a Stink about the Landfill” and
then click “Subscribe to the Save the Pine Bush Landfill
listserv”.
2) Get more involved by joining a committee. Below is a list
of committees, please contact the Committee chair to be notified
of meetings and get involved.
Committee Information:
Research—Research solutions to solid waste, encourage
reduction & reuse, easier recycling systems. Also, air
testing and research other revenue sources for the City of
Albany, chair: Lynne Lyons, completethisform@yahoo.com
Community Relations—Letter writing
including letters to the editor, lobbying, working on publicity
and outreach to community members. Also, work on tort lawsuit
case, chair: Lynne Jackson, lynnejackson@mac.com.
Signs & Shirts—Work on making
signs and t-shirts to get out the message, chair: Claire
Nolan, cbnolou@yahoo.com.
FOIL—Examine Department of Environmental
Conservation records acquired under FOIL (Freedom of Information
Law). The FOIL committee has discovered some extremely interesting
documents, chair: Bert Schou, bschou@nycap.rr.com.
Regionalization—Examine issue of
regionalization and how it relates to the issue of the landfill,
chair: Tom Gillespie, ThomasAGillespie@gmail.com
Health Survey—Conduct a health survey
of neighbors of the landfill, chair: Tom Ellis, pei1996@verizon.net.
Get more information by going to the Save the Pine Bush website
at http://www.savethepinebush.org/Action/Landfill.html. With
everyone working together, we can stop the expansion of the
landfill in the Pine Bush and implement a rational solid waste
policy
The next meeting of the entire Save the Pine Bush Landfill
Committee will be Wed., June 13, 7–9 PM at the Village
of Colonie Family Recreation Center, 2 Thunder Rd., Albany
12205 Directions: Take Central Ave. west. Six blocks past
Wolf Rd., turn right onto Locust Dr.. Go one block, right
onto Thunder Dr. Follow the parking lot around to the right
to the very end.
