NARROWSBURG, NY — Following a report that un-serviced collection tanks at the former Barnes Landfill were overflowing landfill leachates, the Upper Delaware Council (UDC) was expected to approve letters of inquiry to state and federal agencies at the panel’s May 3 meeting.

Hancock delegate Fred Peckham raised the topic during a discussion about New York State’s funding (or failure to fund) the council at the UDC’s April meeting. At that time, Peckham quoted a report from a local waste hauler and charged that New York State didn’t even have enough money to pump out the overflowing collection tanks at Barnes Landfill.

The landfill, now closed for 25 years, was a source of controversy in the late 1980s when a Westchester County trash hauler, Robert Luguori, bought the small existing landfill with plans of creating a regional landfill. With increased use, the existing hillside landfill drew the complaints of neighboring Kittatinny Campground, located downgrade. Leachates draining from the trash eventually prompted felony water-pollution charges against Liguori, and the landfill was ordered closed in 1989.

There were two owners of the property during its use as a landfill: the primary owner, Emmett “Steve” Barnes, and Liguori. But no deed was ever filed by the Westchester waste carter, and both men are now deceased. Taxes went unpaid, and Sullivan County declined to take title; now no one is responsible for maintaining the closure.

An escrow fund for maintenance of the engineered closure was originally included in the sale, but following another report of leakage in 2003, Bill Rudge, the DEC delegate on the council, warned that escrow money to fund maintenance of the closure was to expire in two years.

In 2004, the DEC suggested that Town of Highland “would perform a valuable public service” if it were to undertake the removal and treatment of collected leachate, a long-term remedy could be implemented. The UDC in turn suggested that DEC take on the responsibility. There is no record of any resolution of the quandary, or how or if tank maintenance was funded in the interim.

The New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) has not responded to repeated TRR queries about the situation over the past three weeks.