This story originally appeared in New York Focus, a nonprofit news publication investigating power in New York. Sign up for their newsletter here. The Examiner News is publishing this piece as part of our ongoing coverage of the issue, in cooperation with New York Focus.
New York environmental regulators have deemed a developer liable for an $18 million Westchester cleanup — but they haven’t yet made the company pay.
By David McKay Wilson
The Amawalk Reservoir, which provides drinking water to three northern Westchester County towns and New York City, looks like a tranquil spot, covered in a blanket of snow in midwinter with Canada geese flying in formation overhead. But the Amawalk has become the center of a battle over who pays for environmental cleanups in the state.
Will New York taxpayers be on the hook, or will it be a development company the state has deemed responsible for paying the bill?
The developer, Suelain Realty, hopes to build 23 single-family homes on a parcel bordering the reservoir that was recently cleaned up through the state Superfund program, which identifies contamination and conducts remediation.
Critics of the project fear that runoff from the Granite Pointe subdivision in the town of Somers will worsen the water quality of the Westchester reservoir, which is already contaminated by PFAS “forever chemicals.”
That’s not their only concern. They also want the developer to pay for the cleanup of the site. If the company is required to do so, some hope, the project will become cost-prohibitive, blocking it from happening.
A 2025 reauthorization of the state Superfund law makes it easier to recoup money from property owners or polluters. The state has identified Suelain as the party responsible for the $18 million cleanup, but it has yet to seek payment from the company.
“There have been no concrete decisions made regarding cost recovery at this site,” said a spokesman for the state Department of Environmental Conservation, or DEC. READ MORE AT A Real Estate Battle Tests the State’s New Superfund Powers | The Examiner News
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