MAMAKATING – The Basha Kill Area Association (BKAA), a local environmental group, has asked the Town of Mamakating Planning Board to seek a supplemental environmental impact statement on the proposed Yukiguni mushroom-growing facility. The original site plan for the plant, the location of which would be on McDonald Road, called for the plant to extract approximately 400,000 gallons of water per day. However, the new plans, which in some ways show a smaller footprint than the original design, call for about three quarters of this water to be discharged back into the Basha Kill — and therein lies the problem, according to Paula Medley, president of the group.

"The town planning board views a project from a narrow perspective, which is usually economic in nature. They appear to disregard the impact upon local resources and environment," Medley says.

The BKAA is concerned that the approximately 300,000 gallon discharge will upset the local ecological balance. Medley is concerned that this discharge will become a problem during the colder months when the ground is frozen, as well as during the rainy season when the ground is saturated.

"Quite a lot of discharge needs to re-percolate," says Medley. "Where will the water go then?"

However, planning board chairman John Piazza feels that the mushroom plant will have much less impact than that which the original site plan outlined.

"[The environmental impact] is much less than it was before, with a much larger facility," Piazza says.

When questioned about the discharge of water, Piazza was quick to point out that the DEC will have to sign off on project.

The BKAA also remains concerned that the plant will be a visual eyesore — particularly for those who hike along the D & H Canal towpath — and that other issues, such as odor and noise, haven't been adequately addressed. But Medley also realizes that the BKAA is fighting an uphill battle, and that the time during which many of these concerns could have been addressed has now passed.

"From the very beginning of this process, we don't believe the town planning board required the various studies that have been recommended [by community groups]," Medley says.

The BKAA and the planning board remain at loggerheads, Medley feels, because the latter chose to go it alone rather than working with community groups. Medley cites as an example the fact that the planning board hired its own hydro-geologist to conduct a water impact study, while she says that the BKAA had wanted an independent study.

Medley feels that by hiring an outside firm to conduct the study, one which met the approval of both sides, the planning board could have mitigated any potential disagreement. Whoever it was that ended up on the losing side of the equation would have been forced to accept the conclusions of this study. Now there are two reports — one by the planning board and another by the BKAA — and it becomes an issue of one report against the other.

"When you're the lead agency on [such a project], you have to look outside the box," Medley says.

Medley is hoping the planning board will be more cognizant of the objections of community groups like the BKAA, and she wants it to weigh more carefully the impact of a large facility such as the mushroom plant on a small area like Mamakating. She cites the Kohl's distribution center as an example.

"There were going to be 900 jobs," she says, "but the most that have been employed is [closer to] 400. Is [120 potential jobs with the mushroom plant] worth impacting important state and regional resources?"

As a next step, the planning board will issue what is known as a finding statement, a document which will outline the list of concerns the board has identified under the original environmental impact statement. This document, which should become available after the next planning board meeting on December 23, will be available for public review. After this, residents and community groups will have 30 days to file any objections to the board's findings.

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