LANSING, NY (607NewsNow) – The DEC has renewed Cargill’s Cayuga Salt Mine permit.

According to Cayuga Lake Environmental Action Now, or CLEAN, the five-year renewal allows Cargill to continue flooding an abandoned area beneath the lake with mine wastewater.

Cargill sought the permit renewal to address a leak.

In an email from DEC Deputy Regional Permit Administrator Jonathan Stercho, the DEC characterized the permit issuance as establishing additional water storage capacity that will provide storage for a “minimum of 15 years at current inflow rates.”

The DEC says it received 143 public comments regarding the proposed permit during the 9-month public comment period.

Critics of the decision point to the lack of an environmental impact study or public hearing, as well as a potential future mine collapse, while the DEC maintains it did not identify “any significant adverse impacts based on the public comment.”

In recent years, local officials and advocates strongly urged the state to get involved at the salt mine after it was reportedly listed for sale in 2023.

In February 2024, then-DEC Commissioner Basil Seggos said the state was unable to force an environmental impact statement related to the sale of the mine.