SLG: No Surprise Landfill Funded Town Board Approves SMI's Local Permits

SENECA FALLS, NY (01/04/2023) (readMedia)-- Seneca Lake Guardian – the small group that stands up to major polluters in the Finger Lakes region and wins – responded to the Seneca Falls Town Board's vote last night to approve local permits for Seneca Meadows Inc. Waste Connections – the Texas based company that owns and operates the 30 story tall landfill – spent over $280,000 between 2019 and 2021 backing four of the board's five members. Defeated local officials had previously supported the landfill's scheduled closure in 2025 due to the hazards it poses to human health and natural resources. SMI produces 200,000 gallons of polluted leachate per day – formed when rainwater filters through waste – containing toxic "forever chemicals" known as per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS). The untreated leachate is hauled to other locations in New York where there is no mechanism for removing the PFAS before it enters the air or water supply.

The landfill also exposes local residents to airborne particulates and unseen gasses that are known to contribute to respiratory illness, asthma, and migraine headaches. Yet, Waste Connections recently filed documents with the DEC to add 47 acres of new landfill space in the so-called valley infill between its two existing facilities and allow the landfill to continue operating through 2040. The expansion would make the state's largest landfill 37 stories tall.

"You get what you pay for, so it's no surprise that the Seneca Falls Town Board voted to approve local permits for Seneca Meadows after Waste Connections spent a quarter of a million dollars electing them. The fact is, a Texas based company runs the Town Board, getting rich off the backs of our communities which suffer the economic and health impacts of living next to a for-profit landfill. Governor Hochul must honor the original decision of the uncorrupted Town Board and direct the DEC to both deny the expansion request and close the landfill in 2025: don't let Texas defile the birthplace of women's rights," said Yvonne Taylor, vice president of Seneca Lake Guardian.

The Seneca Falls Town Board did not issue a local permit to the landfill in 2020 or 2021, but the landfill was still allowed to operate with permits from the state. In 2022, the board approved the local permit without condition following the November 2021 election where Waste Connections spent over $200,000 to help a pair of candidates win seats on the board. In 2019, Waste Connections made contributions that secured the seats of another pair of candidates.

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.