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Comments of New York State Department of Environmental Conservation on July 28, 1996 American News Service Article

Comments of New York State
Department of Environmental Conservation
on July 28, 1996 American News Service Article

The attached article appeared in the Albany Times-Union on Sunday, July 28, 1996. It begins with a general discussion of what Project XL is and what it is designed to do. Then it turns to specifics HADCO and discusses the HADCO project exclusively. It appears HADCO was the principal information source of this article.

Aside from the inaccuracies one commonly finds in news media coverage of a somewhat complex regulatory subject, there is one concept referenced in the article that we really need to resolve.

The bracketed paragraph is a reminder of paragraph 32 in the latest draft of the FPA/Workplan. The article states, "HADCO will reap the profits from the copper sales and use the income to install sludge driars, thereby reducing the wastes shipped by its plants in the first place."

Everything is wrong with this picture. HADCO needs to install sludge dewatering equipment "up front" in order to qualify for either delisting or a solid waste variance so that they can reap any benefits at all. Does Lee Wilmot believe that HADCO is going to reap any benefits from this project prior to the installation of sludge dewatering equipment? If so, why does he believe this?

Insofar as New York state is concerned, this issue may not have practical consequences. The Owego, New York facility already has sludge dewatering equipment and, as soon as HADCO is prepared to ship sludge from the Owego facility directly to a primary smelter, they may submit a petition for either a delisting or a solid waste variance. However, we would like to hear from New Hampshire and California on this point, as well as EPA. Is there any way that HADCO could qualify for or be granted either a delisting or a solid waste variance prior to the time that sludge dewatering equipment is actually installed and in operation? We can visualize the possibility that a determination could be based upon pilot studies, but we cannot imagine that delisting or solid waste variance could actually take affect until full-scale dewatering equipment has been installed and is in operation.


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