Yes, Landfills Do Indeed Leak..Even Double Lined Fills<--Click here to learn more

The NYSDEC ( Title 6 of the New York Code of Rules and Regulations, Part 360), sets forth minimum standards for environmental protection. The authority for Part 360, New York Environmental Conservation Law, specifically permits Towns to exceed "the minimum applicable requirements set forth in any rule or regulation promulgated [in Part 360]." (NY-ECL Section 27-0711). The Town of Brant should not give up its statutory right to insist on protections of its water quality and other local amenities that go beyond the minimum protections provided under State law. The Town may in fact be giving up this important local power by abandoning its landfill law now!

Some examples of the way Part 360 operates may show the limits of the local protections provided under New York's environmental statute and regulations.

WATER QUALITY MONITORING

DEC regulations contemplate 20 gallons per acre per day leakage of landfill leachate from the primary liner system, which is to be collected by a secondary leachate collection and removal system. (Part 360-2.17). The regulations also require "daily monitoring and recording of the secondary leachate collection and removal system flow data @w[. . . to] determine the presence, quantity, nature and significance of any liquid detected." (Part 360-2.9(j)(4)). However, the regulations allow for compliance with the daily monitoring requirement by means of an automated recording system, (id.), or for less stringent monitoring as "approved by the department." (Part 360-2.7(9)(iv)).

In the event of groundwater contamination, a detailed procedure for determining a causal connection to the landfill is provided in the regulations. Action is imposed on the operator only if a causal connection is established under this procedure.

Groundwater contamination is determined by quarterly sampling from residential or monitoring wells designated in a monitoring plan developed by the operator. (Part 360-2.11(c)). Within 90 days of each quarterly sampling, results are compared for certain chemical parameters to baseline water quality data from wells collected prior to landfill operation. (Id.(c)(5)(ii)(d); @i(see also) id.(c)(3) (leachate sampling to determine parameters); @i(but see) (c)(5)(i)(e) (sampling and analysis of water quality beyond the site boundaries is at the discretion of the DEC)). The regulations require as minimum procedures for a contingency where the 20-gallon threshold is exceeded, a 7 day notification period, (Part 360-2.10(b)(2)(i)); a 14 day period within which a preliminary written assessment must be submitted, (id.(ii)); determination of "the location, size and cause of the leaks," (id.(iii)); determination as to whether operation should be curtailed and whether the leaking landfill cell should be closed or remediated, (id.(iv)); and a full report within 30 days of initial notification on actions taken and current flow rate of leakage, and every 30 days thereafter so long as leakage exceeds 20-gallon threshold. (Id.(vi)).

The crucial determinations as to notification and reporting required under this procedure are all made by the operator. A water quality monitoring program is required, but the program is developed by the operator and actions to be taken in the event contamination is detected under the program are determined by arrangement between the operator and the DEC. (@i(See) Part 360-2.11(c)(5) (providing for quarterly sampling of wells for the duration of detected contamination)).

WATER QUALITY STANDARDS

Four levels of water quality are listed in ECL. The highest standards for concentrations of coliform "or any other organisms from wastes of animal or human origin," ECL 17-0301(5)(c), are reserved for waters used as sources for commercial shellfishing. ECL 17-0301(5)(c)(4). The lowest standards, applicable to the waters around the proposed Allen landfill site, are applied to sources of drinking water, which the statutes expects will be "subjected to approved disinfection treatment, with additional treatment if necessary to remove naturally present impurities, meet or will meet New York State Health Department drinking water standards . . ." ECL 17-0301(5)(c)(1).

(In 1991, at the first public hearing in Farmersville concerning the proposed landfill there, a spokesman for Integrated Waste Systems was asked by a citizen why the company wanted to threaten the pristine water quality of the area. The IWS spokesman replied that it was precisely because the water is so clean that they were attracted to the site. He explained that it would take much longer to pollute it up to the minimum water quality standards required under State law.)

MIGRATION OF LEACHATE FROM A DUMP