The Villages of Piermont and Suffern on Tuesday each passed a resolution requesting Gov. Andrew Cuomo and the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) hold an Issues Conference on United Water's proposed Haverstraw Water Supply desalination plant. The Town of Orangetown and Village of Nyack are expected to vote on similar resolutions when they meet next week.
Piermont and Suffern joined five other villages that previously voted on the request along with the towns of Clarkstown and Stony Point. Rockland County Executive C. Scott Vanderhoef and the county legislature also have expressed support for the Issues Conference.
"The Rockland Water Coalition thanks the towns and villages that have supported the resolution calling for the NYS DEC to grant the County of Rockland an Issues Conference for the proposed Haverstraw Water Supply Project,” said George Potanovic, Jr., president of the Stony Point Action Committee for the Environment (SPACE) and a member of the Rockland Water Coalition. “It is critical that disputed issues of need and real costs be more independently examined."
Potanovic referred to an independent economic study by EcoNorthwest, which was retained by the coalition to examine the financial data and costs of the proposed desalination plant. He stated the report found United Water's financial data to be lacking in how data had been gathered, organized, documented and presented and that it stated there is "almost complete lack of transparency and documentation regarding the data, assumptions, and analysis methods used to generate the cost results."
The proposed desalination plant would treat Hudson River drinking water to supplement the county’s water supply. Recently, United Water has announced several union and business association endorsements of the proposed plant.
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