SCHOOL BOARD WANTS INTERESTED-PARTY STATUS ON MINE
DAILY FREEMAN, September 6, 2001 (A5) by Ariel Zanglia, Correspondent
SAUGERTIES -
The Board of Education has voted unanimously to notify the
state is wants to be considered an interested party in a proposed mining operation
in Veteran.
The decision by the board to alert the state Department of
Environmental Conservation as to its interest was made at Tuesday night's meeting.
By becoming an interested party the board can monitor the proposed project as
it goes through its application process and through a state environmental quality
review, officials said.
Board President Lanny Walter said he is in favor of the board
becoming an interested party because the mine has a 30-year life cycle, is a
major operation, and is close to the Grant D. Morse Elementary School. He also
said the board is not taking a side on the issue, just allowing its attorney
to monitor the situation.
The board will be represented by its attorney Shaw and Perelson
from Poughkeepsie, Walter said.
At the board's Aug. 14 meeting Pat Fitzsimmons, the chairman
of Citizens Action for Residential Environments in Saugerties, had urged the
board to become an interested party in the proposed mining project because of
its proximity to the elementary school. He said that students would be affected
by the project because the proposed mine is within a one-mile radius of the
school.