A plan by the Cargill salt firm to eliminate its old coal-burning boiler and replace it with a new gas-fired boiler in a rebuilt portion of its plant off 4th Street gained preliminary site-plan approval from the Watkins Glen Planning Board Wednesday night.
A public hearing will be held at the Planning Board's next session on Dec. 19, with final site-plan approval expected shortly afterward.
The new 165,000-pound boiler -- 40 feet long, 17 feet tall and 13 feet wide -- is expected to be delivered by rail in late February from a Babcock and Wilcox Company plant in West Point, Mississippi.
A boiler is needed at Cargill to heat salt brine, separating water and salt in the process leading to the marketing of the salt.
