THE PAUL PLANTE STORY

thelivyjr
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Re: THE PAUL PLANTE STORY

Post by thelivyjr »

DATE: May 22, 2021 at 7:59 AM

TO: New York State Police

What has been tarnished is not so much the institution of the State Police, but the very concept of Rule of Law, itself!

That has been rendered into a big joke by all of this.

Had I been a liar, I could have had a great career as an engineer who was willing for the right people to falsify documents and mislead the public.

So where has that gotten us to?

Bridge inspectors falsifying inspection reports?

Sounds great for society when all the regulators are nothing more than a pack of liars.

Paul Plante
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Re: THE PAUL PLANTE STORY

Post by thelivyjr »

DATE: May 22, 2021 at 5:11 PM

TO: New York State Police

As to how things are done in Rensselaer County and Poestenkill, or were just prior to you becoming a Trooper, unless night has turned into day, and everything is now totally different, there is absolutely no protection whatsoever from the issuance of a fraudulent order, which are commodities on the marketplace, regardless of any laws or rules to the contrary, as can be seen from these relevant excerpts from an August 6, 2004 sworn affidavit of my son, an Albany, New York Police Officer, which affidavit was submitted by myself to Rensselaer County Court Judge Patrick McGrath:

1. I am qualified as a law enforcement officer in the State of New York.

2. In that capacity, I am familiar with orders for involuntary commitment issued pursuant to 9.45 of the New York State Mental Hygiene Law, commonly known as "pick-up" orders.

3. With respect to this above matter, on August 22, 2001, I returned home to find an urgent message on my telephone answering machine from Paul Plante in the above matter, requesting me to come to his aid and assistance at the Stratton VA Medical Center at 113 Holland Avenue in Albany, New York 12208.

4. Upon arriving at the Stratton VA Medical Center at about 2:00 P.M. on the afternoon of August 22, 2001 and making inquiry as to Paul Plante's whereabouts, I found him in the custody of Dr. Cox in the secure mental health facility on the tenth floor of the VA Hospital in Albany.

5. Upon being admitted into Dr. Cox's office, I recall being told by Dr. Cox that it was "a good thing" that I was there, and that as someone who knew Paul Plante quite well, I could assist Dr. Cox in straightening out the situation in which Paul Plante found himself at that moment.

6. At that time, I recall that Dr. Cox had Paul Plante explain the "situation" to me in his own words, which I recall as follows:

a) that Paul Plante was conducting an investigation as a New York State licensed professional engineer pursuant to the laws of the State of New York into the manner in which a Jeffrey Pelletier of Poestenkill, New York, had managed to obtain a sewage disposal system construction permit from the Rensselaer County Department of Health;

b) that in the course of conducting this investigation, he had uncovered alleged wrongdoing involving public officials in the Town of Poestenkill and Rensselaer County;

c) that he was preparing a report on the manner in which this sewage disposal system construction permit had been obtained in preparation for a legal action against the public officials allegedly involved in the matter;

d) that in the course of obtaining background materials for the report, he had been threatened with retaliation by Rensselaer County officials and was told to "back off" and leave the matter alone;

e) that the day prior, August 21, 2001, despite the threats he had received from Rensselaer County officials, he entered the Rensselaer County Office Building for the purpose of a final review of public files in connection with the investigation he was conducting;

f) that on the morning of August 22, 2001, he had returned home to find two (2) messages on his answering machine from a Robert Reiter, a political appointee serving as Director of Veterans' Affairs in Rensselaer County;

g) that he then called Robert Reiter at the Rensselaer County Office Building;

h) that Robert Reiter then allegedly tried to lure him into the Rensselaer County Office Building for an alleged meeting;

i) that when he refused to come into the Rensselaer County Office Building, that Robert Reiter then allegedly told him that he was "required" to report to the mental health unit at the Samaritan Hospital in Troy, New York;

j) that Robert Reiter then put a William "BUCK" Shea on the line;

k) that William "BUCK" Shea began yelling at him that if he did not report to the mental health unit of the Samaritan Hospital immediately, that he would have to "face the consequences"; and

l) that upon hearing William "BUCK" Shea's threats, he became panic stricken and immediately left his home and went to the VA Hospital for sanctuary, because it was federal property, and because he hoped a psychologist he knew at the hospital would be able to assist him in determining what was transpiring in Rensselaer County.

7. I then clearly recall Dr. Cox dismissing out of hand all that Paul Plante had just stated, and informing me instead that Paul Plante was being held at the VA Hospital because a 9.45 involuntary commitment order for him had been issued by a Dr. John Christian Braaten at the Samaritan Hospital in Troy, New York which directed the New York State Police to apprehend Paul Plante and transport him to the mental health unit of the Samaritan Hospital in Troy, New York for involuntary psychiatric care and treatment, and that Paul Plante was alleged to be in quite serious trouble in Rensselaer County, for which he was allegedly "wanted by the police" as I recall the words of Dr. Cox to me on August 22, 2001.

8. When I asked what that had to do with Paul Plante being held at the VA Hospital in Albany, I recall Dr. Cox informing me that Rensselaer County officials had faxed the New York State Mental Hygiene Law 9.45 "pick-up" order for Paul Plante to the VA Hospital, and that, because of that action by Rensselaer County and New York State public officials, there was then a legal jurisdictional problem involving Paul Plante, that because of the 9.45 order, in the words of Dr. Cox as I recall them, the VA was required to hold Paul Plante.

9. Being familiar with 9.45 orders in my capacity as a qualified law enforcement officer in the State of New York, and being very familiar with the version of facts Paul Plante had provided to me at the beginning of the interview with Dr. Cox, and being very curious as to how and upon what authority Dr. Cox, a medical doctor allegedly licensed in State of New York by the Education Department, could dismiss out of hand Paul Plante's version of events above where Paul Plante is an engineer licensed to practice in the State of New York who has previously given evidence to the Federal Bureau of Investigation concerning the Rensselaer County Department of Health, I recall requesting Dr. Cox to show me the order upon which he personally was detaining Paul Plante.

10. When I questioned Dr. Cox as to his knowledge of the circumstances behind the issuance of this particular 9.45 order, specifically the necessary factual history alleged in the records to justify a finding that Paul Plante was "dangerous" as is required by New York State laws on the arrest and detainment of those alleged to be mentally ill, dangerous and incapable of providing support or treatment for themselves, I recall Dr. Cox telling me that earlier that morning, Paul Plante had allegedly been seen by a Dr. John Christian Braaten at Samaritan Hospital, and based upon Dr. John Christian Braaten's alleged evaluation, that Paul Plante had to be involuntarily committed to a mental health unit for immediate care and treatment for a mental illness.

11. At that point, I clearly recall Paul Plante interjecting in a calm, steady and reasonable voice, stating that he had never been to the Samaritan Hospital that day or any other day, and that he had never been seen by any Dr. John Christian Braaten at any time, period.

12. With that statement by Paul Plante, I recall asking Dr. Cox specifically, in very clear language, whether he had independent knowledge as to whether Dr. John Christian Braaten had actually seen Paul Plante, at which point I recall him basing his opinion solely upon the 9.45 order faxed to him by Rensselaer County officials.

13. With that admission by Dr. Cox that he had no direct knowledge or evidence of what had transpired in Rensselaer County, outside of the copy of the 9.45 order faxed to him that morning by Rensselaer County public officials, and that therefore, he could not attest to where Paul Plante had been or what he been doing at the time process was issued by Dr. John Christian Braaten for Paul Plante to be detained and transported to Samaritan Hospital of Troy, N.Y., I recall that a discussion ensued between myself and Dr. Cox as to the situation as I saw it right then from my perspective as a police officer in the State of New York subject to its laws and constitution as were Dr. Cox and Paul Plante as licensed professionals in the State of New York.

14. As I recall it, this discussion concerned itself with Dr. Cox's own personal legal status as a New York State licensed medical doctor if he continued to hold Paul Plante without any evidence of mental illness, "dangerousness" or inability to care for himself, after Paul Plante had identified himself to the doctor as a New York State licensed professional engineer conducting an investigation in Rensselaer County involving matters of protection and safeguarding of life, health and property in New York State.

15. As I recall him saying in reply, Dr. Cox told me that he had been informed that morning by Rensselaer County officials Joseph Cybulski and Robert Reiter, and New York State official William "BUCK" Shea, that Paul Plante was alleged armed and dangerous and a threat to people in the Rensselaer County Office Building, and that he had then been ordered by Joseph Cybulski, who I believe he referred to as a "doctor", to hold Paul Plante for transport back to Rensselaer County.

16. When I asked Dr. Cox upon what authority, jurisdiction or discretion, Rensselaer County officials Joseph Cybulski and Robert Reiter, and New York State official William "BUCK" Shea could order the arrest and detention of Paul Plante in a Federal government secure mental health facility, I recall Dr. Cox resorting to the circular logic of the MHL 9.45 order; to wit: if they had it, he was not going to question its legitimacy, regardless of what Paul Plante might say in his own defense, or in other words, it was too late for Paul Plante's defense, he had already had that opportunity with Dr. John Christian Braaten that morning, and Paul Plante had obviously blown it according to Dr. Cox, elsewise the 9.45 order would never had issued, and Paul Plante wouldn't now be detained and in big trouble in Rensselaer County.

17. It is at that this point in the discussion that I recall stopping Dr. Cox in his presentation, and asking him one question to settle the dispute in the matter of Paul Plante's custody, for if Paul Plante was properly in custody, as a police officer in the State of New York, I could not and would not interfere outside of resorting, as one who knew him quite well, to legal procedures created in the New York State Mental Hygiene Law to challenge such confinements:

I asked Dr. Cox to explain to me how Paul Plante had managed to escape from the Samaritan Hospital, given that he was at that time physically present in the City of Albany, some miles to the south of the City of Troy, where Dr. John Christian Braaten had allegedly examined him and had allegedly determined that Paul Plante was a person with a mental illness who needed to be involuntarily committed to the mental health unit of the Samaritan Hospital for immediate care and treatment.

18. I told Dr. Cox that if Paul Plante had in fact been in lawful custody at the Samaritan Hospital in Troy on August 22, 2001, and had then escaped custody before making his way to Albany, where we all were then sitting, that in my own view of my responsibilities as a police officer in New York State, I would be obligated to apprehend Paul Plante myself for the public safety, so that if Dr. Cox had evidence of such alleged conduct by Paul Plante, then he was obligated to hold Paul Plante, and Paul Plante was obligated to stay.

19. However, I told Dr. Cox, that from what I was hearing Paul Plante recount concerning this MHL 9.45 order, it sounded as if a Constitutional Tort had been committed against Paul Plante in the State of New York by these named public officials in the County of Rensselaer and the State of New York, so that the reality of the situation right there as it stood in Dr. Cox's office at that moment was that Paul Plante was being held against his will by Dr. Cox in a federal facility based upon null acts in the State of New York in violation of Paul Plante's legal and constitutional rights under New York law, and that as someone who knew him quite well, I would institute proceedings against Dr. Cox on constitutional grounds to have Paul Plante freed, after it was clear to him as the examining doctor that there were no medical grounds upon which to continue the detention of Paul Plante in the Albany VA Hospital as an alleged dangerous mental patient.

20. With that question before him of the lawfulness and constitutionality of Paul Plante's continued detention in the secure mental health facility of the Albany VA Hospital on August 22, 2001, after the moment when Dr. Cox admitted that he had no medical evidence upon which to base his continued detention of Paul Plante, I recall Dr. Cox stating for the record on an apparent recording device that he had no knowledge that Paul Plante had ever been seen or examined by anyone at the Samaritan Hospital in Troy, and that in his opinion, there was no evidence that Paul Plante was in need of care and treatment for a mental illness, nor was there evidence that Paul Plante was dangerous, and that therefore, there was no legal basis for him to continue detaining Paul Plante, at which time Paul Plante was released from custody by the VA Hospital on Dr. Cox's orders.

21. At that time, I recall going to the office of the VA Police to inform them that Dr. Cox had released Paul Plante based upon a lack of medical evidence upon which to hold him.

