Issues involving the Dewey Loeffel Landfill in Rensselaer County were fodder for discussion this afternoon at Nassau Town Hal, as officials expressed concerns over the potential release of contaminants into local waterways.
From about 1952 to 1968, approximately 46-thousand tons of toxic waste was deposited in the Loeffel Landfill area. That's more than twice the contamination of the notorious Love Canal. Nassau Town Supervisor David Fleming says the Environmental Protection Agency has outlined the waste it has analyzed over the last two years. "...which include industrial solvents, waste oil, PCB's, scrap materials, sludge and other solids. Since 1980, until the site was listed as a Superfund site, all sorts of remediation activities have occurred at the site, none of them comprehensive."
Last month, General Electric Co. and SI Group agreed to conduct a $1.5 million comprehensive contamination study. GE will also investigate cleanup options for nearby lakes, ponds and streams potentially contaminated by the landfill. Fleming says the EPA is starting up its water treatment facility this week. "There are a number of chemicals that are at the site. They are currently only being evaluated and may actually be discharged at significantly high levels that could pose a public health threat. Those contaminants will be reviewed and may not be filtered. That is a tremendous concern for a community that has dealt with 40 years of toxic contamination. We do not believe any further contamination should be occurring in our community, government-supervised or otherwise. Currently that leachate water is trucked away and is treated at another facility that can comprehensively handle that waste. Under the proposal that folks heard about a few weeks ago by EPA and the start-up of their facility, that water will now be treated here in the community."
Fleming fears that even "treated" water dumped into the Valatie Kill could contain noxious substances. Republican Congressman Chris Gibson represents New York’s 19th district: "The Valatie Kill flows into Kinderhook Lake. And impact now crosses county lines from Rensselaer to Columbia County, and ultimately, this water flows into the Hudson River."
Gibson joined 21 local and state government officials who've chided state and federal agencies for refusing to conduct a proper comprehensive health study of local residents. "It is not acceptable in any way that we should not do this study."
The group faxed a letter expressing its concerns to EPA Regional Administrator Judith Enck. A woman who answered the phone at the EPA said Enck was not available and was not sure if Enck had received the fax.
