SOURCE:
https://www.longislandadvance.net/6961/DEC-orders-town-to-mitigate-landfill-odors
September 20, 2019
The New York State Department of Environmental Conservation has “ordered” the town of Brookhaven to take immediate steps to address landfill-related odor issues that have affected communities near the facility. Under the terms of a new consent order with DEC the town is required to evaluate odor-producing conditions and take aggressive corrective measures that will prevent odors in the future, enhance community air monitoring, further improve landfill gas collection, and invest $150,000 in an Environmental Benefit Project. The order also includes a $178,000 suspended penalty, payable to DEC if the town does not fulfill the terms of the enforcement action.
“DEC is working closely with the town of Brookhaven to address the odors and we will continue to do so in order to protect public health and the environment by taking enforcement against facilities that violate our stringent permit requirements,” said DEC commissioner Basil Seggos.
The most recent violation cited by the DEC was a two-week period of odor complaints in December 2018. DEC’s Division of Air Resources and Division of Materials Management conducted off-site investigations and documented Hydrogen Sulfide (H2S) odors around the site that varied in intensity during numerous field visits. H2S can cause odors that unreasonably interfere with the comfortable enjoyment of life and property. A town spokesman said this was a planned, temporary issue that was a result of efforts to cap and close the landfill, of which the DEC, the community, and this publication were notified.
"The Brookhaven Landfill is an important regional resource for New York State’s management of solid waste, providing a safe location for the disposal of incinerated household garbage from Brookhaven residents and municipalities across Long Island," a Friday news release said. "Immediate closure would result in an Island-wide waste management crisis resulting in significantly increased illegal dumping that is hazardous to our groundwater and environment, and an estimated tax increase of more than 200 percent to local residents."
The order requires to town to undertake several actions, including: delivering to DEC an interim status report of the various corrective measures implemented and a breakdown of expenditures from an earlier Corrective Action Plan; completing an expedited evaluation of the landfill during peak odor-producing conditions to identify any new or previously unidentified landfill odor sources; developing enhanced operating and landfill cover protocols to reduce the amount of exposed land related to landfill capping; and submitting design details to enhance leachate collection operations.
All items in the DEC-mandated Corrective Action Plan must include estimated completion dates where applicable.
According to a town statement released Friday, the efforts mentioned by the DEC have been ongoing and reflect what the town has been doing to mitigate odors as it plans for the 2024 closing of the landfill. Brookhaven, the release said, has invested over $20 million into this project over 5 years which includes:
- Enhanced air monitoring
- Installation of more than 130 gas collection wells across the capped portion of the landfill
- New technology for flares
- Highly successful treatment of leachate
- Capping of more than 157 acres or 70 percent of landfill area
“We are delighted to see the DEC taking action to address the consistent odors from the Brookhaven landfill,” said Adrienne Esposito, executive director for Citizens Campaign for the Environment. “Community members, teachers and students at Frank P. Long School have long suffered from the adverse impacts of the landfill’s noxious odors and the Town needs to rectify this burden on the public.”
The order requires the town to continue compensating DEC for enhanced odor monitoring efforts and, upon DEC request, provide additional funding for an Environmental Monitoring Fund. The landfill has not accepted garbage since 1989, and has only received incinerator ash, and alternate daily cover material that has been approved and permitted by the NYS DEC. Because sheetrock from construction debris is a primary source of Hydrogen Sulfide, Brookhaven has reduced the amount of this material accepted at the landfill, by at least 25 percent.
DEC will host an availability session on Oct. 10, from 6 to 9 p.m., at the Medford Fire District, 171 Oregon Avenue, Medford, NY 11763. During the session, community members will have the opportunity to speak one-on-one with DEC project managers and other DEC experts. DEC encourages any resident impacted by odors to contact DEC’s dedicated 24/7 Odor Hotline at (631) 444-0380.