22. Upon identifying myself to the VA Police as a law enforcement officer, I recall being shown the police report filed with the VA Police by Rensselaer County officials which had precipitated the incident at the VA Hospital that had caused Paul Plante to be involuntarily detained by Dr. Cox.

23. In discussing that police report with the VA Police, it is my recollection, and it is reflected in that police report, that Andrea Gallerie, a nurse with the VA satellite office in Troy, New York had reported to the VA Police in Albany, New York that Paul Plante was an alleged "mental patient" who she alleged was "in her care", and who she was further alleging was violent, and it was further reported to the VA Police by Robert Reiter and William "BUCK" Shea of Rensselaer County that Paul Plante had been threatening them and Jeffrey Pelletier of Poestenkill, New York.

24. In fact, that report to the VA Police, and upon information and belief, the source of which is the VA Police, the Office of the United States Attorney for the Northern District of New York, by Andrea Gallerie, Robert Reiter and William "BUCK" Shea is false on its face, as the evidence in this matter will clearly demonstrate.

25. In support of that statement, subsequent to discussing this matter of Paul Plante's involuntary detention with the VA Police on August 22, 2001, I spoke directly with New York State Police Investigator Chris O'Brien, whose name is mentioned at page two (2) of the VA Police Report which I recall seeing on August 22, 2001.

26. During that conversation, I recall Investigator Chris O'Brien confirming to me that he had spoken with Paul Plante late that afternoon, after Paul Plante had returned home from the VA after suffering chest pains as a result of his false arrest earlier that day, about having Jeffrey Pelletier of Poestenkill arrested for assaulting Paul Plante on or about August 7, 2001 in an effort to intimidate and deter Paul Plante from continuing his investigation into the manner in which Jeffrey Pelletier had obtained a Rensselaer County Department of Health sewage disposal system construction permit.

27. As I recall, Investigator Chris O'Brien informed me that he was basing his opinion that Jeffrey Pelletier should be arrested on a copy of a videotape of the August 7, 2001 Pelletier assault on Paul Plante which had been provided to him in the afternoon of August 22, 2001 by New York State Veterans' Service Officer William "BUCK" Shea, the same individual who had earlier that day falsely informed the VA Police that Paul Plante was threatening Jeffrey Pelletier.

28. Upon information and belief, the source of which is the VA Police Report which I saw on August 22, 2001, and my conversations with the VA Police and Investigator Chris O'Brien, what appears to have transpired is that once it became apparent to Rensselaer County officials and William "BUCK" Shea on August 22, 2001 that the VA would not continue to hold Paul Plante, and would not allow him to be returned to the custody of Rensselaer County officials for transport to the mental health unit of the Samaritan Hospital for involuntary commitment, William "BUCK" Shea apparently had misgivings about suppressing the videotape of the Jeffrey Pelletier assault on Paul Plante http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M89m5TEuu3M as evidence, and so brought a copy of the videotape to Investigator Chris O'Brien in an effort to distance himself from the actions of other Rensselaer County officials involved in the matter.

29. As previously stated, upon information and belief, the source of which is Investigator Chris O'Brien, based upon that videotape evidence, Investigator Chris O'Brien formed an opinion as a qualified law enforcement officer in the State of New York on August 22, 2001, that Jeffrey Pelletier should be arrested and then orally conveyed that opinion to me in a telephone conversation in connection with this matter on or about August 22, 2001.

30. Thereafter, it is my recollection that on the evening of August 22, 2001, I discussed my conversation with Investigator Chris O'Brien with Paul Plante and that based upon Investigator Chris O'Brien's advice, I informed Paul Plante that I would accompany him to the New York State Police Barracks in Schodack, New York, so that Paul Plante could swear out a criminal complaint against Jeffrey Pelletier.

31. During that conversation, I recall Paul Plante informing me that the stress caused by the day's events had made him quite ill, and that he had chest pains and shortness of breath caused by that stress, which precluded him from going to the State Police at that time, and that Paul Plante remained in fear of Robert Reiter and William "BUCK" Shea, and that despite Investigator Chris O'Brien's assurances that he would testify in any criminal court proceeding against Jeffrey Pelletier, Paul Plante remained convinced by what had occurred that day at the VA that Investigator Chris O'Brien could not offer Paul Plante any protection in Rensselaer County from further malicious prosecution or detention of Paul Plante as an alleged dangerous mental patient, so that any further attempts by him to have justice in this matter in the Town of Poestenkill would only result in his continued persecution, for which reason, it is my information and belief, Paul Plante was never able to follow through and have Jeffrey Pelletier prosecuted for the August 7, 2001 assault on Paul Plante captured on the videotape which defendant William "BUCK" Shea had in his possession on August 22, 2001, and which he allegedly provided to Investigator Chris O'Brien sometime during the day on August 22, 2001.

DATED: Albany, New York
August 6, 2004
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Re: THE PAUL PLANTE STORY

Post by thelivyjr »

POESTENKILL DAILY CHRONICLE & GAZETTE

Lab Reports Do Not Lie; elusive "smoking gun" finally found in Poestenkill PFAS matter


October 10, 2022 Edition

Despite the best efforts of the NYSDEC, the NYSDOH, the RCHD, the town of Poestenkill, Judith Enck and the CCCDW to have it be otherwise, any possible lingering doubts in the minds of anyone that PFAS has been being imported into Poestenkill by the trash haulers from all over the Capital District who utilize the "anything goes, we look the other way" Poestenkill transfer station jointly permitted and regulated by the NYSDEC and Poestenkill have been thoroughly dispelled by a June 20, 2022 engineering report of an investigation of the Poestenkill transfer station site by Barton & Loguidice wherein these following statements are found, to wit:

"Analytical results collected from the 2,000 gallon wastewater storage tank are included in Table 2, with analytical reports in Attachment 1."

"The detections of PFAS in the holding tank wastewater are expected and are consistent with wastewater or leachate generated from general municipal solid waste."

That round of sampling found 41 ppt of PFOS in the leachate holding tank and 100 ppt of PFOA.

Given that any liquids found in the holding tank had to come from inside the transfer station, there is clear proof that PFAS have been imported into Poestenkill, while the town of Poestenkill and NYSDEDC have been looking the other way and allowing it to happen, which brings us to an April 11, 2022 letter from DEC to Waste Management, RE: Poestenkill Transfer Station, wherein is stated, to wit:

"On March 3, 2022, DEC staff from the Division of Remediation accompanied by Division of Materials Management staff from the Region 4 office, conducted an inspection of the transfer facility as part of its evaluation of potential PFAS sources in the Poestenkill area impacting the Algonquin Middle School water supply."

"During our inspection, DEC noted the location of the underground leachate storage tank and associated infrastructure reportedly used to collect reportedly used to collect liquids originating from the tipping floor building. DEC was unable to observe the floor drain since it was covered with a large pile of garbage and therefore confirm whether the leachate collection system was functioning properly."

And the fact of the matter is that the leachate collection system, which was poorly designed in the first place, cannot function properly when the floor drain is covered with a large pile of garbage.

So where does the leachate go then?

That answer can be found in an e-mail on 10 September 2020 from Paul Plante, PE, to Hon. Keith Hammond, Supervisor, Town Of Poestenkill, RE: Jacangelo Garbage Transfer Station; Poestenkill (T), that was copied to Sue Horton tcpoest@nycap.rr.com; "tslavin@poestenkillny.com"; "hvanslyke@poestenkillny.com"; "dhass@poestenkillny.com"; "jcasey@poestenkillny.com"; "ewohlleber@poestenkillny.com"; "press.office@exec.ny.gov"; "mwachunas@rensco.com"; Rich Elder relder@rensco.com; "howard.zucker@health.ny.gov"; "ashbyj@nyassembly.gov"; and Chris Churchill cchurchill@timesunion.com, to wit:

Dear Mr. Supervisor:

This morning I was talking with a person, a private investigator who is a reliable witness, who was at the Jacangelo Garbage Transfer Station at the intersection of Rt. 66 and 351 recently at about 1:00 P.M.

What he described seeing when there is the same nightmare the residents of this town faced when last this public health nightmare was in operation with both the town and the DEC turning their backs on the problem to protect the profits of the Waste Management company, namely, a sludge consisting of God-alone knows what and human excrement from adult diapers and potential medical waste, all of which are made into a toxic paste by dumping whatever garbage comes in on the floor, where it is then subject to being made into this toxic paste by the large loader which tries to push the pile of garbage into the trailers below the floor, which is exactly what I witnessed during previous operations at this facility.

end quotes

Which is to say it goes out the doors and into the environment, as was the subject of a February 18, 1998 from Paul Plante, PE, to Hon. John Cahill, Commissioner, New York State Department of Environmental Conservation, 50 Wolf Road, Albany, New York 12233, RE: USA Waste/United Waste Facility at intersection of Rtes. 66 and 351, Town of Poestenkill, Rensselaer County wherein was stated in relevant part as follows concerning the leachate generated by the transfer of municipal solid waste in the transfer station, to wit:

I informed Mr. Nero that I wished an opportunity to view what was being called "an in-place leachate collection system" by the Commissioner of the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation.

With that said, Mr. Nero and myself walked in a northerly direction from his office to the upper level of the transfer station.

As we were walking to the transfer station, we were literally walking through a grey viscous pus that covered the ground.

Once at the transfer station, I was allowed an opportunity to walk inside the facility and inspect the working floor.

There are two bays in the upper level at the transfer station - a north bay and a south bay - with entry doors located in the westerly end of the building.

In what would be the south-west corner of the transfer station, I noticed that the floor of the facility was depressed or subsided so that there was a large pool of viscous, grey liquid collected there.

This pool of liquid was approximately four (4') feet in diameter and several inches in depth.

Each time that the large Mitsubishi loader employed by United Waste to move trash forward on the tipping floor would enter or exit the building in the south bay, which it did several times while I was there, its tires would displace this grey, viscous liquid and it would then flow out of the south bay door in the westerly end of the building, out onto the unpaved, untreated ground and into the environment.

Similarly, whenever trucks would enter the facility, they too would displace the liquid and it would flow out the westerly end of the building onto the unpaved, untreated ground and into the environment.

In the south bay, easterly of this depressed or subsided area, the floor of the facility was coated with a thick grey, viscous layer and on top of that was what appeared to be a layer of hydraulic fluid.

Each time that the large Mitsubishi loader would pass through the south bay, it would further emulsify this mixture, which was flowing westerly into the depressed or subsided area, and thence out the south bay door in the westerly end of the building and into the environment.

The floor in the north bay as similarly coated, and that floor was noted to tip from east to west so that there was an observable flow of liquid in a westerly direction, out of the north bay door, onto the unpaved, untreated ground and into the environment.

When I asked Mr. Nero about the functioning of the center drain which I had observed back in 1993 or 1994 when the facility was being constructed, Mr. Nero informed that the center drain was not working.

In fact, according to Mr. Nero, on Friday, February 13, 1998, and Saturday, February 14, 1998, United Waste had "dug up" the center portion to the floor where the floor drain was located in order to pour new concrete because the heavy equipment now employed by United Waste to ram 200 tons per day through this 30 ton per day facility had destroyed the floor in that area as well as the floor drain.

While I watched, Mr. Nero had the equipment operator in the facility move the pile of garbage covering over the area of the center floor drain so I could inspect it.

What I observed was an approximate four (4") inch diameter hole in the concrete floor of the facility that was plugged by debris and a "blue rag."

None of the considerable volume of grey, viscous liquid on the floor of the facility was making its way towards this four inch hole for several reasons, to wit:

a) with the subsidence of the floors in the north and south bays, and with the pouring of new concrete in the center of the facility, the floor in the center of the facility now appears to be higher than the floors around it, so that liquid flows away from the floor drain; and

b) the garbage mounded up in the center of the floor precludes the flow of liquid towards its center; rather, the liquid flows from the mounded-up garbage along the path of least resistance, which is out of the north and south bay doors and into the environment.

After discerning and confirming that there was no leachate collection system in place or working on the tipping floor at about 11:30 A.M. on Wednesday, February 18, 1998, Mr. Nero and myself than made our way down to the lower level where the transfer trailers are parked while being loaded from the tipping floor.

The lower level runs from south to north on the easterly end of the transfer station, and Mr. Nero and myself stood outside the south door, looking north, while a transfer trailer was filled from above.

