Local environmental group Seneca Lake Guardian recently called on Governor Kathy Hochul to shut down the Seneca Meadows landfill in Seneca Falls, New York.
The SLG’s statement comes in response to two recently announced state initiatives: One aimed at attracting tourism and another at monitoring air quality.
SLG: Seneca Meadows landfill threatens agritourism industry
“We’re glad to see Governor Hochul investing in tourism while monitoring air quality across the state, but she will find that those initiatives are in conflict in the Finger Lakes – which attracts 17 percent of New York’s tourism – because the largest landfill in the state is stinking up the region,” said the SLG in a recent statement.
Seneca Meadows, Inc., the waste management company that operates the landfill, filed an environmental impact statement with the DEC in June of this year. In it, the company said they have no intention of shutting down, despite a local law requiring them to close by 2025.
The documents filed with the DEC would allow the landfill to remain open with its current level of trash intake until 2040.
Activists urge Hochul to “take bold climate action” now
“Owned by Texas-based Waste Connections, the Seneca Meadows landfill is poisoning our water and air, while pumping a putrid odor far and wide and threatening our $3 billion, 60,000 job agritourism industry,” continued the SLG.
“It would be a shame to see the first female Governor of New York spend millions of tax dollars building up the region without doing anything to shut down the out-of-state company that’s literally dumping on the birthplace of women’s rights. We’re calling on Governor Hochul to continue to take bold climate action, and direct the DEC to close the landfill in Seneca Falls in 2025, as previously planned.”
Prior to November, the Seneca Falls Town Board was majority-Democrat and supported the decision to shut down Seneca Meadows 3-2. When the make-up of the board shifted in favor of Republicans, the law lost its support.
Related: Seneca Meadows official tells Ulster County that landfill won’t close in 2025 despite local law
