The following appears in todays Times Herald Record:

In an April 1 conference call with state officials, Kiryas Joel representatives let it be known that no more legal obstacles await their plans for a 13-mile water pipeline, for which they are seeking state financing.

Yes, Orange County sued over the project’s environmental review, they acknowledged, but county leaders were satisfied with the revised version of that study “and said they won’t challenge this,” according to handwritten notes from that call.

But in truth, the possibility of a second county suit hasn’t passed.

“The county has made no comment to anyone involved in this process,” county spokesman Richard Mayfield said. “There is no credibility to this statement. It’s just not accurate.”

County officials and their attorneys are still scrutinizing Kiryas Joel’s amended review and have told no one, even in informal conservations, that they’re satisfied with it.

Also, a top engineer with the New York City Department of Environmental Protection — the agency that must approve Kiryas Joel’s request to tap the city’s Catskill Aqueduct — has sent the village a litany of questions, raising issues about the village’s projected growth, the amount of water it would draw, the sufficiency of its backup supply and the width of the proposed transmission pipe.

The engineer, who several years ago asked the village why it wanted a 24-inch-wide pipe when a smaller one would suffice, now wonders why the village has agreed to reduce the diameter to 18 inches without providing any supporting analysis.

“Please be reminded that the pipe size selection is not arbitrary,” wrote Paul Aggarwal, section chief of community supplies engineering. “An engineering analysis supporting the desired pipe size for now and the future water demands must be submitted for our review.”

Kiryas Joel officials want to start construction in January on what they now estimate to be an almost $30 million project.

Orange County lawmakers have discussed the county’s legal position behind closed doors once since Kiryas Joel revised its environmental review and are likely to revisit the issue soon, as a July 31 deadline to file another lawsuit looms.

If anyone in their ranks deemed the amended study “satisfactory,” it certainly wasn’t Frank Fornario, the Blooming Grove Republican who helped lead opposition to the pipeline and now oversees a committee that would consider further litigation.

“I’m speechless,” he said when told about Kiryas Joel’s claim in the April 1 conference call.

(Recordonline.com / YWN-112)