The floor where the transfer trailer was parked was covered with standing water to a depth of several inches.

This large pool of water extended well out of the building on the south side where Mr. Nero and I were standing on unpaved, untreated ground, and the pool of water in the building was filled with garbage which was continually falling from above while the transfer trailer was being loaded.

When I asked Mr. Nero about any leachate collection system to handle this water, his reply was that there is none, which confirmed my recollections of the inspections I had done as a New York State licensed professional engineer when this facility was being constructed circa 1993-1994.

To be complete about my investigation, I asked Mr. Nero about any leachate collection system in place to handle the grey, viscous pus which covered the unpaved, untreated ground outside the transfer station and his answer was that there is no such system, despite assertions of the New York State Environmental Conservation Commissioner and his engineer Forgea to the contrary.

So, Mr. Commissioner, based on my inspection earlier today, it would seem that in the fourth paragraph on page one of your letter to me of February 6, 1998, you are willfully making false statements and misrepresenting facts when you tell me, a New York State licensed professional engineer who is quite knowledgeable of leachate collection systems and the Part 360 regulations, that there is a leachate collection system in place and operating at the facility, and it would further seem that your engineer Forgea is openly and willfully lying to the residents of the Town of Poestenkill when he tells them and me that "based on the design of the facility which includes leachate collection," the possibility of contamination of residential wells is "very remote."

Based upon the manner in which this transfer station is now being operated by United Waste/USA Waste under permit from the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation, the possibility of contamination of residential wells, most probably mine, is almost a guaranteed certainty, and I do not appreciate being lied to about this matter by your office as though I were some kind of simpleton.

Never have I seen such gross dereliction of duty and willful negligence on the part of New York State officials as I have seen in this case from yourself and your engineer Forgea, and I do not intend to stand for it.

end quotes

As to the big mystery today as to where the PFAS in Poestenkill's ground water really came from, this lab report provides us with the answer - it was imported into Poestenkill by the trash haulers using the Poestenkill transfer station to get rid of the garbage of the Greater Capital District of New York while the town of Poestenkill and the NYSDEC turned their backs and looked the other way while environmental crimes were being committed in front of their faces at the Poestenkill transfer station, with the town of Poestenkill taking money from Waste management to look the other way.
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Re: THE PAUL PLANTE STORY

Post by thelivyjr »

17 OCTOBER 2022

The Honorable Kathy Hochul
Governor of New York State
NYS State Capitol Building
Albany, NY 12224

RE: Why New York's Green Amendment is merely a green dream; The unhealthful environment of Poestenkill, New York; “Mommy, this water tastes like it has KA-KA in it, why is there POOP in our drinking water?” - “Hush, child, drink up, the health department says it’s good for you!”

Dear Governor Hochul:

By way of review to keep the record straight in here, so that the people of Poestenkill affected by PFAS in their drinking water can follow this discussion along, and to bring this matter of PFAS in Poestenkill’s groundwater up to date, despite the best efforts of your office, the NYSDEC, the NYSDOH, the RCHD, the town of Poestenkill, and former Obama-era EPA administrator Judith Enck and her faux or sham “citizen’s group,” the CCCDW, to have it be otherwise, any possible lingering doubts in the minds of anyone anywhere that PFAS has been being imported into Poestenkill by the trash haulers from all over the Greater Capital District who utilize the "anything goes, we look the other way and see absolutely nothing" Poestenkill transfer station jointly permitted and regulated by the NYSDEC and Poestenkill, have been thoroughly dispelled by a June 20, 2022 engineering report of an investigation of the Poestenkill transfer station site by Barton & Loguidice wherein we people in Poestenkill affected by PFAS in our drinking water were informed that "The detections of PFAS in the holding tank wastewater are expected and are consistent with wastewater or leachate generated from general municipal solid waste."

I would ask you to focus on the word “expected” in that sentence as evidence that the NYSDEC would have known all along throughout this sham investigation that the DEC-permitted Poestenkill transfer station was the likely and logical source of the PFAS in our groundwater, given its lengthy history of spills at the site while Poestenkill, the NYSDEC and the RCHD all looked the other way and saw nothing, at all.

For the record, that June 20, 2022 engineering report by Barton & Loguidice on behalf of Waste Management of New Yor, LLC, followed your May 2022 professional engineer’s report titled “Poestenkill PFAS Investigation - Nearby Property Investigations Work Plan, (SPILL NO. 2105197), Poestenkill, NY, wherein you imposed your bogus “general conformance” or “hardly look” review standard on professional staff at DEC with respect to the investigation of PFAS in the groundwater in Poestenkill as opposed to “substantial compliance” pursuant to § 29.1(b)(1) of the New York State Board of Regents.

In your May 2022 professional engineer’s report titled “Poestenkill PFAS Investigation - Nearby Property Investigations Work Plan, (SPILL NO. 2105197), Poestenkill, NY, you informed the public and myself in Poestenkill as follows, to wit:

As outlined in the May 2022 Community Update; DEC requested Waste Management of New York (WMNY), the operator of the Poestenkill Transfer Station, to collect and analyze samples for PFAS from the underground leachate collection vault, the small pond, two former drinking water supply wells, and from any existing groundwater monitoring wells (if present).

WMNY agreed to this request and those samples were collected and are now being analyzed.

DEC also requested that WMNY provide documentation of leachate discharged to the Schenectady wastewater treatment plant over the past five years and results of any tests for leaks related to the leachate collection system.

WMNY agreed and completed the sampling tasks.

Once a final report is received, DEC will review and determine if additional sampling is warranted.


end quote

However, in a 17 June 2022 writing to Dareth Glance, Deputy Commissioner Environmental Remediation and Materials Management, of the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation, 625 Broadway, 14th Floor, Albany, New York, 12233-1500, RE: The DEC “Fast Shuffle”; or the scam you are running; “good moral character” defined; fraud and dishonesty involving licensed engineers at NYSDEC further detailed, I informed Deputy Commissioner Glance that your May 2022 professional engineer’s report titled “Poestenkill PFAS Investigation - Nearby Property Investigations Work Plan, (SPILL NO. 2105197), Poestenkill, NY, contained therein patently false statements, to wit:

And that brings us back to your May 2022 NYSDEC publication titled “Poestenkill PFAS Investigation - Nearby Property Investigations Work Plan, (SPILL NO. 2105197), Poestenkill, NY, which publication has the names of Kathy Hochul, Governor, and Basil Seggos, Commissioner, on the cover, which gives them ownership of the scam you are running as the deputy of Basil Seggos and makes them responsible for what is contained therein, where we have the following, to wit:

As outlined in the May 2022 Community Update; DEC requested Waste Management of New York (WMNY), the operator of the Poestenkill Transfer Station, to collect and analyze samples for PFAS from the underground leachate collection vault, the small pond, two former drinking water supply wells, and from any existing groundwater monitoring wells (if present).

WMNY agreed to this request and those samples were collected and are now being analyzed.

That, however, is neither true nor factual based on the field notes of Anthony Bollasina, P.G., whose Linked in page states that he is geologist at NYS Department of Environmental Conservation currently working in the Special Projects Bureau on a variety of technical projects focused on the emerging contaminants 1,4-dioxane and per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS), as follows:

4/20/22 8 A.M.

Walked to the vacant houses on the eastern side of the property to see the former water supply wells

There is no record that any samples were taken from those wells, which raises the question of how something that doesn’t exist can be tested for anything, let alone the presence of PFAS, and the inclusion of that false statement that Waste Management of New York, LLC took those samples in the your May 2022 NYSDEC publication titled “Poestenkill PFAS Investigation - Nearby Property Investigations Work Plan, (SPILL NO. 2105197), Poestenkill, NY, which publication has the names of Kathy Hochul, Governor, and Basil Seggos, Commissioner, on the cover is a clear-cut example of the fraud and deception you and your team of whitewashers including licensed professional engineers are practicing on the unwitting and unsuspecting residents of Poestenkill affected by PFAS in their drinking water.

And that brings us to the definition of the terms “fraud” and “fraudulent,” which terms mean conduct that involves a misrepresentation of material fact made with intent to deceive or a state of mind so reckless respecting consequences as to be the equivalent of intent, where there is justifiable reliance on the misrepresentation by the party deceived, inducing the party to act thereon, and where there is injury to the party deceived resulting from reliance on the misrepresentation.

Fraud also may be established by a purposeful omission or failure to state a material fact, which omission or failure to state makes other statements misleading, and where the other elements of justifiable reliance and injury are established.

In this case, both of those terms apply to your May 2022 NYSDEC publication titled “Poestenkill PFAS Investigation - Nearby Property Investigations Work Plan, (SPILL NO. 2105197), Poestenkill, NY, which publication has the names of Kathy Hochul, Governor, and Basil Seggos, Commissioner, on the cover, and who are being not only deceived, but deprived of the honest services of licensed professionals in your chain of command who have a duty to the people of Poestenkill to safeguard life, health and property are the people of Poestenkill to whom that duty is owed.

As to evidence of misleading statements intended to deceive the people of Poestenkill, all we need do is go back to your May 2022 NYSDEC publication titled “Poestenkill PFAS Investigation - Nearby Property Investigations Work Plan, (SPILL NO. 2105197), Poestenkill, NY, as follows:

As outlined in the May 2022 Community Update; DEC requested Waste Management of New York (WMNY), the operator of the Poestenkill Transfer Station, to collect and analyze samples for PFAS from the underground leachate collection vault, the small pond, two former drinking water supply wells, and from any existing groundwater monitoring wells (if present).

WMNY agreed to this request and those samples were collected and are now being analyzed.

That statement is misleading and inconsistent with the facts in the record because on April 11, 2022, Eric Hausamann, Chief, Section D, Remedial Bureau D, Division of Environmental Remediation sent a letter Waste Management of New York, LLC, Attn: Warren Harris, Sr., District Manager, 424 Peters Road, Gansevoort, NY 12831, RE: Poestenkill Transfer Station,
Poestenkill (T), Rensselaer County with copies to D. Harrington/B. O’Brien-Drake, DEC, B. Maglienti, DEC Region 4, wherein six (6) tasks were outlined to be performed as follows:

DEC requests that WMNY perform the numbered tasks below.

In the event WMNY refuses to perform the requested tasks, DEC will perform them using its authority under ECL Article 3, Paragraph 2(g), to “enter and inspect any property or premises for the purpose of investigating either actual or suspected sources of pollution or contamination."

1. Collect samples from each of the former potable water supply wells serving the two residential structures located along the east side of the property as well as any existing groundwater monitoring wells

2. Collect a sample of the wastewater within the leachate storage tank

3. Collect a surface water sample from the small pond located east of the leachate storage tank

4. Provide documentation of leachate discharged to the Schenectady wastewater treatment plant over the past 5 years, including numbers of pump out events, annual volume, and chemical analysis

5. Provide documentation on any tests for leaks related to the leachate collection system including the secondary containment associated with the buried storage tank

6. Measure the total depth of the transfer facility’s water supply well located at the front of the property and provide well installation records.

Thereafter, on April 15, 2022 @ 2:28 PM, Warren Harris IV sent an e-mail to Eric Hausamann, wherein was stated as following confirming the six above tasks to be performed, to wit:

Eric,

As indicated in my call with you today, WM will perform the requested six tasks at the Poestenkill Transfer Station in your letter dated April 11, 2022.

We will be in touch on our sampling schedule.

Thanks

Warren

That was followed up by an e-mail from Eric Hausamann to Susan Edwards, with copies to Sally Rushford (HEALTH); Brian Maglienti (DEC); David Harrington (DEC); Brittany M. O’Brien-Drake (DEC); Anthony J. Bollasina (DEC); and Justin Deming (HEALTH) on Friday, April 15, 2022 @ 2:30:21 PM, wherein the six tasks to be performed were again verified, including to Anthony Bollasina, PG, whose field notes we have above, to wit:

Hi all.

I just got off the phone with Warren Harris, transfer station manager in Poestenkill.

WMNY has agreed to perform the sampling and other tasks outlined in the letter we sent to them earlier this week.

He anticipates collecting the samples on Wednesday 4/20 around noon.

