Landfill cleanup moves forward

AMENIA — Town Supervisor Wayne Euvrard has estimated the project to clean up Amenia’s old landfill will begin construction next year.The landfill, located south of the Amenia hamlet on Route 22, closed in the late 1990s because dangerous waste was found there.Early remediation cost estimates totaling about $5 million were scrapped when additional contamination was found on site. Last year the Town Board approved a resolution approving Bond Anticipation Notes (BAN) totalling more than $12 million, although Euvrard has said that is a high estimate.Some of that cost will be covered by funds paid by 12 chemical companies that have been identified as responsible parties. And Euvrard said he hopes that up to 75 percent of the cost could be reimbursed by the state, but the town will still be responsible for several million dollars worth of cleanup.At the April 14 board meeting, Euvrard pointed out that a CD bank account for the landfill cleanup has more than $800,000 in it, but that the interest rates “aren’t what they used to be.”Euvrard said that CT Male Associates, hired as the engineering firm to oversee cleanup, has done “a wonderful job,” and that he met with the local engineering firm run by Mark Morrison about the possibility of building a boardwalk over the wetlands when the contamination is removed.“We’re fine-tuning the design plan and are just about ready to go to the DEC [Department of Environmental Conservation],” Euvrard said after resident Janet Reagon asked the board for a timeline earlier in the meeting. “But I would be more comfortable saying that construction will probably start next year.”The town, through CT Male, was able to obtain a $1.2 million grant from the state’s Environmental Facilities Corporation, which will be a “big savings” to the town, said Euvrard.So far, the town has not had to use any of its own funds to pay for the cleanup, but the supervisor warned that the town would need to start budgeting for costs soon.