Although its permits have expired, Rensselaer's embattled Dunn Landfill continues to operate.
There have been ongoing health and safety concerns since the dump opened in 2015 along the route to Rensselaer City schools, with neighbors complaining of foul odors, air pollution and noisy truck traffic. There have been several calls to shut the landfill down.
Former EPA Regional Administrator and WAMC commentator Judith Enck says Dunn's permit to operate expired last week.
"If you and I were driving our car around with expired inspection stickers, or an expired license, we would be fined for that," Enck said. "With good reason, you need to be current on things."
Officials say S.A. Dunn & Company, LLC submitted its renewal application on time to the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation. The permit renewal will not change or expand its current mining or C&D operations.
In response to a request for comment, DEC emailed a statement, which says in part that "New York State laws, primarily the State Administrative Procedures Act and the Uniform Procedures Act allow for a facility to continue operating if they meet certain permit renewal application requirements," and that "any changes to the law would require a statutory amendment passed by the State Legislature, not through DEC regulation."
Rensselaer Mayor Mike Stammel: "The city of Rensselaer has passed resolutions stating that they're opposed to the dump in tr back in June of last year," Stammel said. "The county legislature has done a number of them. The school board now has gotten a letter from the superintendent of schools. So stating their opinion to that, they don't think the dump should be there. And, you know, the obviously the environmental group that's here in the city of Rensselaer has done the same thing, as well as East Greenbush. So, you know, I haven't seen anything that states other than the contractors themselves who are operating the dump, jump up and say, 'Hey, we want to keep it open.' The consensus is here in the region around Rensselaer County anyway around the city of Rensselaer that they want to dump closed and I think the
reasons that are given are valid."
Enck contends the agency could do more. "The New York State Department of Environmental Conservation says they're allowed to do this. And that is technically true because of existing law," said Enck. "It doesn't mean though, that they should do it, or that they have to do it. And in the situation of the Dunn landfill in the city of Rensselaer, where this is now the largest construction and demolition debris in the landfill in the entire state, taking in waste from eight different states. It never ever should have been allowed to operate next to a K through 12 public school in a densely populated city."
Enck is among those hoping the permits will be rejected.
Dunn Landfill did not respond to requests for comment.
Rensselaer Environmental Coalition treasurer Bob Welton has participated in many protests and demonstrations against the dump. Welton says the group has reviewed and found deficiencies in the application process that resulted in the landfill's 2012 approval.
"So here we are today, with a landfill next to a school, and the school was never even an issue in the original application process," said Welton. "So really, so one of the things we're trying to do is to get the DEC to tell Dunn that the entire application has to be treated as new. And what we mean by that is as if the landfill didn't exist, that they have to start from scratch."
Welton promises protests and rallies against the dump will continue.
“So the whole idea of doing this is to get people more involved and to recognize what we're dealing with," Welton said. "A lot of people who, you know, they may have just in passing heard about this, but when they actually see trucks rolling, possibly on TV or hear about it, like on the radio, about what's going on with the landfill, it promotes, I guess, people to join our cause and to create more resistance, which we need. Going forward, we're probably going to have more of those kinds of demonstrations, maybe in other locations. We're also probably going to have a news conference within the next month, because we have some pretty interesting developments that have happened, which I really can't get into today.”
DEC pledges to "continue to provide strict oversight of operations at the facility to ensure public health and the environment are protected and we remain committed to working with the community to address their concerns."
