Public commenters urge Washington County to reinstate biosolids moratorium, strengthen waste monitoring
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Summary
At the Feb. 20 Washington County Board of Supervisors meeting, resident Ron Atkinson urged the board to reinstate a moratorium on out-of-county biosolids, press for PFAS testing at the county compost facility and send representatives to a March 6 solid-waste meeting. Public commenters also raised immigration enforcement concerns.
Ron Atkinson, a Hudson Falls resident, told the Washington County Board of Supervisors during public comment that the county should reinstate its biosolids moratorium and improve solid-waste monitoring.
“At the time the moratorium was developed here for Washington County…we really should reinstate that,” Atkinson said, urging the board to send a county representative to a March 6 meeting on solid-waste management and to adopt monitoring software and permitting oversight similar to measures he described from neighboring Warren County. He also said testing of a county facility occurred in July 2023, not 2024, and called for updated testing of the county compost facility to address PFAS concerns.
Atkinson framed the request around public-health and enforcement questions, pressing the board to combine education, enforcement and updated monitoring tools. He identified Scott Royael (a solid-waste compliance coordinator described in his remarks) and noted Warren County is piloting a software system to monitor haulers’ permits and reporting.
Another public commenter identified by others as Merrill described travel to Minneapolis and posed questions about ICE enforcement and federal prosecution, asking whether local officials have plans to protect county residents. That speaker’s comments ranged into political critique and did not prompt a formal board response during the public-comment period.
Why it matters: county decisions on biosolids permits, monitoring and facility testing affect local composting operations, potential environmental contamination concerns such as PFAS, and the standards Washington County uses to permit haulers and oversee transfer facilities. The speaker asked the board to revisit policies put in place earlier, noting continuing concern from residents and calling for staff follow-up and testing.