West Babylon trash hauler Winters Bros. is dropping plans for a proposed Yaphank waste transfer station project that was seen by local officials as critical to managing Long Island's future trash removal needs but drew opposition from local residents and others, a company spokesman told Newsday on Friday.
Suffolk County Executive Ed Romaine at an environmental symposium on Wednesday, March 13 at Stony Brook University.
This year marks the beginning of the end for Brookhaven Landfill.
That is what spurred discussion among industry groups and environmental advocates at an environmental symposium on Wednesday, March 13 at Stony Brook University, seeking answers for the future of waste disposal on Long Island.
Suffolk County Executive Ed Romaine said Wednesday he would convene a meeting of the county’s 10 towns to begin discussing plans for a regional solid waste program to prepare for the closure of the Brookhaven landfill.
Speaking at a Stony Brook University environmental symposium, Romaine warned the landfill closure, expected by early 2028, would have a ripple effect across Long Island as contractors and municipalities ship more waste to out-of-state landfills — boosting construction costs and taxes.
A state Supreme Court Judge has dismissed a lawsuit to block construction of a solid waste transfer station in Yaphank to haul trash off Long Island.
A state Supreme Court judge has thrown out a lawsuit filed by the state NAACP and an environmental nonprofit that aimed to block a proposed Yaphank solid waste transfer station that would ship construction trash off Long Island by rail.
An NAACP spokesman and Farmingdale nonprofit Citizens Campaign for the Environment said they would appeal.
Dive Brief:
The Brookhaven Landfill on Long Island, New York, may get two extra years of life to accept incinerator ash, newly elected Town Supervisor Dan Panico told Newsday last week. Panico is seeking an extension of the landfill’s permit that would allow it to remain open until 2027 or 2028, rather than its current permit expiration on July 11, 2026.
Local leaders are working to find alternative disposal capacity for incinerator ash from the Covanta-run facility in Westbury that handles much of Suffolk County’s waste. Panico also confirmed the landfill would stop accepting C&D waste — which constitutes 65% of the waste accepted at the landfill annually — by the end of the year.
The permit extension will buy extra time for private industry solutions to press forward. Carlson Corp., a longtime Long Island C&D and organic waste processor, has applied for federal permission to construct a rail terminal to process and ship waste off the island. Winters Bros. has also floated a proposal for a rail terminal adjacent to the Brookhaven Landfill.
BROOKHAVEN, N.Y. -- Residents who live near the controversial Brookhaven town landfill are demanding an investigation after they say they've gotten sick by hazardous waste.
Brookhaven, NY (October 9, 2023) – Leaders from the Brookhaven chapter of the NAACP NYS Conference, Citizens Campaign for the Environment (DDE) and the Brookhaven Landfill Action and Remediation Group (BLARG) today called for an independent investigation into the dumping of potentially hazardous waste for years at the town of Brookhaven landfill, exposing neighboring communities of color, teachers and students at the nearby Frank P. Long School and workers at the landfill to serious health risks.
Brookhaven Landfill rises behind the Frank P. Long Intermediate School and playground in North Bellport.
An underground plume of PFAS and other dangerous chemicals has emanated from the Brookhaven Landfill for decades. The Town of Brookhaven is now ordered to measure how far they must go to remediate affected drinking water sources.
Javien Coleman, 13, attended Frank P. Long Intermediate School when he was diagnosed with cancer. He died last year.
Outside Nacole Hutley’s home there is a shrine to her son, Javien Coleman. Decorated for each holiday, it is a place where the family can honor him with photos and his football jersey, number 21.
Inside the house, photographs of young Javien fill the walls and tables, keeping his memory and smile alive.
13-year-old Javien died in 2022, a year after being diagnosed with lymphoma. Just a year before his diagnosis, he had begun attending Frank P. Long Intermediate School, half a mile from the Brookhaven Landfill.
A truck transports waste.
A bill that would allow the Town of Brookhaven to eliminate a zoning requirement that protects open space to allow for a rail spur extension faces pushback from the New York NAACP and local chapters.
Eliminating a conservation easement would allow a proposed waste transfer station in Yaphank to connect to the freight system on the Long Island Rail Road. State NAACP officials warn that hauling away “thousands of tons of trash” by rail would disproportionately harm nearby communities of color.
