Even More MOSA

As MOSA begins its long slide into oblivion, after Montgomery County's decision to remove itself from the Authority at the end of the agreement next year, the County Board continues to look at possibilities for a post-MOSA landscape in Otsego County. To sum up:

• The end of MOSA should result in the distribution of assets among the three counties.
• The Northern (Cooperstown) and Southern (Oneonta) transfer stations should revert to Otsego County ownership.
• Nothing in the law requires Otsego County to be in the solid waste business in any way.
• There are no landfills in Otsego County (or, really, even very close to Otsego County).

So the easiest and cheapest (for the County's budget) solution, post-MOSA, would be to sell the transfer stations to a private hauler and wash our hands of the whole situation. A reasonable scenario would be that the largest (by far) hauler in the area, Casella Waste Systems, Inc., would buy the transfer stations and use their economy-of-scale advantage to consolidate trash at the stations and make regular trips with large trucks to distant landfills. Casella owns 13 landfills in the northeast; the nearest one is just outside Ithaca.

Being a private corporation, whose one and only purpose is to maximize profits, Casella would be strongly motivated to put smaller haulers out of business, either by restricting access to the transfer stations, or by setting a fee structure for use of the stations which would be unsustainable for a smaller company.

Russ Smith, of Smith Disposal, came to the Solid Waste and Environmental Concerns (SWEC) Committee last week, and painted pretty much the same picture. Smith is one of the biggest haulers in Otsego County, but not close to being in the same league as Casella. Smith argued for a new contract with MOSA, because the result of an unrestricted market would be the demise of operations like his, and the loss of local jobs.

I'm going to be contacting some other local haulers this summer and asking them how they look at the post-MOSA picture. I'll let you know. Until then, I'll continue to attend the SWEC meetings, and enjoy the coffee and donuts they always seem to have – courtesy of the Casella Waste Systems representative, who attends every meeting.