Hey, remember the Multi-Town Agency? Well, it could be back

The Multi-Town incinerator was slated to be built on property near the former Pilgrim State Psychiatric facility at Edgewood.

by Carolyn James

You could call it a blast from the past that’s coming back into fashion.

Last month Babylon Town Supervisor Steve Bellone was appointed as the town’s representative on the Multi-Town Agency, a sleeper agency that once was responsible for building a three-town solid waste incinerator at the Pilgrim State property in Edgewood for Babylon, Huntington, and Islip.

That was in the late 1970s, early 1980s, and while the plan was touted at the time as one of the most innovative regional approaches to solid waste management in New York state, it eventually fell apart as a result of significant opposition from residents living near the site, and those who were concerned it would destroy the environment.

But while the plan may have fallen by the wayside, the agency, created through state legislation did not, said Bellone. And now the two towns that are still part of that agency, Babylon and Huntington, say they’re not going to be so quick to dismantle it out of legal existence.

"With the way things are going, you can never tell," said Bellone who spent a few days lobbying in Albany with Huntington Town Supervisor Frank Petrone on unrelated issues last month. During that time, the subject of the agency came up and both agreed that a state agency, so hard fought for, is not one to allow to idly go by the wayside.

"If you had to create an authority today, you would almost have to sell your first born," said Petrone in recalling the conversation. "So we said, why should be dispose of it?"

That decision took on more significance in March when Covanta, the owners and operators of Babylon’s solid waste incinerator filed Chapter 11, a bankruptcy proceeding that provides a court-reviewed restructuring of a corporation to avoid total bankruptcy and dissolution of the firm.

Currently, Covanta’s situation has no measurable impact on the town and the services it is contracted to render it, namely the incineration of the town’s solid waste, but it does open up a host of questions about the future of the company and the towns it serves, including Babylon.

"I don’t expect any significant changes in our relationship with the company at this point," said Bellone. "There have been a whole series of agreements between the company and the Town over the years but we are in a good position."

In the meantime, Bellone said he is looking at all of the opportunities open to the Town as Covanta moves forward with its restructuring. "We want to make sure that we are open to ideas and avail ourselves to anything and everything that would benefit our taxpayers."

Under the agreement with Covanta, the Town is not responsible for paying off the millions of dollars in debt for building the plant unless the company delivers its services. That leaves a whole series of options open to the Town, including the possibility that the Multi-Town Agency could purchase the plant and operate it.

"The agency could, conceivably come in and make a deal to the bankruptcy court and go out and finance the purchase of the plant," said Hugh Leitch of Babylon, the longtime attorney for the Multi-Town Agency.

Petrone said the towns of Babylon and Huntington, which both have plants operated by Covanta, "have like interests," that they will be exploring. "Multi-Town gives us a paper vehicle to discuss issues that we have in common," he said.

One of those issues is whether Babylon, Huntington, or any town for that matter can sustain a solid waste program on its own or whether the regional approach is an idea whose time has come once again, remains to be seen. But certainly the latest problems with Covanta give the question new interest and as Bellone and Petrone have said, it’s a plus for taxpayers that the Multi-Town Agency is in place.

The Multi-Town Agency was established in the mid to late 1970s. Initially Babylon was partners with Islip and Huntington, but Islip pulled out, forcing the state to rewrite the legislation for the two towns in 1981. As political pressure built, and opposition to the Agency mounted, behind-the-scenes negotiations with Smithtown and Oyster Bay, which had expressed interest in signing contracts with Multi-Town to dispose of their solid waste there, broke down. That left the Agency with only two of its initial three owners and a cash-strapped plan. The final blow came when Babylon, under then Town Supervisor Anthony Noto, declined to sign a contract to dispose of its waste at $13.92 per ton. The Agency’s plan for the incinerator, went out of business in March of 1983 and since that time has paid almost all of its debts and sold the acreage near Edgewood back to the state.

"We still have meetings, though the agency has run out of money" said Leitch who recently reached an agreement with Babylon and Huntington for $95,000 covering fees he is owned for representing Multi-Town throughout those years.

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