DER will have a representative there to witness sampling activities.

Have a happy weekend,

Eric

That was followed up by an e-mail from Warren Harris IV on Monday, April 18, 2022 @ 8:27 AM to Eric Hausamann (DEC) where without explanation, the tasks to be performed have been whittled down to just two, to wit:

Eric,

We plan on taking the leachate tank sample and surface pond sample this Wednesday April 20th at 8:00 AM if you would like to be present.

Please let me know if you or anyone else will be on site.

Thanks

Warren

And that e-mail was responded to as follows by Eric Hausamann (DEC), on Tuesday, April 19, 2022 @ 1:23 PM to Warren Harris IV, with copies to Brittany M. O'Brien-Drake (DEC); and Anthony J. Bollasina (DEC), as follows:

Hi Warren.

Thanks for the notice.

Two of my staff, Brittany O'Brien-Drake (who you met last month) and Tony Bollasina, will meet you at the transfer station tomorrow to observe the planned sampling activities.

Eric

There is your “general conformance” standard being applied in this case – although being assigned six tasks to complete, they “generally conformed” by doing only two, which as far as the DEC is concerned, was close enough, so case is now closed, especially given that in January 2022, NYSDEC Executive Deputy Commissioner Sean Mahar decreed that the transfer station was not the source, and there, in the guise of an “investigation” which in fact is a sham, you are baking fraud and dishonesty into the process with your bogus “general conformance with the regulations” standard, which is no standard at all, but as we see above, a recipe to mislead the public while protecting powerful corporate polluters from scrutiny and penalty, the seriousness of which charge, borne out by the evidence, directly affects my right to a healthful environment pursuant to § 19 of Article I of the Bill of Rights of the New York State Constitution, which section and Article you as an officer of the State of New York have sworn an oath to support as a condition of your employment with the NYSDEC.

This, Deputy Commissioner Glance, is the game the NYSDEC is playing on us here in Poestenkill feeding us lies and misinformation, which makes a mockery of the concept of “good moral character” of licensed professional engineers in your chain of command having the possession of honesty and truthfulness, trustworthiness and reliability, and a professional commitment to the legal process and the administration of justice, as well as the condition of being regarded as possessing such qualities, because based on the record, they clearly are not in possession of honesty and truthfulness, trustworthiness and reliability, and a professional commitment to the legal process and the administration of justice, and so, should not be in possession of a license from the State of New York to practice as a professional engineer.


end quotes

And now, we are finding out that when your new DEC Commissioner Sean Mahar told us in January 2022 that DEC had ruled out the transfer station as a source of the PFAS, he was making a political statement to cover over for Waste Management, to wit:

NEWS 10

"Officials no closer to finding source of PFOA contamination in Poestenkill, says councilmember"

by Richard Roman

January 8, 2022

"We have been on the ground in this community since the contamination was first detected at Algonquin Middle School to immediately address any potential exposure to PFAS contamination and protect public health."

"In the year since, our experts are working directly with the county and the town in a coordinated, science-based approach to investigate this issue and take action."

"We have extensive investigative work underway in this community to evaluate any potential sources of groundwater contamination in the vicinity of the Middle School, and have already preliminarily ruled out several potential sources including the transfer station and Poestenkill landfill."

"We look forward to continuing to keep residents and officials informed throughout the process.”

- DEC EXECUTIVE DEPUTY COMMISSIONER SEAN MAHAR


end quotes

And for telling all the right lies and protecting the right powerful polluters in grand DEC fashion, you rewarded Sean Mahar by putting him in charge of the DEC in the absence of Basil Seggos, who has left the country to go to Ukraine.

With that obvious commitment by your office to “business as usual” at the NYSDEC and rewarding and protecting politically powerful polluters, it can clearly be seen that § 19 of Article I of the New York State Constitution which you have sworn an oath to uphold as governor of the state of New York does not even lay a glove on the concept of ending business as usual for polluters, because as governor, you have total control over the NYSDEC, and thus, the policy you set is the policy they follow, and when you make such an obvious commitment about keeping “business as usual for polluters” as the operative policy at NYSDEC, regardless of what some words on a piece of paper called law or regulations might say to the contrary, business as usual for polluters is exactly what it is going to be, which is no change at all, regardless of the “green amendment.”

Sincerely,

Paul R. Plante, NYSPE
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Re: THE PAUL PLANTE STORY

Post by thelivyjr »

21 OCTOBER 2022

TO: Poestenkill Town Clerk

FOR: The record

Once again, please have the town record show that this morning, 21 October 2022 at 5:08 A.M., when I came out of my home to begin my day, it was to see my western horizon to a height of 30 or 40 feet into the tree tops literally flooded with a river of intense bright white light from the Nazi concentration camp spotlights on the north side of the brick house compound owned by Patricia Gettings on the north side of the west end of Liberty Lane flowing through my land, as if it were on fire, or as if the Ku Klux Klan of Poestenkill were conducting a cross burning on my property, as Gettings resumes her trespass into my life and onto my property with impunity as further proof that the town of Poestenkill INTENDS to keep up this campaign of intimidation and harassment to literally drive me from Poestenkill the way the Ku Klux Klan drove people of color out of the South, or the Nazi thugs in Nazi Germany drove Jews out of Germany, same tactics, different day.

Gettings trespasses in my life and on my property with impunity because Gettings has been told by the town of Poestenkill that I am a MORON and a RETARD, and in Poestenkill, a town which discriminates against RETARDS and MORONS, RETARDS and MORONS do not have protection of law, so you can do anything you feel like doing to a RETARD in Poestenkill that you want to do without fear of having face any legal consequences, because in Poestenkill, there are none.

You can beat a RETARD with a baseball bat if you choose to, or you can punch a RETARD, and kick a RETARD, you can run a RETARD down on a public thoroughfare, or if you feel like it, you can even set a RETARD on fire in Poestenkill without any consequences at all, because in Poestenkill, RETARDS have no protection of law, whatsoever.

And those words that Gettings believes give her license to trespass in my life come from the mouth of Poestenkill Town Supervisor Keith Hammond, who in 2005 was calling me a “RETARD”, a malicious lie, which was on the record in an official Poestenkill Town Board meeting, and never challenged or refuted by any other town board member.

And that is the very same Keith Hammond who as a councilman on 11 December 1995 published a series of malicious libels in the Advertiser wherein he falsely stated that I am “mentally disturbed,” a condition he states as an alleged psychiatric expert causes my “inability to effectively function in society.”

From there he went on to falsely state that I am “forced to live on public assistance,” and since he was on a roll and the lies were pouring forth, he went on to further falsely state that I have a “criminal record,” which is pure invention on his part, as is so much of what he says, and not to be outdone by himself, he concluded his string of libels by stating that the next time I felt the urge to pick up a pen to attack a Poestenkill public official like Keith Hammond for having some issues with honesty, why don’t I instead dial the number of a local hospital with a psychiatric ward, because as the psychiatric expert Keith Hammond says, “It is obvious to all around that you are in desperate need of help.”

There is what Gettings has been told, and so, that is what Gettings believes - that she is performing a public service for the Poestenkill town supervisor and the Poestenkill town board by harassing and intimidating me in a continuing effort to drive me out of Poestenkill, a town where RETARDS are not welcome, wanted, or protected by law.

Sincerely,

Paul R. Plante, NYSPE
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Site Admin
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Re: THE PAUL PLANTE STORY

Post by thelivyjr »

24 OCTOBER 2022

Dareth Glance
Deputy Commissioner
Environmental Remediation and Materials Management
New York State Department of Environmental Conservation
625 Broadway, 14th Floor
Albany, New York, 12233-1500

RE: Poestenkill PFAS investigation; Poestenkill Transfer Station; A Rational Critique with Objections of the 20 June 2022 Report of Barton & Loguidice on behalf of Waste Management of New York LLC posted on the DEC website; Segmented nature of the PFAS investigation confirms continued whitewash attempt to shield WMNY; 20 June 2022 B&L PFAS investigation of transfer station site conducted in accordance with the Hochul “Anything goes, say anything you want and NYSDEC will rubber-stamp it and call it following the science general conformance” standard as opposed to substantial compliance with all applicable laws, rules and regulations.

Dear Deputy Commissioner Glance:

SYNOPSIS

On or about 20 June 2022, the NYSDEC posted on its website, without comment or rebuttal, a one hundred forty-one (141) page document dated 20 June 2022 addressed to Mr. Warren Harris, Waste Management – Poestenkill Transfer Station, 9002 NY-66, Poestenkill, New York 12018 titled “Poestenkill Transfer Station - – Response to NYSDEC Request for Information” from BDD, P.G., Senior Managing Hydrogeologist, Barton and Loguidice, D.P.C., 10 Airline Drive, Suite 200, Albany, New York 12205,

As an affected person in Poestenkill with a positive reading of PFAS in my residential well hydraulically downgradient from the Poestenkill Transfer Station site who is licensed as a professional engineer and further qualified by examination as an associate level public health engineer, I have only recently completed a comprehensive review and examination of each and every one of the one hundred forty-one (141) pages of the 20 June 2022 B&L Response to NYDEC Comments, and my findings follow.

Briefly the 20 June 2022 B&L Report is nothing more than a transparent and amateurish attempt to shield Waste Management of New York, LLC, the permittees and operators of the Poestenkill Transfer Station from responsibility for the PFAS in Poestenkill’s groundwater despite an admission in the report that PFAS is imported into Poestenkill through the Poestenkill Transfer Station in municipal garbage.

That the 20 June 2022 B&L Report is nothing more than a transparent and amateurish attempt to shield Waste Management of New York, LLC, from responsibility for the PFAS in Poestenkill’s groundwater is made apparent by the conclusion it draws on page 5 that the groundwater flow on the property of WMNY is to the north and east, away from my property and away from the wellfields of the Algonquin School, a regulated public water supply.

In the report, B&L freely admits that it knows absolutely nothing about the stratigraphy of the area, it knows nothing about the wells it was sampling, what formations they are drilled into, it made no attempt to obtain well logs for the area, despite those well logs being in the records of Benson Bros., Inc. which are in the possession of WMNY, or the Town of Poestenkill building department, or the Rensselaer County Department of Health, which I know from personal experience the RCHD was checking before they came to collect my PFAS well sample, it knows nothing about groundwater flow in that area, and yet, despite knowing absolutely nothing at all, and having nothing concrete to base their conclusion on, B&L nonetheless, based on that nothing, did conclude that under the WMNY property, despite evidence to the contrary in Table 1 of their report, that the groundwater was flowing to the north and east, which conclusion leaves B&L and NYSDEC, which agency apparently simply rubberstamped the 20 June 2022 B&L Report and then posted it on the NYSDEC website with the unanswered question of if the ground water under the WMNY site is to the north and east, then where does that water come from, where does it derive its head differential from to cause flow to the north and east, given the ground level to the south and west of the transfer station is lower in elevation?

Further, B&L and NYSDEC are both left with the unanswered and unaddressed question of where the PFAS in Wells #1 and #2 is coming from, given that B&L claims that Well #2 near Rt. 66 is at the top of the hydraulic gradient, and ground water flow is alleged by them to be from Well #2 to Well #1.

For example, on 3/23/2022, Well #1 had reading of 2.5 ppt of PFOS and 11.0 ppt PFOA, which is an exceedance of the established New York State Maximum Contaminant Level (MCL) drinking water standard value of 10 ppt.

Then on 4/20/ 2022, Well #1 had a reading of 2.9 ppt of PFOS, an unexplained increase of .4 ppt, and a reading of 15 ppt of PFOA, for an unexplained increase of 4.0 ppt.

Meanwhile, according to the B&L Report, one hundred eighty-three (183) days earlier, on 9/21/2021, Well #2 to the south of Well #1 and supposedly hydraulically upgradient had a reading of 6.8 ppt of PFOS, a difference of 3.9 ppt, and a reading of 2.6 ppt of PFOA, versus 11.0 ppt PFOA in Well #1 to the north of Well #2, which raises the unanswered question of how did that PFOS and PFOA make its way from somewhere else, perhaps the Algonquin School, which on 12/27/20 had a reading of 47 ppt of PFOA in well no. 22 south south west of Well #2?

