Residents challenging odors from High Acres Landfill can continue pursuing key claims against Waste Management and New York City after a federal judge issued a mixed ruling that also narrowed their lawsuit.
U.S. District Judge Meredith Vacca’s Nov. 6 decision preserves public nuisance, negligence and gross negligence claims, while dismissing several federal environmental claims over deficiencies in notices sent before the lawsuit.
The dispute involves Fresh Air for the Eastside and residents of communities including Perinton, Penfield, Macedon and Walworth. They allege landfill odors and emissions have interfered with daily life, affected their health and harmed their properties.
Their attorney, Linda Shaw of Knauf Shaw, told WROC the residents are preparing for trial. She said their central objective remains stopping odors from reaching neighboring homes.
What survives and what was dismissed
Fresh Air for the Eastside retains its Clean Air Act claim and portions of a claim under the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act, the federal solid-waste law.
Individual plaintiffs lost their claims under both statutes because the required notices did not identify them by name and address.
Vacca also dismissed an entire claim alleging imminent and substantial danger to health or the environment because the notices failed to identify the pollutants later alleged. Other allegations involving noise and personnel training were dismissed.
Those decisions concern notice requirements and the sufficiency of the lawsuit’s allegations. They do not establish whether the defendants caused the alleged harm.
Residents seek changes to landfill operations
Shaw told WROC that experts working for the residents have identified operational changes they believe could reduce the problem. She accused Waste Management of resisting those changes because of their cost.
The station reported that it had requested comment from Waste Management and the state Department of Environmental Conservation and was awaiting responses. Perinton declined to issue a statement about the decision.
The litigation dates to 2018. Shaw linked worsening odor complaints to the arrival of New York City garbage by rail and said residents want the landfill to operate without disrupting surrounding neighborhoods.
“The facility is not acting as a good neighbor,” she told WROC.
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A separate case from the Green Amendment fight
The federal lawsuit is distinct from the High Acres challenge brought under New York’s Green Amendment, which guarantees a constitutional right to clean air, clean water and a healthful environment.
In July 2024, a state appeals court dismissed that separate constitutional lawsuit. The decision addressed, among other issues, whether courts could compel the state to take enforcement action against the landfill.
That ruling subsequently became part of the legal fight over whether the Green Amendment could block Seneca Meadows’ proposed expansion.
Both landfill disputes have tested residents’ ability to seek relief from alleged odor problems. The Seneca Meadows lawsuit challenged expansion approval on constitutional grounds; the surviving High Acres federal case involves environmental statutes and state-law claims.
The latest decision keeps that federal case moving while reducing the claims residents and their organization can pursue.
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