More From Against Madison County Landfill Privitization

More From Against Madison County Landfill Privitization

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE March 23, 2024

AD HOC COMMITTEE RELEASES LANDFILL REPORT

The Ad Hoc Committee to Save Madison County’s Landfill for Madison County has released its report on

the landfill’s history, problems, and potential solutions. The report critiques a proposal by the Madison

County Board of Supervisors (BOS) to lease the landfill operation to a private for-profit company and

reduce its useful lifetime from 100+ years to 20-25 years. Read and download the report at

bit.ly/MCoLandfill  .

For over 40 years, “Trash pays for trash” has been the operating principle of the Madison County Solid

Waste & Recycling Department (SW&R) as it pays for current operations and sets aside funds toward

future needs such as closure and post-closure expenses. Its SW&R programs won multiple grants and

earned praise from professionals in the field. In recent years, however, problems with the landfill gas

(LFG) collection system caused the premature termination of a LFG-to-energy contract that had earned

$100,000-$200,000 per year. Citizen complaints about odors are increasing. Rather than correct these

problems in-house, some members of the BOS want to lease the landfill operation to a for-profit

corporation. This could give Madison County a short-term revenue source at the expense of a long-term

nightmare.

Madison County’s 100+ years of capacity make its landfill a unique and valuable property. Public

opposition means it is virtually impossible to open new landfills and difficult to expand existing facilities.

Many municipalities ship solid waste long distances at huge expense because they do not have landfills

within their boundaries. Nonetheless, at the December 19, 2023 BOS meeting, resolutions were

introduced to lease the landfill operation to NEWSNY, a subsidiary of Casella Corporation. The

resolutions were later tabled for further consideration.

Casella operates landfills in numerous locations and wants to bring in trash from across NYS and beyond

with almost no local control, vastly increasing truck traffic and filling Madison County’s landfill in 20-25

years. Under a similar arrangement, Casella currently operates the landfill in Ontario County, which now

has less than 6 years of remaining capacity. The NYS Department of Environmental Conservation has

fined Casella and Ontario County $500,000 for environmental violations. This and many other cases are

documented in a Facebook group named The Many Violations, Fines, And Lawsuits Of Casella Waste

Systems https://www.facebook.com/CasellaWasteSystemsViolationsFinesAndLawsuits.

                        The Ad Hoc Committee believes that our landfill operation should not be sold to compensate for revenue

shortfalls by other county operations. Instead, Madison County’s landfill should be properly operated and

maintained to benefit future generations of Madison County residents.

Prepared by:

The Ad Hoc Committee to Save the Madison County Landfill for Madison County

• Jim Zecca, Solid Waste and Recycling (SW&R) Department Director (1989 – 2018)

• Russ Hammond - former Landfill Operations Manager, former Town of Georgetown Supervisor, and
  SW&R Committee member

• Sharon Driscoll, former Solid Waste Department Public Relations Officer and Recycling Coordinator

• Randy Hirschey, Professional Engineer - involved with Landfill engineering and operations for decades.

• Doug Holdridge, former Supervisor and Deputy Supervisor, Town of Lincoln, former SW&R Committee
  Member

• Rocco DeVeronica - former Lenox Supervisor, Chairman of the Madison County Board of Supervisors
  from 2000-2008

• Mike DeBottis, former Supervisor - City of Oneida, Wards 1,2 & 3, Chairman - SW&R Committee
  (2000-2007), Chairman - Landfill Gas to Energy Committee (1998-2007)

• Marcia Rafte, former Supervisor - City of Oneida, Wards 4,5 & 6 and SW&R Committee member

• Susan Galbraith, former supervisor of DeRuyter, former SW committee member