And once again, no effort was made by either B&L or NYSDEC to explain the cause of those increases of PFOA and PFOS in Well #1, or the source of PFOS and PFOA in Well #2, which failure makes this whole alleged investigation nothing more than a farce and a failed whitewash attempt for which reason the 20 June 2022 B&L Report should be removed from the NYSDEC website.

PRELIMINARY STATEMENT – THE WHITEWASH EXPOSED

To bring this matter of PFAS in Poestenkill’s groundwater up to date now that the 20 June 2022 B&L Report has been made a part of the NYSDEC record on its website, it is crystal clear that despite the best efforts of your office, NYSDEC Executive Deputy Commissioner Sean Mahar, NYSDEC senior engineer Susan Edwards, NYSPE, the NYSDOH, the RCHD, the town of Poestenkill, and former Obama-era EPA administrator Judith Enck and her faux or sham “citizen’s group” in Poestenkill, the CCCDW, which consisted of her, Poestenkill councilman Eric Wohlleber and Phillip LaRoque of the Town of Poestenkill Board of Assessment Review, to have it be otherwise, any possible lingering doubts in the minds of anyone anywhere that PFAS has been being imported into Poestenkill by the trash haulers from all over the Greater Capital District who utilize the "anything goes, we look the other way and see absolutely nothing" Poestenkill transfer station jointly permitted and regulated by the NYSDEC and Poestenkill, have been thoroughly dispelled by the June 20, 2022 engineering report posted without comment or rebuttal on the NYSDEC website of an investigation of the Poestenkill transfer station site by Barton & Loguidice wherein we people in Poestenkill affected by PFAS in our drinking water were informed that "The detections of PFAS in the holding tank wastewater are expected and are consistent with wastewater or leachate generated from general municipal solid waste," which unambiguous language confirms the importation of PFAS into Poestenkill through the transfer station, and it further implicates the need for a SPDES permit for this facility, and yet, in the records no mention of a SPDES permit can be found.

Further, the word “expected” in that sentence serves as clear evidence that you and your staff including Susan Edwards, NYSPE, and Eric Hausamann, NYSPE and Executive Deputy Commissioner Sean Mahar would have known all along throughout this sham investigation that PFAS was being imported into Poestenkill by the garbage haulers utilizing the DEC-permitted Poestenkill transfer station and thus, that the DEC-permitted Poestenkill transfer station was the likely and logical source of the PFAS in our groundwater, given its lengthy history of spills at the site while Poestenkill, the NYSDEC and the RCHD all looked the other way and saw nothing, at all.

So there we have conclusive proof in your own records of the whitewash attempt in this matter by your office and staff and NYSDEC to shield Waste Management of New York LLC from responsibility for the PFAS in Poestenkill’s drinking water.

THE LIMITED ASSIGNED SCOPE OF WORK OF B&L IN POESTENKILL

As to the limited nature of scope of work to be performed by B&L as a contractor for WMNY at the Poestenkill transfer station site according to the NYSDEC website, the June 20, 2022 report of Barton & Loguidice which was submitted to Mr. Warren Harris, Waste Management – Poestenkill Transfer Station, 9002 NY 66, Poestenkill, New York 12018, Re: Poestenkill Transfer Station – Response to NYSDEC Request for Information, stated therein as follows with respect to what was supposed to be the limited role of Barton & Loguidice in this matter, to wit:

WMNY engaged B&L to initiate SOME sampling following the discussions at the March 3, 2022 site meeting, and in advance of NYSDEC's formal request, and then directed additional sampling following receipt of NYSDEC's April 11, 2022 letter.

end quote

According to the NYSDEC website and the 20 June 2022 B&L Report, the assigned Scope of Work for Barton & Loguidice as a contractor for Waste Management of New York, LLC, at the Poestenkill transfer station was to do sampling, period.

There is no request from NYSDEC for Barton & Loguidice to draw any conclusions about the direction of groundwater flow in that area, and yet, at page 5 of the June 20, 2022 report, that is exactly what B&L is doing, which is to my detriment as an affected neighbor of the Poestenkill transfer station as Barton & Loguidice is clearly attempting to protect Waste Management of New York, LLC from charges of nuisance, negligence and trespass with respect to the PFAS in Poestenkill’s ground water by saying that any groundwater flow with respect to the transfer station is away from the affected area.

B&L TO PREPARE RESPONSES TO APRIL 22, 2022 NYSDEC LETTER TO WMNY

As to the role of B&L in this alleged investigation of the Poestenkill transfer station site, at page 1 of the June 20, 2022 B&L report, it is stated as follows, to wit:

Barton & Loguidice, D.P.C. (B&L) has prepared this letter presenting responses to the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (NYSDEC) Division of Environmental Remediation’ April 11, 2022 letter to Waste Management of New York, LLC (WMNY) regarding the Poestenkill transfer station located at 9004 NY-66, Poestenkill, NY 12018.

As to that NYSDEC letter in question, on April 11, 2022, Eric Hausamann, Chief, Section D, Remedial Bureau D, Division of Environmental Remediation sent that letter to Waste Management of New York, LLC, Attn: Warren Harris, Sr., District Manager, 424 Peters Road, Gansevoort, NY 12831, RE: Poestenkill Transfer Station, Poestenkill (T), Rensselaer County with copies to D. Harrington/B. O’Brien-Drake, DEC, B. Maglienti, DEC Region 4, wherein six (6) tasks were outlined to be performed as follows:

DEC requests that WMNY perform the numbered tasks below.

In the event WMNY refuses to perform the requested tasks, DEC will perform them using its authority under ECL Article 3, Paragraph 2(g), to “enter and inspect any property or premises for the purpose of investigating either actual or suspected sources of pollution or contamination."

1. Collect samples from each of the former potable water supply wells serving the two residential structures located along the east side of the property as well as any existing groundwater monitoring wells

2. Collect a sample of the wastewater within the leachate storage tank

3. Collect a surface water sample from the small pond located east of the leachate storage tank

4. Provide documentation of leachate discharged to the Schenectady wastewater treatment plant over the past 5 years, including numbers of pump out events, annual volume, and chemical analysis

5. Provide documentation on any tests for leaks related to the leachate collection system including the secondary containment associated with the buried storage tank

6. Measure the total depth of the transfer facility’s water supply well located at the front of the property and provide well installation records.


OBJECTION I: TASK #4 NOT COMPLIED WITH

With respect to Task #4, B&L was supposed to provide documentation of the chemical analysis, itself an undefined and therefore nebulous term with respect to exactly what chemicals were to be analyzed, and by whom, of leachate discharged to the Schenectady wastewater treatment plant over the past 5 years.

That language “over the past 5 years” is clear and unambiguous.

However, the B&L report at p. 4 states: Analytical reports for two separate samples of the wastewater are included as Attachment B.

So instead of providing chemical analysis of leachate discharged to the Schenectady wastewater treatment plant over the past 5 years, B&L provided just two samples, both from 2018, which stands as stark evidence that in its report, and in rubberstamping the report and posting it on the DEC website as an attempt to mislead the gullible public in Poestenkill, both B&L and DEC were operating in accordance with the Hochul “Anything goes, say anything you want and NYSDEC will rubber-stamp it and call it following the science general conformance” standard as opposed to substantial compliance with all applicable laws, rules and regulations, so that just two samples from 2018 were good enough to fulfill a requirement for chemical analysis of leachate discharged to the Schenectady wastewater treatment plant over the past 5 years.

So Task #4 was not completed as required pursuant to the April 11, 2022 DEC letter, which is one objection I have to the inclusion of this June 20, 2022 investigation report on the NYSDEC website of an investigation of the Poestenkill transfer station site by Barton & Loguidice in the record in this matter.

OBJECTION II: TASK #5 WAS NOT COMPLIED WITH

Task #5 required B&L to provide documentation on any tests for leaks related to the leachate collection system including the secondary containment associated with the buried storage tank.

The “leachate collection system” includes the piping from the transfer station to the leachate storage which is located to the east of the transfer station.

In its June 20, 2022 Report, B&L states thusly with respect to Task #5, to wit:

The wastewater storage tank is a double-walled tank that includes an electrical alarm in the secondary containment interstitial space of the tank to alert personnel of the presence of liquid, which would indicate a potential leak in the primary tank or infiltration of groundwater from the outer tank wall.

Since 2017, system alarms related to liquid in the interstitial space have not been observed.


end quotes

That is a response to only part of what the task actually was, which was to provide documentation on any tests for leaks related to the leachate collection system.

From the response of B&L to Task #5 in the June 20, 2022 report, the logical conclusion to be drawn is that there have been no tests for leaks related to the leachate collection system itself, which collection system is independent of the storage tank, so that as a consequence, neither B&L, nor WMNY nor DEC can say anything with certainty about the integrity of the leachate collection system, because as was made crystal clear in an April 11, 2022 letter from Eric Hausamann, NYSPE 072068, to Waste Management of New York, LLC, Attn: Warren Harris, Sr. District Manager, RE: Poestenkill Transfer Station, Poestenkill (T), Rensselaer County, none of them know, to wit:

Dear Mr. Harris:

On March 3, 2022, DEC staff from the Division of Remediation accompanied by Division of Materials Management staff from the Region 4 office, conducted an inspection of the transfer facility as part of its evaluation of potential PFAS sources in the Poestenkill area impacting the Algonquin Middle School water supply (DER Spill No. 2100195).

During our inspection, DEC noted the location of the underground leachate storage tank and associated infrastructure reportedly used to collect liquids originating from the tipping floor building.

DEC was unable to observe the floor drain since it was covered with a large pile of garbage and therefore could not confirm whether the leachate collection system was functioning properly.


end quotes

When the floor drain is covered with a large pile of garbage, it cannot function properly, as was made incandescently clear to Hon. John Cahill, Commissioner, New York State Department of Environmental Conservation, 50 Wolf Road, Albany, New York 12233, RE: USA Waste/United Waste Facility at intersection of Rtes. 66 and 351, Town of Poestenkill, Rensselaer County February 18, 1998 from Paul Plante, PE, wherein was stated in relevant part as follows concerning the leachate generated by the transfer of municipal solid waste in the transfer station, to wit:

I informed Mr. Nero that I wished an opportunity to view what was being called "an in-place leachate collection system" by the Commissioner of the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation.

With that said, Mr. Nero and myself walked in a northerly direction from his office to the upper level of the transfer station.

As we were walking to the transfer station, we were literally walking through a grey viscous pus that covered the ground.

Once at the transfer station, I was allowed an opportunity to walk inside the facility and inspect the working floor.

There are two bays in the upper level at the transfer station - a north bay and a south bay - with entry doors located in the westerly end of the building.

In what would be the south-west corner of the transfer station, I noticed that the floor of the facility was depressed or subsided so that there was a large pool of viscous, grey liquid collected there.

This pool of liquid was approximately four (4') feet in diameter and several inches in depth.

Each time that the large Mitsubishi loader employed by United Waste to move trash forward on the tipping floor would enter or exit the building in the south bay, which it did several times while I was there, its tires would displace this grey, viscous liquid and it would then flow out of the south bay door in the westerly end of the building, out onto the unpaved, untreated ground and into the environment.

Similarly, whenever trucks would enter the facility, they too would displace the liquid and it would flow out the westerly end of the building onto the unpaved, untreated ground and into the environment.

In the south bay, easterly of this depressed or subsided area, the floor of the facility was coated with a thick grey, viscous layer and on top of that was what appeared to be a layer of hydraulic fluid.

Each time that the large Mitsubishi loader would pass through the south bay, it would further emulsify this mixture, which was flowing westerly into the depressed or subsided area, and thence out the south bay door in the westerly end of the building and into the environment.

The floor in the north bay as similarly coated, and that floor was noted to tip from east to west so that there was an observable flow of liquid in a westerly direction, out of the north bay door, onto the unpaved, untreated ground and into the environment.

When I asked Mr. Nero about the functioning of the center drain which I had observed back in 1993 or 1994 when the facility was being constructed, Mr. Nero informed that the center drain was not working.

