Dear Friends,

It looks as though the Town of Seneca Falls is playing the same cat and mouse game with all things solid waste/landfill related that the county has done. It feels like they are trying to dissuade public participation and wear us down by moving dates and locations, and it is happening again.

At a regular Town Board meeting scheduled for tomorrow, December 3rd, the Town Board of Seneca Falls was to revisit whether or not to grant the landfill a local operating permit. We learned that this vote will be set instead for a special meeting on January 21st at 6:00 pm in the Community Center 35 Water Street Seneca Falls, NY.

In the meantime, we encourage you to show up and speak at the December 3rd meeting if you can, and put the January 21st date on your calendar now.

Please continue to report any landfill odor every single time- here is the hotline number and an affidavit to complete for each instance.

We cannot let them tire us out, now is the time to remain extra vigilant and speak out against the landfill's continued operation.

As always, your support of our efforts to educate and protect the public is greatly appreciated- and now we have a special matching grant opportunity, so a donation of any amount goes twice as far!

“This “research” is nothing more than a book report put together by two professionals who have spent their careers doing the bidding of large industrial companies in the waste industry. Dr. Rosanne McTyre has previously spoken in favor of California landfills, positing that increased asthma rates had no correlation to industrial facility concentration, and Dr. Ben Hoffman is a former Waste Management executive.”
-Dr Joseph Campbell

During the hearing, Joseph Campbell of Hector, co-founder of the Watkins Glen-based environmental group Seneca Lake Guardian, blasted the plan as “not comprehensive enough, advocating outdated practices, and failing to improve the health of Seneca County and state residents. Seneca Meadows should close in 2025, and to assume it will be open longer, which this plan does, is a disservice. It doubles down on the landfill.”

Campbell urged the county to adopt a plan that calls for a “circular economy” that emphasizes reuse. “This plan lacks vision, promotes inactivity over progress, and does not align with state goals,” he said.

“While I’m relieved by the precedent set by today’s decision, I’m infuriated that Greenidge can continue to operate while the case goes back to administrative court,” said Yvonne Taylor, vice president of Seneca Lake Guardian. “The cryptomining operation has been sucking up millions of gallons of water a day from Seneca Lake and dumping it back in at dangerously hot temperatures. For years, Greenidge has been polluting local air and spewing climate-warming greenhouse gasses into the atmosphere.”