MONTICELLO – The Sullivan County Legislature voted in favor of becoming lead agency for the State Environmental Quality Review Act (SEQRA) process for the proposed renovation of the John “J.J.” McGough Terminal at the Sullivan County International Airport (SCIA) at their special meeting on February 9.

However, the renovation proposition is underlined by a series of environmental concerns regarding toxic chemicals in the current terminal.

In November of last year, the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) issued an investigation of the airport’s current terminal, finding that hazardous man-made chemicals known as per- and poly-fluoroalkyl substances (PFAS)  put public and environmental safety in jeopardy. 

The airport was listed as a Class “2” site in the State Registry of Inactive Hazardous Waste Sites - which represents “a significant threat to public health or the environment.” The report stated that action to remediate the situation is required.

This toxicity is reportedly due to the PFAS that are associated with the past use of Aqueous Film Forming Foam during fire training activities on-site.

Sullivan County Attorney Michael McGuire noted that although a layout map of the SCIA had been created just only over a year ago, a new map must be drafted to show the blueprint of the proposed terminal as the SEQRA process continues. Additionally, the Legislature passed a resolution during their emergency meeting to contract McFarland Johnson, Inc. to perform on-call services at the SCIA.

Some public commenters brought up their concerns of the environmental impacts. Deputy County Attorney Tom Cawley spoke in response, saying that any SEQRA analysis regarding the terminal will go into effect when the review is completed.

Division of Public Works Commissioner Ed McAndrew said that the clean-up process remains in the investigation stage, which began in 2017. Once this stage is completed, McAndrew said that the analysis will be submitted to the DEC.

Human Rights Report

Human Rights Commission Executive Director Adrienne Jensen, in her report during the Human Resources Committee, stated that there are ongoing issues with substandard living for individuals within parts of the county, some of which are rooted in the issue of being unable to contact landlords who may be unable to meet the needs of their tenants.

Jensen said that a majority of the people who call into her office with these issues lack the means to seek a resolution to them.

“They’re just stuck,” Jensen said.

Moving forward in trying to resolve issues related to substandard living, Jensen noted before the committee that it would be beneficial to implement legal assistance for those struggling, even if the help was just a board brought together with the intent to give those afflicted guidance and direction.

Majority Leader Alan Sorensen, who chairs the Human Resources Committee, suggested that Jensen coordinate the efforts of resolving these issues with County Manager Josh Potosek’s office.

“What you’re describing are deplorable conditions that we should not be tolerating,” Sorensen said. “There must be some resources that we can bring to the table.”

Before Jensen concluded her report, she offered the idea of the possible creation of a county-wide landlord registry, which may be useful in identifying and locating negligent landlords.