Jan 27th = Deadline to Submit Public Comments to DEC on Seneca Meadows Landfill!

SENECA FALLS, NY (01/18/2023) (readMedia)-- On Wednesday, Seneca Lake Guardian hosted a press conference urging the public to submit comments to DEC by the January 27th deadline, requesting a comprehensive review prior to finalizing the scope for the proposed expansion of Seneca Meadows Landfill. The Seneca Falls Town Board originally voted to close Seneca Meadows by 2025, but the landfill has requested a permit to expand their operation by seven stories higher and 47 acres wider and extend their permits through 2040.

SLG has prepared a sample comment to help guide the public when submitting comments.

The public can submit comments via email to senecameadowsvalley.infill@dec.ny.gov.

SLG was joined by Tunker Hosmer, owner of Hosmer Winery, Barb Reese, Seneca Falls community member, Vinny Aliperti, president of the Finger Lakes Craft Beverage Environmental Coalition, and Ken Camera, Geneva city councilmember.

Seneca Meadows landfill is the largest of 27 landfills in New York State. It is permitted to accept 6,000 tons of waste per day and produce 75 million gallons of polluted leachate – formed when rainwater filters through waste – annually. A quarter of the garbage going to the landfill - which stands at 30 stories tall – is trash from NYC. The landfill accepts additional waste from 47 counties in NY State, four additional states and Canada. Leachate and wastewater runoff from the landfill contains per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS), which can cause widespread contamination of drinking water and are documented to have harmful health impacts. Of the 75 million gallons of leachate produced annually, less than one-third is treated to remove PFAS and other contaminants. The rest, over 50 million gallons, is trucked, untreated, to Buffalo, Watertown, Chittenango and Steuben County wastewater treatment plants that are not required to test for, and don't have the mechanism for removing the PFAS. The discharges from those plants flow into and potentially contaminate drinking water sources in municipalities across the state.

VIDEO HERE.

"I implore the members of our Seneca Falls and Finger Lakes communities to submit comments to the DEC to request a comprehensive review prior to finalizing the scope for the proposed expansion of Seneca Meadows Landfill. The landfill is dumping millions of gallons of leachate containing toxic PFAS into our waterways all across the state, through wastewater treatment facilities that don't have the technology to filter it out. On top of that, the landfill is operated by a for-profit, Texas based company – we may live next to this behemoth polluter, but rest assured its owners are not our neighbors. The DEC must deny Seneca Meadows' permit application, and shut down the landfill by its set closure date of 2025," said Yvonne Taylor, vice-president of Seneca Lake Guardian.

"Seneca Meadows landfill is the largest in NY State accepting up to 6,000 tons of trash per day. Seneca Falls Local Law 3-2016 mandates its closure by the end of 2025. We should uphold this local law. Seneca County has taken enough of other people's trash, don't you think?" said Tunker Hosmer, owner of Hosmer Winery.

"As a resident of Seneca Falls, the Seneca Meadows landfill – which seems to be ever-expanding – makes me feel powerless. We've taken responsibility for our own waste with our community composting program, but it doesn't matter when the landfill accepts 6,000 tons of waste per day from around New York and other states. My fellow community members, we must use our voices and demand the DEC conduct an expansive review of the landfill's proposed expansion: submit your comments by January 27," said Barb Reese, Seneca Falls parent and teacher.

"The Finger Lakes Craft Beverage Environmental Coalition urges the public to submit comments to the DEC regarding the proposed expansion of the SMI landfill in Seneca Falls. We support the immediate closure of this mega landfill, the largest in NYS, given its overwhelming negative environmental impacts to the basic right of clean water and air to the residents of the Finger Lakes as well as the blight it casts over the entire agri-tourism industry," said Vinny Aliperti, president of the Finger Lakes Craft Beverage Environmental Coalition.

"Seneca Meadows is playing dirty politics with the Seneca Falls town board, spending a quarter of a million dollars to buy four of the board's five seats so they'll sympathize with the landfill's expansion. This is money in politics at its worst – that a company in Texas can essentially hold a town in New York hostage, forcing us to continue suffering the economic impacts and health hazards of living next to a landfill. If the DECconducts a comprehensive review of the landfill's proposed expansion and supports our Climate Leadership law, it must deny the permit. But, they need your encouragement and help. Please submit your comments today," said Ken Camera, Geneva city councilmember.

"The Waterloo Container Family and I care very much about the Finger Lakes region and its future. We feel strongly that a long term vision for the health and economic well-being of our community should not include an active landfill. The Public Scoping period is happening now. I believe this to be the single most important time for you to submit comments to the DEC and let the state know how you feel about the landfill expansion, how it affects businesses, tourism, and the quality of life for all nearby. To my fellow business owners, farmers, citizens, now is the time when your voice will be heard and what you say will make a difference," said Bill Lutz, president and owner of Waterloo Container.

Background

Seneca Meadows Inc. Landfill

The Seneca Meadows landfill, located in Seneca Falls, the birthplace of American Women's Rights, is the largest of 27 landfills in New York State. It is permitted to accept 6,000 tons of waste and produce up to 200,000 gallons of polluted leachate – formed when rainwater filters through waste – per day. A quarter of the landfill – which stands at 30 stories tall – is trash from NYC, followed by four other states.

Seneca Meadows was previously required to stop receiving waste and halt operations by December 31, 2025. However, Waste Connections, the Texas based parent company of Seneca Meadows Inc., spent around $200,000 in 2021 promoting pro-landfill candidates who won seats in Town Board and County races and are now supporting the Valley Infill, SMI's planned seven-story high expansion. The expansion would keep the landfill operating through 2040 with allowable dumping on the Valley Infill (the former toxic Tantalo superfund site), rising another 70 feet into the viewscape. Even with the planned closure in 2025, the mountain of garbage promises years of problems and remediation that could take generations to mitigate.

Leachate and wastewater runoff from the landfill contain per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS), which can cause widespread contamination of drinking water and harmful health impacts. Landfills are one of four major sources of PFAS, and landfills account for 17 percent of total methane emissions.

SMI is located two miles from Cayuga-Seneca Canal and three miles from every school in Seneca Falls and Waterloo, potentially exposing students to airborne particulates and unseen gasses known to contribute to respiratory illness, asthma, and migraine headaches. The landfill cannot process all of the methane that is generated and is forced to burn almost a billion cubic feet per year in 5 flares, contributing to climate change.

SMI is harming the Finger Lakes' natural resources that have led to the region being under consideration for a National Heritage Area Designation, and which the $3 billion, 60,000-employee wine and agritourism economy relies on. The odor from the landfill can be smelled from miles away, including at Thruway exit 41, the northern gateway to the Finger Lakes. Large, sustainable employers in the area are finding it difficult to recruit and retain employees, because nobody wants to raise a family near a dangerous landfill.

SMI's expansion is also at odds with the overwhelmingly popular amendment to the New York state constitution passed last year, which guarantees every New Yorker the right to clean air, clean water, and a healthful environment.

About Seneca Lake Guardian

Seneca Lake Guardian is a New York State Not-for-Profit Corporation with 501(c)(3) and is dedicated to preserving and protecting the health of the Finger Lakes, its residents and visitors, its rural community character, and its agricultural and tourist related businesses through public education, citizen participation, engagement with decision makers, and networking with like-minded organizations.