Cancel The Lagoon

December 4, 2011

Lagoon Proposal for the Town of York – Davies G Nagel
I have always had great respect for the Abbey of the Genesee. Since coming to the valley in 1951, they have acted as good neighbors and greatly enhanced our community. That said I believe the four(?) million gallon proposed lagoon project slated for location on Abbey land off Craig Road is a terrible idea and should be canceled. The three main reasons I feel this way (traffic, toxins, and factory farms) are explained as follows.

Most of us know the traffic problems that exist along the Route 63 corridor. The intersection at Routes 63 and 36 is especially dangerous as it’s at the bottom of Greigsville hill. This is part of the proposed route for the 450(?) truck trips twice a year that will bring in a digested manure mix from Wyoming County to a lagoon on Craig Road. Farming is the lifeblood of the Town of York but I believe this increase in truck traffic is too much to ask our community to bear. Our school buses constantly use that intersection and the safety of the students and other drivers using that route must be a top priority. Do we really need to wait for a horrible accident to happen before we act?

Secondly, the plan involves combining an agricultural waste mixture with food waste in a digester in Wyoming County. This will produce methane gas that can then be used for energy. Although the digester is supposed to greatly reduce the odor of the waste and pasteurization will reduce the pathogens found in the mix the process cannot eliminate any antibiotics, growth hormones, or heavy metals that can be found in a waste mixture like this. The Center for Biological Diversity citing a 10-year study has revealed that more than 90 percent of the waters and fish tested across the country are contaminated with pesticides. They also state that independent research has found more than 200 chemicals, many of them toxins, in the blood of newborns.

We seem to be already poisoning ourselves so do we really want even more harmful substances brought into our town? Do we really want the Town of York to be known for being the dumping ground for these kinds of toxic wastes brought from outside our own county?

And finally, over the last two decades, although the US has lost about 5,000 farms every year, the number of farm animals has skyrocketed. This is because many are now concentrated on industrial-scale, factory farms and getting rid of the wastes from these operations is a major health and welfare issue. My father had enough land to take care of his own cows’ manure, and it seems the farmers here in York have also responsibly taken care of their own generated wastes. But from 1997 to 2007 the number of dairy animals in Wyoming County increased from 15,234 to 28,616 and it now seems that some of the farms there have more waste than their land can handle. Why should the Town of York be asked to bear the brunt of this excess waste? Would we just be enabling them to just grow larger and thus look for more land to build more lagoons?

The Abbey of the Genesee, along with R.L. Jeffres & Sons, Inc. who rent the land, and Synergy LLC who owns the digester have all indicated their desire to be good stewards of the land, to be responsive to the concerns of their neighbors and to maintain great relationships with the community. Contacting them regarding you’re your feelings about the proposed lagoon becomes essential in determining the future health and welfare of the Town of York. Petitions for this purpose are being circulated and I’m sure phone calls or letters to them expressing your concerns would be appreciated. When we feel there is a threat to our families or our homes it's time to take action to “protect what we love”.