The Seneca County Board of Supervisors passed a resolution Tuesday to ask the state Department of Environmental Conservation to study the impact the Seneca Meadows landfill has on the surrounding community.
The resolution also requires that county officials ask the state to include the county in the landfill’s permitting process.
This comes as the state considers Seneca Meadows’ application to expand. The landfill is expected to reach capacity next year.
It is currently the state’s largest landfill, receiving over 6,000 tons of waste each day. The proposed expansion would create 47 acres of new landfill area and add 70 feet in height to the already-existing mounds.
Supervisor Paul Kronenwetter introduced the legislation. He said before the vote that local legislators had approached the DEC previously with concerns over Seneca Meadows’ impact on local ecosystems and bodies of water, like Seneca Lake. However, he believes the department has mostly ignored those concerns.
“That's why I brought this resolution forward,” said Kronenwetter. “Get the DEC’s attention.”
The legislation states that the county health department previously wrote a letter to the DEC and state health department asking each to study how expanding the landfill could impact the health of local residents and surrounding ecosystems.
During a public hearing ahead of the vote, several residents expressed support for the proposal. Many said the landfill’s operations had been disruptive to local communities. Others noted concerns that the landfill’s expansion could take a toll on tourism, health, and the environment in the area.
“Over the last three weeks, I have called the landfill hotline and reported the odor,” said Heather Bonetti, who works at the nearby Waterloo Middle School. She said in recent weeks, smells from the landfill three miles away had been so strong that “we couldn't even open up the windows.”
Some members of the public also voiced concern over how the board of supervisors had approached issues involving Seneca Meadows in the past.
Though the state oversees the landfill and issues its permits, Ovid resident David Winters said he believed the board’s position could make an impact on how the state approaches the landfill’s permitting process.
“I didn’t know until tonight that it’s a perfect storm,” said Winters. “Where you here say there’s no way that we have a say, it’s up to the DEC.”
Though the resolution passed, the decision whether to include Seneca County as a formal party in the permitting process lies with the DEC.
A department spokesperson said the DEC reviews such requests based on environmental and permit processing laws.
The spokesperson also said the DEC has requested that the state health department conduct an analysis of lung cancer data among residents of the area. The study is underway and results will be made public when they are finalized.
“DEC remains committed to ensuring the protection of the environment and human health and continues to closely monitor the Seneca Meadows landfill facility to ensure full compliance with applicable State laws and regulations,” said the DEC spokesperson in a statement.
The department plans to hold public hearings about Seneca Meadows’ permit application later this year.
Seneca Meadows did not respond to WSKG’s questions about local residents’ health and environmental concerns regarding the landfill.