Planning agency tables review of Fort Edward moratorium on PFAS and asks for sewer-district input

The Washington County Planning Agency reviewed a referral from the Village of Fort Edward proposing a nine-month moratorium on the treatment, testing, disposal, storage or deposit of materials contaminated with per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) within village limits. Member 1, planning agency member, said the referral would prohibit a broad set of activities and asked how the village would define “storage” and handle sewage-plant operations and sludge that may contain PFAS.

Agency members repeatedly raised the potential impact on the local sewer district’s operations, including whether material that enters a wastewater plant and is processed into sludge would be treated as “storage” under the moratorium and whether the village had conferred with the sewer district or village attorney. Member 5, planning agency member, noted that a hardship clause exists in the draft law permitting petitions to continue certain activities if the village grants hardship relief.

Because those operational and definitional questions were unresolved, the agency made and seconded a motion to table the referral and asked staff to return the draft with comments recommending the village consult the sewer district, the village attorney and recycling operations to clarify the moratorium’s scope and the definition of storage. The motion to table passed on an aye vote.