Towns file suits
Look to stop landfill expansion
The towns of Halfmoon and Waterford, along with a number of their residents, have filed lawsuits seeking to annul the permit approvals to expand the town of Colonie landfill and prevent the town from moving forward with any construction.
The filings were submitted to the State Supreme Court of Saratoga County May 7. Both filings list the state Department of Environmental Conservation, town of Colonie, Capital Region Landfills and Waste Connections as respondents.
The town of Colonie owns the landfill and holds the environmental permit for its operation. In April 2014 it applied to the DEC for permitting approvals to expand the operation on the 212 acre-site and extend the landfill’s life.
C apital Region Landfills runs the day to day operation for the town of Colonie. It is a subsidiary of parent company Waste Connections.
The project would expand the operation within its footprint into an area designated Area 7. The proposed 105-acre expansion would put new solid waste on top of previously filled areas and extend the vertical pile higher into the air.
In their legal filings, attorneys for the towns of Halfmoon and Waterford both took issue with DEC’s approval of four permits, noting the department’s alleged failure to comply with the State Environmental Quality Review Act, alleged violation of its own regulations, and alleged violations of the state’s codes, rules and regulations.
Additionally, in its filing, the town of Waterford requested an injunction forbidding the town of Colonie or Waste Connections from proceeding with the project.
Representing the town of Halfmoon in the case is attorney David Engle of Albany law firm Nolan and Heller. Representing the town of Waterford is Mark
Schachner of Miller, Mannix, Schachner and Hafner of Glens Falls.
The Halfmoon filing claims a portion of the expansion will be built within a 100-year flood plain, creates the risk of further contamination of the adjacent Mohawk River, creates an avoidable “detrimental impact from odor and visual intrusion” to nearby residents, and will put a portion of the expansion over a hazardous landfill “which continues to contaminate the groundwater with Hydrocarbons and heavy metals.”
In approving the permits, the Halfmoon filing said DEC violated provision of Environmental Conservation Law, failed to comply with SEQRA by failing to look at alternatives, violated its own regulations when it failed to hold an adjudicatory hearing on the expansion, and again violated its own regulations by treating the application to expand as a “modification” rather than an application for a permit for a new solid waste facility
Pointing to what it said were flaws in the DEC’s review and approval process, the Halfmoon filing noted an alleged absence of an approved local solid waste management plan, an alleged failure to fully consider the visual and odor impacts to those living nearby, an alleged failure to investigate PFOA (Perfluoroocta-
noic Acid) contamination, and alleged freshwater encroachment.
The filing gave three causes for its actions,. failure to follow uniform permit procedures, failure to comply with SEQR, and failure to comply with regulatory criteria.
The town of Halfmoon asked the court to order DEC to hold either an issues conference or and adjudicatory hearing and remand all regulatory issues to a DEC Administrative
Law judge to hold an adjudicatory hearing.
The town of Waterford’s stated reasons for filing were much the same.
However, in addition to a request for an injunction to stop any construction, the filing also said town residents would suffer decreased property values due to “continued and worsening odor, noise, water quality, and aesthetics” from the project.
The Waterford filing also dove deeper into the DEC
approval process noting that the permits’ approvals would have “drastic adverse” impacts on town residents because “the FEIS ( Final Environmental Impact Statement) reflected project alterations that were not set forth in the DEIS ( Draft Environmental Impact Statement) and were not subject to the scoping process”.
The Waterford lawsuit listed 12 causes for action including, as did Halfmoon’s, that the permit ap-
plication should have been treated as a new application, that there is no solid
waste management plan in place as required, only a draft plan, and that DEC failed to evaluate reasonable alternatives, failed to hold an adjudicatory hearing, violated SEQR by accepting the FEIS as complete, and violated SEQR by failing to require a supplemental FEIS.
One cause for action noted in the Waterford filing but not Halfmoon’s was that the FEIS is alleged to rely on conclusory statements rather than actual analysis “and fails to demonstrate any real need to expand the landfill rather than simply closing it”.
As with the Halfmoon filing Waterford sought the court to annul the permits issued by DEC and keep Waste Connections from proceeding with the project.
The town of Waterford also asked that the court invalidate the SEQRFindings Statement.
When asked if the department would like to comment on this story a DEC spokesman said it does not comment on pending litigation. The town of Colonie did not respond to a request for comment.