Cargill clears environmental review for Cayuga Salt Mine modifications

Cargill’s proposed modifications to its mining operation at Cayuga Salt Mine have cleared the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation’s (DEC) environmental review process as the company seeks to renew its operating permit and change where it stores water to the S3 area of the mine.

The company has been at a standstill with environmental regulators since January, when the DEC sent a letter to Cargill noting that the permit renewal and modification application were incomplete.

Cargill wants to change the location where it is allowed to store brine in the subsurface. Environmental advocates say they are not confident that the company has done its due diligence regarding the potential for further saline contamination of Cayuga Lake triggered by the move. Advocates are also worried that the new storage site could lead to a potential mine collapse.

They say that the company has not been transparent about how it has studied the potential for changes to the water table, and that the DEC has not involved the public and local elected officials in towns like Ulysses, Ithaca, Covert and Lansing, where the mining operation overlaps.

Despite opposition, the DEC issued a notice of complete application on Nov. 20, triggering a public comment period that will be ongoing until Dec. 20. 

“Protecting water quality in Cayuga Lake is a top priority for New York state,” the agency said in a statement issued to Tompkins Weekly. “The DEC subjects applications for environmental permits to a transparent and rigorous review process to protect public health and the environment. DEC reviewed a permit application for the modification of Cargill, Inc.’s Mined Land Reclamation permit and will be accepting public comments on the proposed application until Dec. 20, 2024. DEC will closely review input received prior to making a final decision. The modification request does not include changes to existing and approved mining operations and methods, nor does it include a proposed expansion of the previously permitted Life-of-Mine area.”

Public comments on the notice of completed application can be submitted via email to Comment.CayugaSaltMine2023@dec.ny.gov or in writing to DEC Region 7 Headquarters, Division of Environmental Permits, 5786 Widewaters Pkwy. in Syracuse.

In its negative declaration, DEC experts say they did not find a hydraulic connection between the mine and the lake in the past 30 years. Though a negative declaration does not mean that the state has approved a permit modification yet, a negative declaration on the environmental effects of a permit modification would bring the company closer to its goals.

“DEC provides rigorous oversight of this facility, including monitoring rates of groundwater inflow, conducting annual site meetings that include underground examinations of the mine, and reviewing third-party expert analyses to ensure the mine remains in compliance with its permits and all laws and regulations in place to protect public health and the environment,” the agency wrote. “DEC will continue its stringent oversight of the facility to ensure compliance.”

Stephanie Redmond, program manager for the Cayuga Lake Environmental Action Now (CLEAN) advocacy group, said that she is disappointed with the effort the DEC made to involve the public in the process. She said a lack of public outreach is a violation of the State Environmental Quality Review Act (SEQRA). 

The agency posted an alert in Tompkins County newspapers on the notice of complete application regarding the opening of the public comment period on the negative declaration. DEC also posted the same notice on its environmental notice bulletin.

“It really should have more involved agencies,” Redmond said. 

About a week prior to the DEC’s decision on the application, town of Ulysses elected officials  sent a letter to DEC officials dated Nov. 14. In it, they requested to be included in the SEQRA process for the application and they also noted that they are worried about the findings of a 2014 report that showed structural instability in nearby areas of the mine.

“Any catastrophic collapse or increased salinization of the lake could have long-term, irreversible impacts on both our natural environment and local economy,” town board officials wrote in their letter to the state.  “We believe that any activity within the S3 area constitutes a material change in mine management and should therefore be subject to review under the SEQRA. We respectfully request that the DEC require a full Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) to assess whether keeping the mine dry could better protect Cayuga Lake from future salinization.”

Remond noted that those concerns regarding mine stability come from a report produced for Cargill by consultant RESPEC. The existence of the report, along with continued calls from advocates for an independent review of mine data, make for a puzzling decision from the DEC to issue a notice of complete application, Redmond said — particularly because the DEC had issued a notice of incomplete application back in January, when the company sought to modify its operating permit.

“There’s a lot of confidentiality issues that [mean] we can’t access a lot of the data, so it’s impossible to have an independent outside review of the data,” she said. “We don’t really know what changed and why they are moving ahead without an EIS. It doesn’t make sense at all.”

For now, advocate groups like CLEAN are looking to buy residents more time to submit public comments to the DEC. That would not only allow for more time to provide input, but it could also give time for the agency to respond to public records requests regarding documents about the state of Cayuga Salt Mine. 

“How can you comment on something that you haven’t even received the documents on?” Remond said.

Ulysses Connection appears every week in Tompkins Weekly. Send story ideas to editorial@vizellamedia.com. Contact Eddie Velazquez at edvel37@gmail.com or on X (formerly Twitter) @ezvelazquez.

In brief:

The Cayuga Lake Watershed Network is hosting the second session in its fall 2024 conference series. This session, titled “Cayuga Lake’s New Clean Water Path” will be held Dec. 11 from 5:30 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. at the Museum of the Earth at 1259 Trumansburg Rd. in Ithaca.

“Join for presentations and an expert panel on our watershed’s nutrient pollution challenges, the DEC’s recently finalized Cayuga Lake Clean Water Plan ‘TMDL,’ and current and future water quality work,” stated a post sent in the town of Ulysses newsletter for Dec. 6.

More information can be found here: https://tompkinscountyny.us20.list-manage.com/track/click?u=be12bf8b9daa0103c731922f9&id=dd9569629c&e=07560ed2b9.