A grassroots group in Ithaca is pushing back after a state court ruling allowed Cornell University to move forward with installing synthetic turf that independent tests later showed contained PFAS — a class of toxic chemicals linked to serious health risks.
Zero Waste Ithaca announced plans to appeal the decision, criticizing the court’s reliance on deference to town planners and institutional consultants, even in the face of scientific evidence that contradicted Cornell’s public claim the turf was “PFAS-free.”
The legal challenge centers on a synthetic turf project along Game Farm Road. The Town of Ithaca Planning Board approved the project with a “Negative Declaration” — meaning it believed no significant environmental impacts would result — despite community objections and incomplete testing. While Cornell claimed the turf contained no PFAS, three accredited lab reports submitted by Zero Waste Ithaca after the approval showed otherwise: total fluorine was detected at 53 parts per million, with PFAS chemicals found in the thousands of parts per million in turf blades.
The court, however, ruled it wasn’t its job to re-evaluate the science. Instead, it only had to decide whether the Planning Board’s decision appeared “reasonable” based on the documents reviewed at the time. Since the Board had relied on Cornell’s own consultants — whose test method did not detect many forms of PFAS — the court deferred to that judgment, despite later test results showing contamination.
“This high level of deference creates a dangerous loophole,” said Zero Waste Ithaca in a statement. “It reinforces a system that rewards unverified claims over independent scrutiny.”
Cornell’s test used an EPA method that only screens for about 40 PFAS compounds — a fraction of the 14,000-plus known chemicals in the class. It also failed to detect the polymer-bound PFAS found in plastic turf. By contrast, federal drinking water standards now regulate some PFAS at levels as low as a few parts per trillion — far below the levels detected in the turf material.
The court did not consider the independent test results because they were submitted after the project’s approval. Still, critics argue the case highlights deeper flaws in New York’s environmental review system, especially the way agencies and courts defer to institutions like Cornell without conducting their own evaluations.
This decision mirrors a previous ruling over another Cornell turf project at the Meinig Fieldhouse, where the court again backed agency discretion despite scientific disputes.
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