In fact, according to Mr. Nero, on Friday, February 13, 1998, and Saturday, February 14, 1998, United Waste had "dug up" the center portion to the floor where the floor drain was located in order to pour new concrete because the heavy equipment now employed by United Waste to ram 200 tons per day through this 30 ton per day facility had destroyed the floor in that area as well as the floor drain.

While I watched, Mr. Nero had the equipment operator in the facility move the pile of garbage covering over the area of the center floor drain so I could inspect it.

What I observed was an approximate four (4") inch diameter hole in the concrete floor of the facility that was plugged by debris and a "blue rag."

None of the considerable volume of grey, viscous liquid on the floor of the facility was making its way towards this four inch hole for several reasons, to wit:

a) with the subsidence of the floors in the north and south bays, and with the pouring of new concrete in the center of the facility, the floor in the center of the facility now appears to be higher than the floors around it, so that liquid flows away from the floor drain; and

b) the garbage mounded up in the center of the floor precludes the flow of liquid towards its center; rather, the liquid flows from the mounded-up garbage along the path of least resistance, which is out of the north and south bay doors and into the environment.

After discerning and confirming that there was no leachate collection system in place or working on the tipping floor at about 11:30 A.M. on Wednesday, February 18, 1998, Mr. Nero and myself than made our way down to the lower level where the transfer trailers are parked while being loaded from the tipping floor.

When I asked Mr. Nero about any leachate collection system to handle this water, his reply was that there is none, which confirmed my recollections of the inspections I had done as a New York State licensed professional engineer when this facility was being constructed circa 1993-1994.

To be complete about my investigation, I asked Mr. Nero about any leachate collection system in place to handle the grey, viscous pus which covered the unpaved, untreated ground outside the transfer station and his answer was that there is no such system, despite assertions of the New York State Environmental Conservation Commissioner and his engineer Forgea to the contrary.


end quotes

By contrast, the April 11, 2022 letter from Eric Hausamann, NYSPE 072068, to Waste Management of New York, LLC, Attn: Warren Harris, Sr. District Manager, RE: Poestenkill Transfer Station, Poestenkill (T), Rensselaer County, concerning the March 3, 2022 inspection of the transfer facility as part of its evaluation of potential PFAS sources in the Poestenkill area impacting the Algonquin Middle School water supply (DER Spill No. 2100195) by DEC staff from the Division of Remediation accompanied by Division of Materials Management staff from the Region 4 office, is remarkably silent with respect to what the DEC personnel were standing in when DEC was unable to observe the floor drain since it was covered with a large pile of garbage and therefore could not confirm whether the leachate collection system was functioning properly.

Were they, like me in 1998 at that same site, standing in viscous slime covering the ground as it oozed out of the transfer station doors?

Did they observe no leachate on the pavement outside of the transfer station doors?

Or didn’t they bother to look?

No answers forthcoming.

Going back to the record concerning leachate at that site, in a March 8, 1999 letter to NYSDEC's Art Henningson, Rensselaer County Environmental Management Council Director Ken Dufty, commenting on an Order on Consent then being considered to address operating conditions and outstanding violations by the permittee at the Poestenkill transfer facility, stated as follows:

"We trust that this Order on Consent will address the underlying conditions which have resulted in dozens of complaints to this office, and hope that such an Order will not result in a recurrence of the operating conditions that were prevalent last summer and fall."

"Specifically, many of the complaints we received were directed towards the 'tipping' methods employed at the plant - operation procedures that were clearly not allowed or envisioned in the permit."

"Direct tipping of waste onto the transfer station floor, rather than into secured containers on the lower level and conducted entirely within a closed structure, while a violation of the permit terms, is additionally not allowed by regulation or law. [See 6 NYCRR 360-11.4(n)(1); also 6 NYCRR 360-11.3(a)(1), (3)]"

"Many of the complaints that we receive about the operation of this facility are a result of blowing litter, vectors, stench, noise, and idling trucks."

"Most of these objections are an extension of indirect tipping and spillage of waste outside of the building - an operating condition which clearly should not be allowed."

"Additionally, there is concern by area residents that indirect tipping has resulted in, and will continue to exacerbate, groundwater contamination."

"As you know, Toluene was detected in a residential well adjacent to the station early last year."

"This discovery has heightened our resolve to make sure that more attention is given to the methods of tipping and leachate collection at the Poestenkill facility."


end quotes

Neither B&L nor NYSDEC have a clue as to the integrity of that piping system beneath the tipping floor, because no effort was made to check the piping system for leaks, nor do they have a clue as to what percentage of the leachate is emitted to the environment through surface flow, versus how much is actually captured by the poorly-designed leachate collection system which doesn’t function when covered with garbage.

So it is patently clear that Task #5 was not completed as required pursuant to the April 11, 2022 DEC letter, which is a second objection I have to the inclusion of this June 20, 2022 investigation report on the NYSDEC website of an investigation of the Poestenkill transfer station site by Barton & Loguidice in the record in this matter.

OBJECTION III: TASK #6 WAS NOT COMPLIED WITH

Pursuant to the April 11, 2022 DEC letter, Task #6 was to measure the total depth of the transfer facility’s water supply well located at the front of the property, which is Well #2, and provide well installation records, a simple task indeed.

In its June 20, 2002, B&L responded to that task by giving DEC the following non-answer to rubberstamp, to wit:

Well construction details are unknown, however it is presumed that each well consists of a surface casing installed into the top of bedrock, with open borehole from the bottom of the casing to total well depth.

end quote

A presumption by B&L, however, is neither proof nor fact.

The well construction details are unknown because B&L made no discernable effort to find those details.

So it is patently clear that Task #6 was not completed as required pursuant to the April 11, 2022 DEC letter, which is a third objection I have to the inclusion of this June 20, 2022 investigation report on the NYSDEC website of an investigation of the Poestenkill transfer station site by Barton & Loguidice in the record in this matter.

WHAT IS KNOWN OF THE WELLS ON THE TRANSFER STATION SITE

In Table 1 of the 20 June 2022 B&L Report, data for five wells is provided.

The depth of Well #1 to the north of the transfer station building is greater than 200 feet, with no information on stratigraphy given, so that B&L has absolutely no idea where the water in that well in coming from, or why it was drilled so deep, nor do they know anything about the flow rate of that well, so they can make no accurate predictions about any hydraulic connectivity between that deep well, and any other wells on that property.

And while Well #1 was drilled to over 200 feet, a sign of a low flow well, Well #2 to the south of Well #1 was drilled to 115 feet.

Well #3 to the west of Well #2 was drilled to only 86 feet.

Well #5, which is on the other side of the property to the east, is drilled to over 200 feet.

Well #6, to the north of Well #5, and to the east of Well #1, is drilled to a depth of 115 feet, as is Well #2 southwest of Well #6.

No attempt is made in the 20 June 2022 B&L Report to explain the differences in well depths of those five wells.

So that other than knowledge of the depth to groundwater from top of casing in those non-pumping wells, B&L knows absolutely nothing about those wells, or the stratigraphy of the area, yet notwithstanding that lack of knowledge, B&L purports in its report to being able to accurately map the groundwater flow across the site of the Poestenkill transfer station, and the NYSDEC accepted that without questioning, which is what rubberstamping (to officially approve a decision or plan without thinking about it: as in WMNY makes the decisions and the NYSDEC just rubber-stamps them) by NYSDEC is all about.

B&L’S ATTEMPT TO CLEAR WMNY OF RESPONSIBILITY FOR PFAS IN POESTENKILL’S GROUNDWATER

Despite having no information as to the stratigraphy in the affected area of Poestenkill, and no knowledge of groundwater flow patterns in the affected area, notwithstanding, B&L still made an attempt in its June 20, 2022 Report at page 5 to snow the people of Poestenkill who wouldn’t know the difference, by stating as follows, to wit:

The potentiometric surface elevation data collected in March and May 20223 indicates a groundwater flow direction to the north and east across the site.

This is generally consistent with the site topography which slopes from a high point near the site entrance down to the two unoccupied residential dwellings that were sampled as part of this study.


end quotes

Actually, if one were to stand on Rt. 66 east of the entrance to the transfer station, and look north, one notes clearly that between Wells #1, #2, and #3 to the west, and Wells #5 and #6 to the east, one is looking at a depression between two north-south running ridges.

If one stands on Rt. 66 and looks north at Well #3, one notes that it is at the crest of the ridge, and the ground slopes from Well #3 east and west as well as south.

So B&L’s site characterization is not accurate, and still was not challenged by the rubberstampers at NYSDEC.

As to the north-south running ridge on the east side of the WMNY property, a road named Johnson Lane runs along the top of that ridge, where five residential properties with wells are located.

No attempt was made by B&L to obtain the well logs for those five properties in order to verify its premise of groundwater flow across the WMNY property from west to east and from south to north.

As to the data in Table 1, as was previously stated, Well #1 is located north of the transfer station and on March 10, 2022, the groundwater level was at 606.24 feet.

Seventy-seven (77) days later, on 26 May 2022, the groundwater level in Well #1 was at 604.62 feet, a drop of 1.62 feet.

Well #2 is located roughly due south of Well #1, and on March 10, 2022, the groundwater level in Well #2 was at 634.22 feet, or 27.98 feet higher than the water elevation in Well #1 on that same date.

Seventy-seven (77) days later, on 26 May 2022, the groundwater level in Well #2 was at 632.59 feet, a drop of 1.63 feet.

Well #3 is located west of Well #2 and south south west of Well #1, and on March 10, 2022, the groundwater level in Well #3 was at 635.85 feet, or 1.63 feet higher than the water level in Well #2 to the east of Well #3.

Seventy-seven (77) days later, on 26 May 2022, the groundwater level in Well #3 was at 633.45 feet, a drop of 2.4 feet compared to its March 10, 2022 level, as compared with a drop in Well #2 of 1.63 feet, and Well #1 of 1.62 feet over that same period of time, and while Well #3 on March 10, 2022 was 1.63 feet higher than the water level in Well #2 to the east of Well #3, on 26 May 2022, it was only .86 feet higher.

If Wells #1, #2, and #3 are hydraulically connected as B&L appears to be stating with their ambiguous statement in their Conclusion that “the estimated groundwater flow direction appears to be generally towards the north and east,” then why is Well #3 not rising and falling as are Wells #1 and #2?

No explanation is given anywhere in the record to account for that discrepancy.

Well #5 is located roughly north, north east of Wells #2 and #3, on March 10, 2022, the groundwater level in Well #5 was at 599.84 feet, or 34.38 feet lower than the water elevation in Well #2 on that same date.

Seventy-seven (77) days later, on 26 May 2022, the groundwater level in Well #5 was at 597.25 feet, a drop of 2.59 feet, which is a drop of .96 feet more over that period of time than the drop of Well #2 during the same period.

Again, no explanation is given for this discrepancy in the data, nor was there any effort made in the entire one hundred forty-one (141) pages of the June 20, 2022 to explain what protocol or methodology B&L was following in making these determinations, other than taking a wild guess and calling it good enough for NYSDEC, which it clearly was.

Going back to the B&L data in Table 1, Well #6 is located north of Well #5 and north-east of Well #2, and on March 10, 2022, the groundwater level in Well #6 was at 604.51 feet, or 4.67 feet higher than the water elevation in Well #5 to the south of it on that same date.

If in fact as B&L gratuitously states, “the estimated groundwater flow direction appears to be generally towards the north and east,” then why is the water level in Well #6 on March 10, 2022 4.67 feet higher than the water level in Well #5 south of Well #6, when it should be lower?

Once again, no explanation for the discrepancy is forthcoming.

Seventy-seven (77) days later, on 26 May 2022, the groundwater level in Well #6 was at 603.32 feet, a drop of 1.19 feet, as compared to the drop in Well #5 over that same period of 2.59 feet.

If the groundwater was flowing north and east, that should not be happening.

And then we come to the relationship between Well #1 and Well #6 to the east of Well #1.

On March 10, 2022, when the groundwater level in Well #6 was at 604.51 feet, the groundwater level in Well #1 due west of Well #6, was at 606.24 feet, for a difference of 1.73 feet.

On 26 May 2022, when the groundwater level in Well #6 was at 603.32 feet, the groundwater level in Well #1 was at 604.62 feet, for a difference of 1.3 feet.

