The risk of projectiles ricocheting into state Route 9 and I-87 led the U.S. Army branch contracting with a private security consulting firm to pull its support for a project to test-fire military cannons in the northeastern Adirondacks, records show.
The communications from 2023 obtained through the Freedom of Information Act and shared with the Adirondack Explorer show a competency manager at Benét Laboratories in Watervliet detailing a “stop work” letter to Unconventional Concepts Inc.
The company, owned by Michael Hopmeier, has tried since 2021 to get an Adirondack Park Agency permit for the operation. It would be on property near a former missile silo owned by Unconventional Concepts Inc. The APA issued six notices of incomplete application and denied an appeal before deciding in November to send it to a public hearing before an administrative law judge. Such hearings are the only way the agency can substantially modify or deny a permit…