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The (Syracuse, NY) May 22, 2003 TOWN AND VILLAGE DON'T WANT TRUCKS WITH HAZARDOUS MATERIALS ON ROADS. Sara Errington Staff writer The Skaneateles town
and village boards agreed at their meetings last week to draft resolutions
asking for a ban on trucks carrying hazardous materials from
traveling through the Skaneateles Lake watershed.
Janet Besse, a local environmental activist, spoke to both boards,
asking them to do something to stop the trash trucks that
use area highways as a shortcut from Interstate 81 to the landfill at
Seneca Meadows. She said six recent trash-truck crashes in the region made her
worry about what would happen if one of the trucks spilled its
load into the lake.
She presented the boards with a resolution passed by the Owasco Town
Board and said she's trying to get area municipalities to join together in
requesting a ban.
Supervisor Bill Pavlus suggested encouraging the state to help build a
$1 million railroad spur at Seneca Meadows so that trash can be brought
there by train.
Councilor Ted Murdick said that he supported pushing for a ban on
hazardous materials in the watershed and also trying to get the trash
trucks' solid waste cargoes classified as hazardous.
"We should be looking to keep that away from the roadways that are
in the watershed. If you've had the opportunity to be up close and in
person to one of those accidents, some of that stuff is not very
nice," he said.
"I think our goal is to try and keep them on the Thruway because
we can't ban them completely. Keep them on the highways where they belong
and not on these back roads. ... That's basically how the village board
feels and that's what will be in our resolution," said Mayor James
Rhinehart, who attended the town board meeting.
Neither board has taken official action yet.
Besse contended that 24 states have taken steps to determine what roads trucks
can use. New Jersey is the closest state, she said.
Board members questioned Besse's claim that Maryland and other states
have routing agencies that dictate where all 18-wheelers, not ^just those
carrying hazardous materials, can travel.
Town Attorney James Murphy, who also is a county legislator, said the
governor does have the authority to create a routing agency for hazardous
material.
"That is possible. He has decided not to do that, but that would
be a reasonable request because that is something, according to the EPA in
Washington, he has the authority to do."
A review of recent news articles from across the country turned up
several examples of bans restricting trucks that don't carry
hazardous materials:
In 1999, former New Jersey Governor Christine Todd Whitman banned
long-haul trucks wider than 102 inches from all of New Jersey's
secondary roads. The ban applies to trucks passing through the
state, not to those whose trips start or end in New Jersey, or who make
deliveries in the state.
Trucks not making local deliveries are banned inside Atlanta's
beltway during rush hours.
The Virginia General Assembly in 2001 imposed a one-year
truck ban on a stretch of U.S. 17, near Washington, D.C.
Codes officer to look at two vacant homes
The board directed Pavlus to have the town's code enforcement officer
inspect two vacant homes on Jordan Road to see if they are unsafe.
One is at 4458 Jordan Road and the other is at 4473 Jordan Road.
This is the first step the town should take to begin an effort to have
the homes demolished or rehabilitated, Murphy said.
The board acted in response to a letter from Kevin Jost, president of
Hand Held Products, Inc., asking for the town's help in cleaning up the
area near Jordan Road and Visions Drive. Copyright, 2003, The Herald
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