TOWN SUPER FERRARA CLAIMS SMI'S WASTE-WATER IS SAFE, SLG SAYS: "PROVE IT"

SENECA FALLS, NY (01/26/2023) (readMedia)-- Yesterday, on an installment of Evan Dawson's Connections, Seneca Falls Town Supervisor Mike Ferrara was asked if he had concerns about polluted leachate – formed when rainwater flows through waste – from the state's largest landfill making its way into water sources. He said: "When the leachate hits the Seneca Falls sewer, it's clean. It's no different than waste-water that you and I produce from our toilets. Seneca Meadows has two systems that treat the leachate first. So I feel 100 percent confident that our public safety is not in jeopardy." At a town board meeting in July, Ferrara offered to pay for board member Steve Churchill to collect and test a sample of SMI's leachate for PFAS.

There has been no new public information on research of PFAS contamination of Seneca Falls water systems and groundwater since 2018. At that time, tests showed leachate from Seneca Meadows contained PFAS at 1,690 parts per trillion. The state's limit for PFAS in public drinking water is ten parts per trillion.

"If the town supervisor is completely certain that leachate from Seneca Meadows is harmless, why are we in the dark about the levels of PFAS it contains? Mike, put your money where your mouth is and prove it: You said you'd pay for testing yourself at a board meeting over the summer. We know that landfills are one of four major sources of PFAS that cause serious health complications, and your constituents deserve to know what's in their water," said Yvonne Taylor, vice president of Seneca Lake Guardian.

"No landfill leachate is clean, including the treated leachate from Seneca Meadows. Like landfills, wastewater treatment plants are a major source of PFAS pollution. Adding more PFAS to the Seneca Falls wastewater treatment plant from a known source like Seneca Meadows is environmentally irresponsible and a threat to public health," said Laura Orlando, senior science advisor at Just Zero.

Seneca Meadows produces 200,000 gallons of polluted leachate every day. The leachate is laden with PFAS, also known as "forever chemicals," which are a family of thousands of chemicals found in many everyday products including GORE-TEX, non-stick pans, food packaging, and more. Instead of breaking down, they build up in the environment and in our bodies, often entering through drinking water sources contaminated by landfills. These chemicals primarily build up in the blood, kidney and liver. According to the CDC, exposure to PFAS is linked to harmful health impacts such as cancer, liver damage, decreased fertility, a weakened immune system, and increased risk of asthma and thyroid disease, to name a few.

Two thirds of SMI's leachate – over 50 million gallons – is trucked, untreated, to Buffalo, Watertown, Chittenango and Steuben County wastewater treatment plants, which are not required to test for and don't have the mechanism for removing the PFAS.

A recent Rockefeller Institute policy brief showed that New York is one of nine states that falls well short of the EPA guidance on enforceable drinking water standards for PFAS.

Seneca Lake Guardian is calling for the passage of the "PFAS Surface Water Discharge Disclosure Act" – introduced by Senator May and Assemblymember Kelles last year – which would require annual testing for all facilities permitted to discharge water. There are no federal or state regulations currently requiring PFAS disclosures from all facilities that might be discharging it. The group is also urging the Governor to direct the DEC to close SMI on schedule in 2025.

Background

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.