Glens Falls Chronicle Serving the Glens Falls/Lake George region; Warren, Washington and northern Saratoga counties since 1980
By Zander Frost, Chronicle Staff Writer
The Saratoga Biochar controversy in Moreau gained still more heat last week.
The Moreau Town Board approved selling three parcels in its industrial park to Scott Earl, owner of Twin Bridges, “to be operated by Twin Bridges Waste & Recycling and affiliates.”
The price was “$725,000.00, almost 30% over the appraised value,” said town minutes.
Just days later, Vermont-based Casella Waste announced it will acquire Twin Bridges for $219-million.
Chris Barden, former vice-chair of the Warren County Economic Development Corporation, declared on the Not Moreau Facebook page, “That was some clever sleight of hand by Casella and the Moreau supervisor. Twin Bridges buys the property in their name, knowing full well that Casella will be the ultimate owner…”
Times-Union: Paving Biochar’s way?
Albany’s Times-Union wrote of the sale of land to Twin Bridges, “The move, which residents and at least one board member said the supervisor slipped in three hours before the 7 p.m. meeting, is raising fear that the town is paving the way for the controversial Saratoga Biochar Solutions, a proposed plant that will convert solid waste into fertilizer.”
A Casella subsidiary, Casella Organics, would supply Saratoga Biochar.
Casella: ‘Absolutely no connection’
But, Casella Waste, contacted by The Chronicle, said, “There is absolutely no connection between the announced purchase agreement between Twin Bridges and Casella and the proposed Saratoga Biochar operations in the Town of Moreau,” Casella Director of Communications Jeff Weld replied by email.
He initially said, “Any questions about plans for the property in Moreau owned by Twin Bridges should be directed to them,” but added “due to persistent rumors circulating in Moreau, and amplified in media reports, I would like to clarify that if Casella were to have any future interest in the property, that it would only involve the planned hauling and maintenance operations described by Twin Bridges.”
Moreau Supervisor Todd Kusnierz said “the political opposition is misinforming the public.”
He said the plan to sell the industrial park sites to Twin Bridges had been discussed for “nearly a year and a half.”
He said the board was told “they’re looking at it as a possible site for his Twin Bridges operation for maintenance of vehicles, carts, storage…identical to what Casella already has over on Route 9.”
Mr. Kusnierz said any project will need Planning Board approval. The town board’s approval “was strictly on the sale of the property.”
As for Casella buying Twin Bridges, he said, “I was caught off guard myself, that was not part of the conversations.”
Councilman Donohue ‘skeptical’
Councilman John “JD” Donohue criticized Mr. Kusnierz’s handling and transparency of the sale, though he acknowledged, “I want to see us sell property in the industrial park. This looks on paper like a good opportunity for the Town of Moreau, they’re offering us a pretty good penny for the property.”
“But I understand why people are skeptical. I myself am skeptical,” he said, citing “the way it was jammed through.”
Mr. Donohue said files about the sale were put into his folder “the day of the meeting, between 1:30 and quarter to five…one of the SEQRs [State Environmental Quality Reviews]. That certainly doesn’t give me much time to process anything. This thing looks like it was pre-determined,” he said.
Mr. Donohue said Mr. Kusnierz “has since said that he was negotiating this for a year and a half.” Mr. Donohue asks, “In a year and a half, you couldn’t have let us other board members know that these negotiations were even going on?”
Kusnierz: Attend more meetings
Mr. Kusnierz countered, “I really don’t know what Councilman Donahue does with his documents. He claimed that he never heard about this project. It’s been discussed in executive session before. You know, he doesn’t have a stellar record of attending board meetings.”
The Democrat Mr. Donohue, a vocal critic of Mr. Kusnierz and the otherwise all-Republican town board, has organized the Moreau United ticket which seeks to oust Mr. Kusnierz and win two council seats in this fall’s election.
Mr. Donohue is running for re-election joined by Jesse Fish running for Supervisor and Patrick Killian for Town Council.
“We’ve got three strong candidates,” said Mr. Donohue. “I think we’ve got some good ideas about having more of an open government that we have right now,” he said. Biochar is one of several issues at the forefront of Moreau United’s platform.
Mr. Donohue says his ticket will “absolutely” win.
Mr. Kusnierz, seeking his fourth term, responds, “I always run for reelection as though I am behind. I campaign fiercely. I expect to do the same this year.”
Saratoga Biochar: Twin Bridges sale has ‘nothing to do with us’
“That’s got nothing to do with us,” Saratoga Biochar CEO Ray Apy told The Chronicle about Twin Bridges buying three lots in the Moreau Industrial Park and then the company being sold to Casella Waste Management.
Project foes’ suggestions of a link, he said, are part of a “steady stream of misinformation.”
“Somehow it’s been ‘revealed’ that our feedstock provider will be Casella…the fact that Casella was our sole contract of feedstock providers was in our presentation the very first day we were at the Moreau Planning Board.”
He said of Twin Bridges sale to Casella, “How long does it take to put together a $219 million transaction? They probably, my guess is, they’ve been working on that for over a year.”
On Monday, Mr. Apy said the Biochar project is “in a standstill until the article 78 lawsuit’s resolved. We expected to hear from the court around the end of May, and we haven’t heard yet. So we’re all kind of waiting with bated breath.”
But Tuesday, Biochar announced it had prevailed over the Clean Air Action Network of Glens Falls’ Article 78 petition.
Saratoga Biochar said in a press release that the Clean Air Action Network “was unable to demonstrate otherwise and effectively delayed Saratoga Biochar in delivering a much needed biosolids recycling solution.”
— Zander Frost
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