The board of directors of the New York State Environmental Facilities Corp. (EFC) has unanimously approved a $5 million, short-term loan that the Town of Salina will use for work to close the town landfill.
EFC made the announcement in a news release distributed on Friday.
The low-interest loan will help the town install a groundwater and landfill leachate-collection system and pretreatment plant designed to remove mercury, PCBs, and volatile organic compounds (VOCs), the EFC said in the news release.
The leachate-collection system includes more than 1,000 linear feet of 1.5-inch HDPE force main; 850 linear feet of two-inch HDPE force main; 670-linear feet of 3.0-inch double-contained HDPE force main; and associated pre-cast concrete wet wells, manholes, and cleanouts, the EFC said.
HDPE is short for high-density polyethylene.
“EFC is pleased to have been able to assist the Town of Salina in securing affordable financing for this important project,” Matthew Driscoll, EFC president and CEO, said in the news release. “The result will be a cleaner environment and improved public health for generations to come.”
Driscoll is a former mayor of the City of Syracuse.
The pretreatment plant includes six extraction well pumps and control equipment; an influent pre-cast, submersible-packaged pump station; 2,200-square-foot concrete-masonry unit brick building; 125,000 gallons glass-fused-to-steel water-storage tank; bag filters; air strippers; carbon filters; parshall flumes; manholes; pipes; and site work, according to the EFC news release.
The system will discharge the pretreated leachate to the Metropolitan Syracuse WWTP (waste water treatment plant) for further treatment, it added.
The New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) had previously awarded a state grant of more than $13.6 million for the $20.6 million project.
The DEC funding came from its program that focuses on inactive hazardous waste- disposal site remediation.
EFC also provided a $1.3 million loan from this year’s sale of $213 million in “Green” bonds. The town plans to convert the latest EFC loan to a 30-year loan next year, the EFC said.
EFC is a public-benefit corporation dedicated to “promoting environmental quality through a wide range of funding and technical assistance focused on protecting, improving and restoring New York’s precious natural resources.”
Contact Reinhardt at ereinhardt@cnybj.com