BY PAUL MITCHELL
North Country This Week

CANTON – The town board will decide at the June 14 monthly board meeting whether to proceed with a local law dealing with anaerobic digesters or extend a moratorium scheduled to cease June 30.

Two public hearings are set June 14 - the first at 5:15 p.m. regarding the proposed local law; the second at 5:25 p.m. in case the local law is not approved and the moratorium needs to be extended.

"One and a half years ago the Town Board put a moratorium on possible development of anaerobic digester projects. The purpose was to allow for further study to gain a good understanding of possible development,” said Town Supervisor Mary Ann Ashley. “The technology is for making natural gas from cow manure. Some town farms have small scale digesters as part of their current operations.

At a January town board meeting, Deputy Town Supervisor James T. Smith said he visited an anaerobic digester. A $25 million digester project is earmarked in the Town of Canton by an out-of-state developer.

Smith said the facility will be operating 365 days of the year with manure coming from five different farms. He estimated that five tractor trailer loads will be traveling along county roads per day.

Due to the fact that more time was needed to study this, the moratorium was extended another six months,” Ashley noted.

“The committee made up of Code Enforcement Officer Mike McQuade, Council Member Jim Smith, former Council Member Bob Washo, Council Member Bob Santamoor worked with Town Attorney Eric Gustafson, and a draft law is being proposed,” she stated. “This type of development is mostly regulated by the New York State DEC. We appreciate all the time conducting due diligence on this issue. It's complicated and layered and we need to make sure everyone's questions are answered.”