Again, no effort was made by B&L in the body of the report to explain these readings, nor is there any evidence in the report that B&L even bothered to perform these basic mathematical calculations, but notwithstanding, that did not stop them from drawing conclusions their own data does not support.

On March 10, 2022, when the groundwater level in Well #5 was at 599.84 feet, the groundwater level in Well #1 north north west of Well #5, was at 606.24 feet, for a difference of 6.4 feet, while the water level in Well #6 north of Well #5 was 4.67 feet higher than the water level in Well #5 south of Well #6.

How is that happening if the groundwater flow is in the opposite direction?

No rational answer is forthcoming, at least in the June 20, 2022 B&L report, and for that reason I am objecting to that gratuitous statement from B&L about the direction of groundwater flow being included in the record, because it is not supported by the data given in Table 1.

OBJECTION IV: GRATUITOUS COMMENTS ON GROUNDWATER FLOW DIRECTION ARE BASED ON A SEGMENTED INVESTIGATION WHERE THE POESTENKILL TRANSFER STATION SITE IS TREATED AS A MINI-ENVIRONMENT TOTALLY DISCONNECTED HYDRAULICALLY FROM THE ENVRONMENT SURROUNDING IT WHICH IS AN ABSURD AND RIDICULOUS CONCEPT.

So scanning down that list of tasks to be performed by WMNY at the Poestenkill transfer station, we find no mention of determining the direction of groundwater flow, yet at the bottom of page 1 of the June 20, 2022 B&L report, we find the following language inserted in the report, as follows:

In addition to addressing the NYSDEC requests, B&L completed an elevation survey and water level measurements at the identified site wells to evaluate groundwater flow direction.

end quotes

That, of course, was entirely outside the Scope of Work assigned to B&L, and therefore was entirely gratuitous on the part of B&L, and as stated above, nowhere in the records is there any mention of the methodology or protocol they followed to determine direction of groundwater flow, given there are only five wells on that site, and the values obtained from them in Table 1 do not support B&L’s theory as expressed in the Conclusion at Page 5, to wit:

Based on the bedrock groundwater elevations measured by B&L at the WMNY Poestenkill Transfer Station on March 10 and May 26, 2022, the estimated groundwater flow direction appears to be generally towards the north and east.

This flow direction is from the intersection of NY 66 (Averill Park Road) and NY 351 (White Church Road), and away from Algonquin School.


end quotes

I am objecting to that gratuitous statement from B&L about the direction of groundwater flow being included in the record, because it is not supported by the data given in Table 1.

CONCLUSION

Accordingly, based on the failure of B&L to comply with the tasks outlined in the April 11, 2022 NYSDEC letter, and its inclusion of unsupported conclusions in its 20 June 2022 Report to NYSDEC, I am requesting that the 20 June 2022 B&L Report be promptly and immediately removed from the NYSDEC website, or in the alternative, that a copy of these objections be posted in a conspicuous place next to the 20 June 2022 B&L Report.

Respectfully,

Paul R. Plante, NYSPE
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Re: THE PAUL PLANTE STORY

Post by thelivyjr »

26 OCTOBER 2022

TO: Poestenkill Town Clerk

FOR: The record

Please have the town record show that this morning, 26 October 2022 at 5:10 A.M., when I came out of my home to begin my day, as soon as I stepped out of my front door and my feet touched the ground, as if I am under active surveillance by Patricia Gettings, it was to see my western horizon come alight with a river of intense bright white light from the Nazi concentration camp spotlights on the north side of the brick house compound owned by Patricia Gettings on the north side of the west end of Liberty Lane flowing through my land, as if it were on fire, or as if the Ku Klux Klan of Poestenkill were conducting a cross burning on my property, as Gettings resumes her trespass into my life and onto my property with impunity as further proof that the town of Poestenkill, which is now caught out colluding with the NYSDEC in a cover-up of alleged environmental crimes at the Poestenkill transfer station in an effort to provide political protection to Waste Management of New York, LLC, INTENDS to keep up this campaign of intimidation and harassment to literally drive me from Poestenkill the way the Ku Klux Klan drove people of color out of the South, or the Nazi thugs in Nazi Germany drove Jews out of Germany, same tactics, different day.

This repeated, seemingly obsessive, and unwanted behavior toward myself by Patricia Gettings is intended to make me feel emotionally, mentally or physically threatened, as Gettings repeatedly "communicates" with me with her Nazi concentration camp spotlights which causes me to think that Gettings very well might physically harm me with her obsessive behavior, and this apparent surveillance system that triggers these lights when I step out of my front door causes me to have mental or emotional harm, never knowing what further violence might follow as Gettings is obviously under the protection of the town of Poestenkill, and thus is immune from any prosecution in Poestenkill town court for violation of New York Penal Code § 120.45, Stalking in the 4th degree, where intentionally and with no legitimate purpose Patricia Gettings is engaging in conduct that she knows or should reasonably know: will cause reasonable fear of material harm to myself as her which is causing material harm to my mental or emotional health as her victim.

Sincerely,

Paul R. Plante, NYSPE
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Site Admin
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Re: THE PAUL PLANTE STORY

Post by thelivyjr »

28 OCTOBER 2022

TO: Poestenkill Town Clerk

FOR: The record

Please have the town record show that this morning, 28 October 2022, at 4:52 AM, the window curtains on the windows on the west end of my house were ablaze from the blazing Nazi concentration camp spotlights on the Gettings compound, that were in turn lighting up my property as continuing proof that Patricia Gettings, the owner of record of the Gettings compound, intends to keep up her stalking, her repeated, seemingly obsessive, and unwanted behavior toward myself intended to make me feel emotionally, mentally or physically threatened, which is also proof that the town of Poestenkill and Tracey Church intend to keep their retaliation going to "punish" me for exposing environmental crimes at the Poestenkill transfer station while Church kept his back turned and saw not a thing.

As to the environmental crimes the town of Poestenkill and Tracey Church never saw and never even were aware of, and knew absolutely nothing about, it is now a matter of record that between 2018 and June of 2022, 206,379 gallons of leachate containing PFAS generated at the Poestenkill transfer station are estimated to have been discharged to the environment in Poestenkill, while NYSDEC and Poestenkill did absolutely nothing to stop it, and Poestenkill took money from Waste Management to allow it to happen.

And now Poestenkill is caught out aiding and abetting the commission of alleged environmental crimes, which it believes it can keep covered over by this continued intimidation of myself as a witness and complainant against Poestenkill and the corrupt NYSDEC.

What Poestenkill is obviously still believing and counting on with this continued intimidation and retaliation, based on its past experience with corruption in Poestenkill being protected from above, is that the entire system, the State Police, the courts, the district attorney, the governor's office, the attorney general, are all still so corrupt that criminal charges related to these releases at the Poestenkill transfer station will never see the light of day, and that Poestenkill and NYSDEC can manage to once again get this all covered over to protect Waste Management from the citizens of Poestenkill affected by this contamination of our drinking water, and based on my experience with corruption in this state protecting polluters, that may well be true.

We shall see.

Sincerely,

Paul R. Plante, NYSPE
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Re: THE PAUL PLANTE STORY

Post by thelivyjr »

4 NOVEMBER 2022

TO: Poestenkill Town Clerk

FOR: The record

Please have the town record show that last evening, 3 November 2022, at 7:07 P.M., as I was backing into my driveway, suddenly my entire western horizon came ablaze with intense white light from the hi-powered Nazi concentration camp spotlights on the Gettings compound that were lighting up my property as continuing proof that Patricia Gettings, the owner of record of the Gettings compound, intends to keep up her witness intimidation and her stalking, her repeated, seemingly obsessive, and unwanted behavior toward myself intended to make me feel emotionally, mentally or physically threatened, which is also proof that the town of Poestenkill and Tracy Church intend to keep their retaliation going to "punish" me for exposing environmental crimes at the Poestenkill transfer station while Church kept his back turned and saw not a thing.

Those lights were still on at 7:37 P.M. last evening, 3 November 2022, and at 2:17 A.M. this morning, 4 November 2022, those lights were on and lighting up the windows of my bedroom, instilling in me great fear of continuing violence as this whitewash effort by the town to protect Waste Management collapses.

Knowing that I possess information relating to criminal transactions connected with the contamination of our groundwater with PFAS that has been being imported into Poestenkill through the Poestenkill transfer station while Tracy Church kept his back turned and saw nothing, she is wrongfully attempting to compel me to refrain from communicating such information to any court, grand jury, prosecutor, police officer or peace officer by means of instilling in me a fear that she will cause physical injury to me.

With respect to that information which Poestenkill, whose agent and/or servant Gettings is, wants suppressed, the following are excerpts from the next report I am preparing concerning this conspiracy involving Poestenkill intended to provide political protection for Waste Management of New York, LLC, to wit:

Introductory Statement

From January of 2021 to 20 June 2022, the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (NYSDEC) in conjunction with its “partners” the New York State Department of Health (NYSDOH), the Rensselaer County Department of Health (RCHD), the town of Poestenkill and former Eliot Spitzer Chief Policy Advisor Judith Enck (hereinafter “Partners”) wasted a year and a half of valuable time not to mention governmental resources paid for by the taxpayers on a wild goose chase in a vain attempt by the “Partners” to give political protection to Waste Management of New York, LLC, the permittees of the Poestenkill transfer station at the intersection of NY 66 and NY 351 after exceedances of PFAS were found in the water supply of the Algonquin School in Poestenkill.

The vain attempt included perhaps the most elaborate cover-up/whitewash ever attempted by the NYSDEC and its “Partners,” which whitewash was an “all hands on deck, full court press” effort that included the active involvement of the Governor’s Office, the Office of the DEC Commissioner, the Office of Counsel for NYSDEC, the Poestenkill town board and its “Public Health Coordinator,” the Rensselaer County Health Commissioner and the Rensselaer County Associate Public Health Engineer, and two licensed professional engineers by name from the NYSDEC, and featured intensive use of technology, as well as masterful and extensive use of the local news media to disseminate DEC propaganda that could not be challenged, including copious use of that tired meme, “following the science,” suppression of dissent, exclusion of dissent from the record, the creation of a faux “citizen’s group” in Poestenkill to control communications and to act as a filter/censor of information, private “community meetings” on ZOOM with restricted entry where no transcripts were made, private meetings on Facebook, and “rubber stamping”, and witness intimidation and harassment in Poestenkill that included a 6 February 2021 “SWATTING” of myself by Poestenkill town code enforcement officer Tracey Church as a “terror tactic” to suppress my voice with regard to operations at the Poestenkill transfer station.

For the record, “swatting” is a criminal harassment tactic of deceiving an emergency service into sending a police or emergency service response team to another person's address, in this case the New York State Police, which was triggered by Church’s false report of a mental health emergency involving myself.

A. The Prior Criminal History of the Poestenkill Transfer Station

To put the seriousness of this now-failed cover-up/whitewash attempt by the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (NYSDEC) and its “Partners” in its proper perspective with regard to the established criminal history of pollution at the Poestenkill transfer station jointly permitted and regulated by the town of Poestenkill and the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (NYSDEC), and to bring forward into the record a prior successful whitewash by the NYSDEC and its "partner" the Town of Poestenkill to protect Waste Management of New York, LLC, the permittee of the Poestenkill transfer station, we simply need to go back to March 25, 1999 and a Times Union article by Michelle Morgan Bolton entitled “Residents denounce DEC’s trash deal – Waste Management’s fine fails to satisfy townspeople, who vow further action in state court,” wherein the prior successful whitewash was detailed in relevant part as follows:

All pending action against the company, including citations issued by the town’s code enforcement officer, along with the DEC’s criminal and administrative actions, are now null and void, the order states.

end quote

Note the words “DEC’s criminal actions are now null and void” as proof positive of a prior criminal history at this troubled facility in Poestenkill, New York that is now at the center of a controversy involving the contamination of the public water supply of the Algonquin Middle School with PFAS, which substances have been being imported into Poestenkill through the Poestenkill transfer station, according to recent admissions on the record of Waste Management of New York, LLC on 20 June 2022.

