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An Adirondack
environmental group is threatening to sue the Village of Saranac
Lake unless it removes or covers its road salt pile, which the group
says is contaminating Lake Colby.
The Adirondack Council
announced Wednesday that it’s filed a notice of intent to sue the
village under the federal Clean Water Act.
If village officials
don’t remove or cover the salt pile within 60 days, the lawsuit will
be filed in U.S. District Court. The group says it will ask the
court to impose $37,000 in fines per day, for each day since 2003
that the salt pile has allegedly been contaminating Colby Brook and
Lake Colby.
Adirondack Council
spokesman John Sheehan said the threat of legal action came after
they were contacted by local residents concerned the salt pile was
polluting Lake Colby.
“They had been dealing
with frustration with the village and state officials over the issue
of the village salt pile draining into Colby Brook and contaminating
the lake,” he said. “They wanted to see some action taken but were
not in a position to bring this kind of a lawsuit themselves. We’re
hoping that within 60 days the village will take action to clean up
this site and get its salt piles under a roof and onto a solid,
concrete pad someplace.”
The environmental
group alleges the village has been violating the Clean Water Act
since 2003, citing water testing of Lake Colby conducted by citizens
and the Adirondack Lake Assessment Program.
“Results of these
monitoring programs indicate that concentrations of salt in Lake
Colby are in excess of average salt levels for water bodies in the
Adirondacks,” reads the group’s notice of intent.
Lee Keet of the Lake
Colby Association says his group began monitoring Colby Brook in
2003. “Since then the levels of chlorides in the brook have never
gone below levels that constitute a violation of both federal and
state environmental laws,” he said in an e-mail.
Keet said the group is
not a part of the threatened lawsuit and they don’t intend to join
it.
“The Lake Colby
Association has been working for years with the town, village, and
DEC on this problem and regret that it has been unresolved for so
long and has become so serious that it is now inciting legal
action,” Keet said.
Sheehan says the state
Department of Environmental Conservation is just as much to blame
for letting the problem continue. “We are befuddled and
disappointed by DEC’s lack of action in this case,” he said. “They
are the stewards of the Clean Water Act in New York State and are
supposed to be acting on behalf of the Environmental Protection
Agency when it comes to clean water standards.”
DEC spokeswoman Lori
Severino declined to comment.
Village Mayor Tom
Michael says its “unfortunate” the Adirondack Council had to file an
intent to sue to open a dialogue with the village. “To the
best of my knowledge no one from the Adirondack Council has come in
to talk to village officials about this,” he said. “I’m just
disappointed they chose to go the legal route because it tends to
polarize both sides of the conversation as soon as you get the
courts involved.”
Michael questioned
whether there is “hard, scientific data” to show the village is
contaminating Lake Colby. “All I’ve heard so far is the biased
opinion of the Lake Colby homeowner’s association that our sand and
salt pile is contaminating the lake,” he said.
An informal study the
village performed last year on several streams near the DPW garage
found salt levels comparable to other streams that flow into the
lake, the mayor said.
Michael also said the
state DOT, which maintains State Route 86 running along the lake,
may be responsible for salt problems in Lake Colby. “Nowhere has
it been shown that it’s just our issue,” he said.
Asked if the village
could take action in the next 60 days to cover or move its salt pile
to avoid litigation, the mayor said they will work in that
direction. “There’s no good in spending money on litigation,
whether it’s our money or the Adirondack Council’s,” he said. “It’s
unfortunate that they put us in this position, but we’ll take a look
and find any avenues to help remedy the situation. But one of the
things is – is our sand and salt pile the source of the problem for
Lake Colby or are they just using us an excuse because the
shoreowners feel its the source of the problem.”
If the village’s salt
pile is the source of contamination, Michael said a tarp system to
cover the pile could be a short-term solution.
Two years ago the
village and the Town of Harrietstown received APA approval to build
a combined salt and sand storage shed using a $175,000 grant
received from DEC.
But the total cost of
building the shed – more than $700,000 – has made it unaffordable
for the community, Michael said.
He said the Town of
Harrietstown has applied for a grant through the federal economic
stimulus package that could help offset the costs of the project.
Lee Keet says the Lake
Colby Association provided data and helped the village secure the
initial $175,000 grant. “It is unfortunate that despite this
financial help and the clear increases in damage to the lake nothing
has been done, and that the prospects for a joint Town/Village shed
seem dim to nil,” he said.
-Chris Knight, 6-10-09
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