NoBurnBroome.com
February 1, 2021
Contact: Paul Connett, pconnett@gmail.com
Tonight at 6 PM: Public Hearing to Rescind Endicott’s Controversial Recycling Law
Tonight, a Zoom Public Hearing will be held to rescind the Village of Endicott’s recycling law (Local Law No. 01 of the Year 2021). The current recycling law was passed on May 7, 2020 and has proved highly controversial (see a little history below). The Hearing is at 6 pm, and everyone will be allowed to speak without signing in.
Zoom Link: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/8799825149
Meeting ID: 879 982 5149
Dial in phone number: 1-929-436-2866
Why NoBurnBroome supports the rescinding of the recycling law:
• It contains no protections for the health and the environment of Endicott residents.
• It was written exclusively for the benefit of SungEel, the owner of the proposed recycling operation for lithium-ion batteries in Endicott.
• It allows the use of incineration for SungEel’s processes to recover precious metals, while releasing known carcinogens into the air (see Air Permit of March 30, 2020).
• It leaves the community a magnet for other industries, like SungEel, who want to use incineration in their recycling processes to set up shop in Endicott.
SungEel’s processes make it a very toxic polluting industry that has the potential to harm public health. Once the current recycling law is rescinded, the Village board will work on a new aw law, at a later time.
The SungEel project is not dead yet. The residents of Endicott, as well as others living in Broome county, have done their civic duty to put the brakes on the lithium battery recycling project. We are waiting to hear back from the NY Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) on the suspension of the Air Permit it issued to SungEel. The DEC was never informed by SungEel that their operation would release PFAS (toxic forever chemicals). It was NoBurnBroome who informed them, and that’s why the permit was pulled. However, the permit could be re-issued anytime.
A little background on the current recycling law:
• The first part of the Public Hearing on the recycling law was held on Zoom May 4, 2020, and 240 people attended, breaking a record in Endicott and in Broome County! Due to the number of comments and the length of the meeting, the Board said it would continue the Hearing on May 7.
• The second part of the Public Hearing on the recycling law was held on Zoom May 7, 2020, with 290 people attending at the peak of the meeting, breaking yet another record. The Trustees voted 3-2 for the law.
• At an Endicott Village board meeting on June 1, 2020, Mayor Linda Jackson and Trustees Eileen Konecny and Cheryl Chapman said they would rescind the recycling law a a Village board meeting on June 1, 2020.
• In September the Mayor and Trustees went back on their word and said they wouldn’t rescind.
• In November 2020, six Endicott residents brought an Article 78 lawsuit against the Village of Endicott challenging the legality of the recycling law passed on May 7th. The lawsuit noted that the village board, “Failed to undergo the required environmental assessment”, and called for the village’s code to be annulled.
NoBurnBroome 