Proposed STAMP force main project draws Orleans County concern

Mark Gutman/Daily News file photoThe STAMP manufacturing site in Alabama.

ALABAMA — The public still has until Tuesday afternoon to comment on the proposed acquisition of easements on property for a proposed force main project that would dump treated wastewater from the STAMP manufacturing site in Alabama into Oak Orchard Creek in Orleans County.

STAMP Sewer Works Inc. proposed acquiring temporary easements on three properties to put in a force main from the Science and Technology Manufacturing Park (STAMP) nine miles along Route 63 into Shelby. This would deposit up to 6 million gallons of treated wastewater into the creek.

People may submit comments until 5 p.m. Tuesday by email at [email protected] or by mail to James R. O’Connor Esq., Phillips Lytle LLP, One Canalside, 125 Main St., Buffalo, NY 14203.

People have already submitted written comments and several spoke on the force main project during a public hearing Thursday at the Alabama Volunteer Fire Department.

Orleans County District Attorney Joe Cardone of Shelby, a lifelong county resident, said, “Frankly, I say shame on Genesee County about how this is happening.”

Genesee and Orleans counties have been allies for centuries, with many common projects and shared services, he said, “But what has happened here and the manner in which it has happened is most disturbing,” Cardone said. “This project may be a great project in terms of what it may do for our economies in various parts of Western New York, but from what I’m hearing of this situation, it involves Orleans County really bearing the brunt of the project in the form of having to take on the whole wastewater that this project is going to create.”

Cardone said he doesn’t know what benefit Orleans County will receive.

“I don’t know why Orleans County wasn’t brought to the table on a lot of the planning that’s occurred here. Frankly, I don’t know why Orleans County would want to accept six million gallons of wastewater,” he said “We know very little about the quality of the wastewater. You say you have looked at other options in terms of where this wastewater could go. If, in fact, the quality of the wastewater is as you represent, perhaps it could go into the Erie Barge Canal, that can better control water levels, but I haven’t heard anything about that.”

Genesee County Economic Development Center (GCEDC) Senior Vice President of Operations Mark Masse said STAMP Sewer Works has gotten easements on 27 parcels, but hasn’t been able to get the easements on the other three.

Masse said the GCEDC has been working for more than a decade on the development of STAMP, a campus of approximately 1,262 acres, located on the west side of Route 63 and 77.

Masse said he wanted to talk about why the force main was needed.

“During the consultation and design process, several potential locations were considered for the force main and discharge locations,” he said. “Two potential locations on or immediately adjacent to the STAMP site were Tonawanda Creek and Whitney Creek. However, these were rejected out of respect of the request of the Tonawanda Seneca Nation. The Iroquois Wildlife Refuge, Oak Orchard Wildlife Refuge and Tonawanda Wildlife Refuge were all considered, but after speaking with the managing agencies, it would be too difficult for them to manage the water levels and flow of the potential discharge.”

Oak Orchard Creek became a viable option, but the discharge point had to be determined. Based on the analysis of Oak Orchard Creek, the discharge point was chosen where the creek opens up wider and deeper to be able to handle up to the proposed six million gallons per day of discharge, he said.

“The STAMP project will directly result in many public uses benefits and purposes, including boosting the economy and local tax bases, and creating thousands of jobs,” Masse said. “For jobs specifically, the project could result in 9,330 full-time equivalent jobs, once it is completed and occupied. The project was projected to generate approximately $531.9 million in direct annual wages at full buildup.”

The economic output from the STAMP project is projected to be about $4.6 billion once the project is complete and operational, Masse said, Property tax rates are projected to decrease due to increases in the property tax base. The town of Alabama, Genesee County and the Oakfield-Alabama Central School District will be impacted by this, he said. Retail operations are projected to generate about $2.3 million in annual sales tax for both the county and the state.

Another speaker was Matthew Fitzgerald, an associate with Phillips Lytle LLP, counsel for the GCEDC and STAMP Sewer Works for environmental review and permitting for STAMP. He said the state Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC), U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the Army Corps of Engineers each did an extensive environmental review of the proposed pipeline project.

“During the GCEDC’s 2020 and 2022 environmental reviews of the force main, the GCEDC completed numerous studies documented in the record, which were also reviewed by independent state and federal agencies ... including a discharge analysis confirming that the force main’s discharge will not adversely affect Oak Orchard Creek or downstream structures,” Fitzgerald said.

Jennifer Persico, an attorney with Lippes Mathias LLP, said she represents the Orleans County Legislature. She handed O’Connor a written statement to be included in the record. She also spoke Thursday, saying she thought everyone was there for a Stamp Sewer Works public hearing, but that all that’s been talked about is what the GCEDC has done.

“We haven’t heard anything about the STAMP Sewer Works,” she said. “The GCEDC is an industrial development agency and, as such, does not have the authority to impose its will on a different will, i.e., Genesee County imposing its will on Orleans County. The STAMP Sewer Works is really a sham corporation that was created improperly to do that which the IDA — the GCEDC — can’t do. It seems to me that if you look at the evidence and you look at the money, that really, this is a project and a hearing being controlled by the GCEDC and not the STAMP Sewer Works.”

Persico said the proposal to hold Thursday’s public hearing was approved March 2 by the GCEDC and by STAMP Sewer Works in April. The proposal to have the hearing had an estimated cost of $70,000 to $90,000. STAMP Sewer Works has about $25,000, she said.

“I want you guys to get paid as much as anybody else, but that money’s coming from the GCEDC and not from STAMP Sewer Works,” she said.

“While eminent domain proceedings are certainly permitted where there is a public purpose, where that public purpose is illusory or undertaken in bad faith, they’re not permitted,” she said.

Evelyn Wackett, a licensed environmental rehabilitation specialist, said she was upset about the location of the project.

“I’m very concerned about the effects of the STAMP project on the environment and the migration flyway area of the National Wildlife Refuge and surrounding communities,” she said. “The idea that they’re going to pump wastewater across the refuge and into Oak Orchard Creek outside of Medina is disturbing. Please reconsider the location of this project. The habitat is being destroyed and the endangered, short-eared owl and threatened northern harrier are at even more risk if this development continues.”

Johnson Newspapers 7.1