As to proof of collusion between NYSDEC and Poestenkill in that successful cover-up in 1999, we need go no further than these words from that same article, to wit:

All pending action against the company, including citations issued by the town’s code enforcement officer, are now null and void, the order states.

end quote

There is proof of the “we turn our backs and see nothing” policy of the NYSDEC and Poestenkill that continues to this day with respect to code enforcement in “polluter-friendly” Poestenkill at the Poestenkill transfer station, where code enforcement and rule of law are nonexistent, and speaking out about it will result in Poestenkill code enforcer Church sending the State police to your door to make you sorry you did, as was the case in my life when Church “SWATTED” me on 6 February 2022.

As it happened in connection with the successful whitewash in 1999, I was a complainant in that matter that was covered over by NYSDEC and Poestenkill in 1999, and so I was in Poestenkill Town Court for the proceedings against Waste Management and what I witnessed instead of a prosecution was DEC ECO Jacoby, Assistant Rensselaer County District attorney Joe Ahearn, and a Waste Management lawyer telling the judge to excuse them for a moment as they disappeared through a door leading to the boiler room of Poestenkill town hall, and when they emerged, all looking like cats that just were fed the cream off the top of the bottle with huge smiles on their faces, $312,500 worth of violations against Waste Management of New York, LLC, the present operators of the facility, had disappeared like a beam of moonlight in the full light of day, as if they had never been.

In that same Times Union article from March 25, 1999, I was quoted as follows, to wit:

“They’ve given the company a get-out-of-jail-free card,” said Paul Plante, one of the residents who claims the company is violating its permit.

end quotes

As is clear from this present whitewash/cover-up attempt by NYSDEC and its partners including Poestenkill, that “get-out-of-jail” card awarded to Waste Management of New York, LLC by NYSDEC and Poestenkill in 1999 is still valid to this date, which is a testament to the staying power of political protection for polluters by the NYSDEC and Poestenkill.

B. The Watershed Whitewash – Lawlessness begins; A License to Pollute is Granted

When in full view of all the concerned citizens of Poestenkill who had been complaining for years about operations at the Poestenkill transfer station and who were there in Poestenkill Town Court to witness the prosecution of Waste Management of New York, LLC, for alleged environmental crimes at the Poestenkill transfer station affecting our health, safety and well-being, DEC ECO Matt Jacoby, Assistant Rensselaer County District attorney Joe Ahearn, and a Waste Management lawyer disappeared through a door leading to the boiler room of Poestenkill town hall, and after an interval of time had elapsed, reappeared through that same boiler room door with huge smiles on their faces, all looking like cats that just were fed the choicest cream off the top of the bottle, and $312,500 worth of violations against Waste Management of New York, LLC, the present operators of the facility, simply disappeared like a beam of moonlight in the full light of day, as if they had never been, that was for those of us Poestenkill residents residing proximate to the Poestenkill transfer station the day rule of law disappeared in Poestenkill with respect to the Poestenkill transfer station and the continuation of a nightmare for the affected residents of Poestenkill began that with the exception of a period of time when without explanation the transfer station was shuttered, has continued to this present time.

When it was made clear to us that evening in Poestenkill town court in 1999 that Waste Management of New York, LLC. at the Poestenkill transfer station was clearly under the political protection of the Rensselaer County District Attorney as well as the NYSDEC and the town of Poestenkill, fear set in among the residents of Poestenkill and complaints against the transfer station stopped because of that fear.

Sincerely,

Paul R. Plante, NYSPE
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Re: THE PAUL PLANTE STORY

Post by thelivyjr »

7 NOVEMBER 2022

TO: Poestenkill Town Clerk

FOR: The record

So that it remains crystal clear to ALL parties, and especially the State Police, what this on-going retaliation and intimidation is all about, which is to crush dissent and the exposure of the whitewash and the environmental crimes being covered over by the whitewash, the following is the updated introduction to the engineering report I am preparing as a professional engineer and an obligation on behalf of society to stand up to corruption when it involves the safeguarding of life, health and property as is the case here in Poestenkill, a town so corrupt and greedy for money that it was willing to take money to turn its back while the water supply for a school full of children was being contaminated with PFAS that we were being falsely informed by Bob Brunet, a former building inspector of Poestenkill that it was safe to drink, which is only one of the many outright lies that have been told by the Poestenkill whitewashers since the whitewash effort began in earnest in Poestenkill on 27 September 2021:

A FORENSIC ANALYSIS OF THE SPECTACULAR COLLAPSE OF THE POESTENKILL PFAS WHITEWASH - THE AFTERMATH; A WHITEWASH ADMITTED, COLLUSION CONFIRMED

Introductory Statement

“Oh what a tangled web we weave/When first we practice to deceive” is a quote from Sir Walter Scott’s epic poem, Marmion: A Tale of Flodden Field, and it means that when you lie or act dishonestly you are initiating problems and a domino structure of complications which eventually run out of control, and such it was to be in Poestenkill, New York for the group of conspirators known as the “Partners,” they being the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (NYSDEC), the New York State Department of Health (NYSDOH), the Rensselaer County Department of Health (RCHD), the town of Poestenkill and former Eliot Spitzer Chief Policy Advisor Judith Enck, which group of conspirators, for conspirators (one who enters into an unlawful agreement between two or more persons in order to accomplish some unlawful purpose) they were, operating outside of the established law in this state, from January of 2021 to 20 June 2022 wasted a year and a half of valuable time not to mention governmental resources paid for by the taxpayers, a theft of honest services, on a wild goose chase all over Poestenkill, New York in a vain attempt by the “Partners” to give political protection to Waste Management of New York, LLC, the permittee of the Poestenkill transfer station at the intersection of NY 66 and NY 351 after exceedances of PFAS were found in the water supply of the Algonquin School in Poestenkill.

This vain attempt included perhaps the most elaborate cover-up/whitewash ever attempted by the NYSDEC and its “Partners,” which whitewash was an “all hands on deck, full court press” effort that included the active involvement of the Governor’s Office, the Office of the DEC Commissioner, the Office of Counsel for NYSDEC, the Poestenkill town board and its “Public Health Coordinator,” the Rensselaer County Health Commissioner and the Rensselaer County Associate Public Health Engineer, two licensed professional engineers by name from the NYSDEC, the New York State Department of Education, the Averill Park Board of Education and District Superintendent, and featured intensive use of technology to peddle slick NYSDEC propaganda, as well as masterful and extensive use of the local news media to disseminate DEC propaganda, including copious use of that tired and meaningless phrase, “following the science,” suppression of dissent, exclusion of dissent from the record, the creation of a faux “citizen’s group” in Poestenkill to control communications and to act as a filter/censor of information, private “community meetings” on ZOOM with restricted entry where no transcripts were made, private meetings on Facebook, “rubber stamping” (approve automatically without proper consideration), a cowardly CYBER-attack (an attempt to damage or destroy a computer system) by NYSDEC on my computer through my FOIL portal, and witness intimidation and harassment in Poestenkill that included a 6 February 2021 “SWATTING” of myself by Poestenkill town code enforcement officer Tracy Church as a “terror tactic” to suppress my voice with regard to operations at the Poestenkill transfer station.

For the record, “swatting” is a criminal harassment tactic of deceiving an emergency service into sending a police or emergency service response team to another person's address, in this case the New York State Police, which was triggered by Church’s false report of a mental health emergency involving myself.

The “Demise” of the Whitewash

As to the collapse, as elaborate as this whitewash was, in the end, it was still nothing more than a whitewash (to make something bad seem acceptable by hiding the truth), and so, like a bridge made of moonbeams and fairy dust, it was brought down by the weight of all the lies, and falsehoods it was constructed out of, for as Abraham Lincoln purportedly said, “You may fool people for a time; you can fool a part of the people all the time; but you can’t fool all the people all the time,” and such was the case here, one more time again.

The demise of this elaborate whitewash came about on 20 June 2022, when the NYSDEC sought to bring the whitewash to a decisive close in favor of Waste Management of New York, LLC, by “validating” with some “science” the unsupported conclusions of NYSDEC Executive Deputy Commissioner Sean Mahar and NYSDEC Senior Engineer Susan Edwards, NYSPE 067260, the Assistant Division Director, NYSDEC Division of Environmental Remediation, six (6) months earlier in January of 2022 that the Poestenkill transfer station was not the source of the PFAS in Poestenkill’s groundwater.

To do so, the NYSDEC first “rubber stamped” a conclusion reached by BDD, P.G., Senior Managing Hydrogeologist, Barton and Loguidice, D.P.C., 10 Airline Drive, Suite 200, Albany, New York 12205 in a document titled “Poestenkill Transfer Station - – Response to NYSDEC Request for Information” that was addressed to Mr. Warren Harris, Waste Management – Poestenkill Transfer Station, 9002 NY-66, Poestenkill, New York 12018, and then posted that report on its official NYSDEC website as an official NYSDEC record, the conclusion of which was as follows, to wit:

Based on the bedrock groundwater elevations measured by B&L at the WMNY Poestenkill Transfer Station on March 10 and May 26, 2022, the estimated groundwater flow direction appears to be generally towards the north and east.

This flow direction is from the intersection of NY 66 (Averill Park Rd) and NY 351 (White Church Rd) and away from Algonquin Middle School.


end quotes

And there is where the elaborate cover-up/whitewash attempt by the “partners” collapsed in a spectacular fashion with the posting of that document and that conclusion as an official NYSDEC record on the NYSDEC official website, because the data included with the report, when subjected to the examination and scrutiny it should have received from the “rubber-stampers” at NYSDEC, but did not, which is what “rubber-stamping” is all about, “question nothing, do what you are told,” did not support that conclusion.

Thus was the whitewash proven, which brings to mind the line in “To a Mouse” by Robert Burns that “The best laid schemes o' mice an' men / Gang aft a-gley,” and so they did here.

Furthering the demise of the elaborate whitewash, and illuminating all the lies, deceptions and deceits practiced by the “partners” during the whitewash, was the fact that it was admitted in that report posted as an official NYSDEC document on the NYSDEC website that PFAS has indeed been being imported into Poestenkill through the NYSDEC-permitted and regulated Poestenkill transfer station jointly regulated by Poestenkill code enforcer Tracy Church who “SWATTED” me in February 2022 in an attempt to silence my voice of dissent in Poestenkill where political retaliation against dissenters, known in Poestenkill as “trouble makers,” is an art form.

Beyond that, the report confirmed the fact of PFAS exceedances on the property of Waste Management in Poestenkill that have increased in value between March 23, 2022 and April 20, 2022.

Thus came to an end the whitewash.

This analysis of the failure of what perhaps has been the most intensive and elaborate whitewash attempt to protect an alleged polluter by the NYSDEC in its long history of whitewashes to protect polluters going back to the cover-up of its having rubberstamped the removal of the Niagara Mohawk dam on the Hudson River above Fort Edward and then issued a permit to remove the derelict dam down river from the Hudson Falls/Fort Edward GE plants in 1973, follows.

An Intent to Evade § 19 of Article I of the New York State Constitution

Carrying on the whitewash past 31 December 2021 evinces an intent by the NYSDEC, the NYSDOH, the RCHD, and the town of Poestenkill to consider § 19 of Article I of the New York State Constitution as not applying to them, therefore giving them the sovereign right to disregard its guarantee of a healthful environment to “each person” in New York state which would include those “persons” in the PFAS Affected zone in Poestenkill, New York.

This callous disregard for the provisions of § 19 of Article I of the New York State Constitution in this matter by the NYSDEC, the NYSDOH, the RCHD, and the town of Poestenkill is especially egregious in this instant matter because we are talking about the contamination of a NYSDOH-regulated public water supply serving a school full of young children.

With the prior documented criminal history of the Poestenkill transfer station, conducting a whitewash to protect the financial “health and well-being” of the operator of the Poestenkill transfer station ahead of the health and well-being of a school full of children, not to mention the other affected residents of that area, is an act of moral insanity (a type of mental disorder consisting of abnormal emotions and behaviours in the apparent absence of intellectual impairments, delusions, or hallucinations) that is sociopathic (a “sociopath” has little regard for another person's emotions, rights, or experiences, lacking remorse for their actions, and acting in ways that show no regard for others, including lying, cheating, and manipulating) in nature.

Sincerely,

Paul R. Plante, NYSPE
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