(Credit: Steve Thurston, 2022)
An audience member at the Aug. 15, 2022, Town of Moreau Planning Board meeting holds a sign showing his disdain for the proposed Saratoga Biochar facility, planned for construction at the Moreau Industrial Park.
Saratoga Biochar’s last day in front of the Town of Moreau Planning Board may be Aug. 25, the board decided at their meeting Monday evening Aug. 15. The date is past the 45-day extension the board had taken on the matter at their meeting in July. Town Zoning Administrator Jim Martin told FoothillsBusinessDaily.com that the date was among the earliest that all members of the board and the town attorney could be in the same room. They received tacit consent of the date from Saratoga Biochar, he said. The town attorney was not present at the meeting Monday Aug. 15.
Although dozens of people showed up to the planning board meeting Monday evening, the board did not discuss the matter further and did not take public comment. The board did not say if they will take public comment on Aug. 25.
Saratoga Biochar is trying to build a facility at the Moreau Industrial Park that would take dried sewer and agricultural waste and turn it into carbon fertilizer in a process known as pyrolysis.
The company has been adamant that they are not burning the waste but superheating it. They say the process is hot enough to break down the toxic PFOAs in the sewage, which if left alone take decades to break down. They say they have specialized filters, a sealed building, and a process that brings the waste to the facility in covered trucks, all in an attempt to keep odors negligible.
[Read our coverage of Saratoga Biochar here.]
Board member Mike Shaver was the lone vote against the meeting date vote.
When Planning Board Acting Chair John Arnold sought the vote to hold the meeting, he said it was to discuss and vote on the project.
Shaver stopped him, asking if they were going to talk about the meeting date and whether that meeting would require a final vote. Shaver said he was not ready to vote on it. Some back-and-forth on the topic occurred before the rest of the board voted to approve the date.
Residents sat through the rest of the short meeting that had just one agenda item, approving a four-lot subdivision in Gansevoort. Afterward, many stayed to discuss next moves.
“We want to make sure that they understand that we don’t want this in our town,” said Sean Sheeran after the meeting. “We’ll show up every time no-matter-what until this is done.”
Those interviewed cited concerns about traffic, smell, and emissions from the smokestack on the property. Some wondered about the filters and if they do what they say they do. Others wondered how the environmental review of the project passed.
“It’s valuable to show that there’s still concern,” said Tracy Frisch, a leader among the anti-Biochar crowd. She is leader of Clean Air Action Network of Glens Falls. “Concern has been exploding in Moreau as people learn about it.”
Former Town Supervisor Gardner Congdon said he was most worried about property values.
“The purpose of a planning board is to protect the values in your town,” Congdon said.
The meeting is scheduled for 7 p.m. at the Town of Moreau building on Reynolds Road.
“We had no say on what transpired tonight,” one man said to the crowd as they dispersed after the meeting. “Come on the 25th. We may be able to say something.”