Orange County Executive Edward Diana Thursday announced that the county will return to court to challenge the environmental findings statement issued by the Village of Kiryas Joel in connection with construction of a tap of the Catskill Aqueduct and a transmission main and associated infrastructure to transport and supply water to the village.

The county believes that the Amended Findings do not comply with SEQRA and the Appellate Court’s Decision because they still do not adequately assess the project’s impacts on the county’s sewer treatment infrastructure and other environmental concerns addressed in the Appellate Decision, said Diana.

The county executive will continue to engage in dialogue with the village in an effort to address these issues; however, the county must authorize the commencement of an Article 78 Special Proceeding to ensure that it is brought in a timely fashion.

The village, as “lead agency” under SEQRA, had previously accepted a Final Environmental Impact Statement for the Project in May 2004 and issued SEQRA “findings” to implement the project in July 2004.

The county challenged those findings through an Article 78 Petition, on the grounds that the village had failed to take a hard look at a number of potential environmental impacts including but not limited to impacts on waste water, wetlands, archeological resources and population growth.

The county’s petition was granted by the Supreme Court, Orange County, in October 2005. That decision was appealed by the village and was affirmed and modified by the Appellate Division, Second Judicial Department on October 9, 2007.

The Appellate Division directed the village to prepare an Amended Final Environmental Impact Statement, which it did in February 2009. The village issued an “Amended Findings Statement” to again implement the Project on March 31, 2009.

(Source: MidHudsonNews.com)