In an official letter to the DEC, as part of the permit renewal process for Seneca Meadows Landfill along State Route 414 — legal representation of the Concerned Citizens and Waterloo Container blasted the state agency.
The letter demands that the DEC rescind the Negative Declaration and treat the application as ‘new’ due to changed environmental conditions. The letter, authored by Douglas H. Zamaelis, who represents the Concerned Citizens of Seneca County and Waterloo Container, cites the DEC’s own regulatory guidelines.
“No person shall cause or allow emissions of air contaminants to the outdoor atmosphere of such quantity, characteristic or duration which are injurious to human, plant or animal life, or to property, or which unreasonable interfere with the comfortable enjoyment of life or property,” the letter reads, citing the DEC language.
The letter notes that DEC officials are in possession of more than 2,000 written odor complaint reports received from SMI on a regularly monthly basis. The information was obtained via an FOIL Request submitted by the law firm.
“The situation in Seneca Falls and Waterloo is unconscionable and untenable, but the Department lets it continue such that the people that live, go to school, work or even pass anywhere near Seneca Meadows’ dump have to pay for it with the loss of comfortable enjoyment of their properties and their quality of life,” the letter continues.
The letter goes on to assert that the DEC has played a role in the exponential growth of Seneca Meadows. “The Department has allowed SMI’s Dump to become ‘too big to fail’ and there are records in the Department’s file which indicate the Department’s on-site monitor at the dump has been subject to ‘capture’.
It also accuses the on-site reps of the DEC and landfill as losing objectivity. “People who complain to SMI concerning odors have ‘an axe to grind’, and is generally ineffective.”
The letter concludes calling the DEC a ‘proverbial ostrich’ if they renew the permit for another 10-year period. “The Department would [have] its head stuck in the sand putting ‘out of sight and mind a clear environmental problem’.
