[CPEO-BIF] Sleepy Hollow, New York GM Plant

[Lenny Siegel <lsiegel@cpeo.org>]

[The wholesale closure of automobile factories and dealerships across 
the country rivals military base closure as an environmental challenge. 
However, with base closure, there was a financially viable source of 
money - the Defense budget - for the cleanup necessary to allow 
redevelopment. THE COUNTRY NEEDS A PLAN FOR AUTO "BASE CLOSURE." - LS]


GM's Sleepy Hollow Nightmare Shows Perils for Closing Factories


By Linda Sandler and Patricia Hurtado
Bloomberg
July 9, 2009

General Motors Corp. closed its minivan factory in Sleepy Hollow, New 
York, 13 years ago, after a record 82-year run for a company plant.

Encouraged by the site's views of the Hudson River, just 23 miles north 
of Manhattan, GM made development plans to help the village replace it 
as the biggest employer and largest source of tax revenue.

....

It would have cost GM an estimated $225 million to clean up the site and 
restock the river with edible fish if it held on to the property, said 
John Privitera, a lawyer for the tribe at McNamee Lochner Titus & 
Williams PC in Albany, New York. Now GM creditors or the state will get 
stuck with the costs because bankruptcy law permits shedding such 
obligations.

....

For the entire article, see
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601103&sid=aG7RgmeEJZDk

--


Lenny Siegel
Executive Director, Center for Public Environmental Oversight
a project of the Pacific Studies Center
278-A Hope St., Mountain View, CA 94041
Voice: 650/961-8918 or 650/969-1545
Fax: 650/961-8918
<lsiegel@cpeo.org>
http://www.cpeo.org




_______________________________________________
Brownfields mailing list
Brownfields@lists.cpeo.org
http://lists.cpeo.org/listinfo.cgi/brownfields-cpeo.org