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Groups opposed to the Seneca Meadows landfill who gathered at a town hall meeting in Seneca Falls last month say they are prepared to wage an extended fight against a proposed expansion.
Panelists included state-level representatives, environmental advocates, local business owners, residents, and a leader from the Cayuga people. The evening began with a ceremony conducted by members of the Cayuga Nation who asked the audience to reflect on the importance of water in their lives.
“(The landfill) can’t go seven stories higher. Mother Nature is not going to put up with it. We have to protect it,” said Sachem Sam George, a leader in the Bear Clan of the Cayuga people. “That’s what I’m here for. To help the water, to help the trees, so we can have something to breathe that’s not dangerous.”
The meeting came ahead of a public comment period expected to open this month on Seneca Meadow’s Valley Infill Project. This is a significant milestone in the project’s development, which began in 2022.
The project would add 47 acres to the 350-acre landfill and keep the site operational until 2040 by filling in the valley area of its horseshoe shape. Seneca Meadows believes that the Valley Infill Project is the solution to its issue of diminishing usable space.
If the site reached its permitted capacity, it would have to stop accepting refuse and close permanently. Seneca Meadows has said this would negatively impact the community’s economic well-being.
However, the town hall panelists argued that both the odor and environmental impacts have harmed the area’s agriculture and tourism. Businesses and community members have also raised health concerns about both the water and the air.
Assemblymember Anna Kelles cited concerns about per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, also known as “forever chemicals.” Although Seneca Meadows treats its leachate, she argued that the process is not effective.
“The wastewater treatment facilities do not have the technology to break down PFAS. So they break down what they can, and then they release the water that they’ve treated into our lakes, into our rivers,” Kelles said.
One resident from Waterloo said her son requires breathing treatments for his asthma and respiratory issues. She directly blamed the landfill for those issues and worries that these could turn into long-term issues such as cancer.
A community survey released last year by environmental group Seneca Lake Guardian noted common health impacts among residents. Among households within 10 miles of the landfill, 27% reported someone with asthma or another respiratory issue, and 26% with cancer or heart disease.
The report also noted that the area has been identified as a “cancer cluster,” with lung cancer rates 30% to 35% higher than in other areas.
Seneca Meadows released an independent study commissioned in 2024 as part of the Valley Infill Project. It concluded that there was “no evidence that the Seneca Meadows Landfill contributes to the lung cancer incidence in its vicinity, regardless of whether a cancer cluster does or does not exist.”
According to the environmental impact statement submitted to the state Department of Environmental Conservation, the landfill accepted over 8 million tons of waste from 2020 to 2023. Some panelists suggested that Seneca Meadows has lowered the amount of accepted waste in order to slow it from hitting the capacity limit.
“Most people watch a movie or play video games for a hobby. I go on deep dives reading annual reports at night and my wife gets upset with me,” said Mark Pitifer, communications administrator for Waterloo Container, which is located across the street from the landfill. “The district manager of Seneca Meadows Landfill came to the (Seneca Falls) board meeting earlier this year and said we only have about two years’ worth of space left. But if you go down the last three years they would have already run out of space.”
In addition, the area that the project is filling is the former Tantalo Landfill, operational between 1958 and 1974. Tantalo was a superfund site, meaning it has been contaminated by hazardous waste, chemicals, or industrial pollution. While exact records of what was accepted at the site do not exist, Pitifer said radioactive drill bits or hazardous material from the Seneca Army Depot could have been interred there.
Seneca Meadows says that extensive remediation has been done to the site, including a physical cap, leachate/groundwater collection system, gas venting system, cutoff wall, and waste consolidation. In 2009, Tantalo was downgraded from Class 2 to Class 4, meaning it no longer poses a significant threat to public health or the environment.
Yvonne Taylor, Seneca Lake Guardian co-founder and vice president, still wants the site closed and believes this struggle could have statewide impact. She pushed for support for the New York State Solid Waste Management Plan, a 10-year roadmap written in 2023 that outlines practices to reach its goal of reducing landfill waste and lowering emissions. It would increase recycling and composting efforts while ending the use of mega-landfills.
An August audit of the plan by the state comptroller’s office found that inspections and annual reporting on recycling lacked reliable verification, raising questions about its overall effectiveness.
“(The state roadmap) was submitted in 2023. Right now, it’s just a meaningless piece of paper. It just exists somewhere out in the ecosphere and it’s not being implemented,” Taylor said. “If we keep continuing to do business as usual and allow this landfill to expand, then 47 counties in New York State are going to breathe a big sigh of relief and say, ‘Oh good, we can just continue to send our garbage to Upstate New York.’ If we actually close Seneca Meadows, you’ve got 47 counties in New York State that are going to say we need to come up with a solution.
“Well, guess what? The solutions are already out there and then we have the political capital to actually implement that Solid Waste Management Plan. That’s what we need to do.”
Taylor said her organization would keep residents up to date and provide more information about how to give comments effectively. She and other panelists stressed that an even longer fight is still likely.
For example, Kelles outlined that, even if Seneca Meadow’s permit is denied by DEC, the company can still sue the agency. This process can take years, with even more time added if it comes to an external judicial system. The laws currently allow sites to continue operating on an expired permit, meaning the landfill could potentially remain open during that time.
“What that is, is a strategy. It’s not a mistake. They’re very aware that they can operate indefinitely with an expired permit,” she said. “The one thing that we all have that they do not have is our rage and our ability to organize.”
The landfill is located in the 131st Assembly District, which stretches across six counties and includes municipalities such as Canandaigua, Geneva, Seneca Falls and Homer. On the ballot today are two newcomers. Incumbent Republican Jeff Gallahan ended his reelection campaign in April and, in a somewhat controversial move, Mark Benjamin was then named a replacement candidate by Gallahan and a small vacancy committee, rather than allowing a primary race.
Benjamin was the community relations director for Seneca Meadows starting in 2010. He left that position in May in order to run for public office. His opponent is Democrat Phillip Fleming.
“(As a Republican), my right to vote for someone I want to elect was taken from me. There was no primary, and because of that, Mark Benjamin is likely going to win in this red district,” Pitifer said. “Now what I find interesting is in his campaign materials and in his public appearances and his website … there is no mention of the fact that he was the director of community relations for Senator Meadows Landfill. So I urge you to ask Mark Benjamin why that’s the case.”
To date, Benjamin has not publicly commented on his relationship with Seneca Meadows.
Jacob Schermerhorn is a Rochester Beacon contributing writer and data journalist.
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