Issues

Romulus Incinerator
The Finger Lakes are facing an enormous environmental, public health and economic threat that few people know about. There is a new proposal to build a massive garbage incinerator in the town of Romulus, New York, less than 4 miles from the shores of Seneca and Cayuga Lakes. If approved, it would be built at the old Seneca Army Depot, just a few hundred yards away from the Romulus K-12 public school. It is also near Hillside Children’s Center, a residential facility for troubled youth, the 5 Points Correctional Facility, Willard Drug Treatment Center and the Seneca County Jail, making this an environmental justice issue.

Join the Business Coalition

Sign your organization on in opposition to the Romulus IncineratorMore Info

Seneca Lake Guardian Business Coalition

Seneca Lake Guardian is a pro-business, pro-economic coalition supporting the developing tourist industry around Seneca Lake.More Info

INCINERATORS IN TROUBLE

What Are The Problems With Waste Incineration?

Waste incineration is a flawed approach that is expensive, polluting, and inefficient; aging incinerators are causing trouble with toxic emissions, odor, fires, financial insecurity, and environmental injustice.More Info

A Dirty Waste—How Renewable Energy Policies Have Financed the Unsustainable Waste-to-Energy Industry

The end of the 20th Century saw a major shift in the United States’ approach to energy policy. After decades focused on fossil fuel production, the country began to realize that renewable sources of energy were the way of the future. Governments relied on both mandates and tax incentives to encourage the use of energy from sources like solar and wind power. Waste- to-Energy (“WTE”) power is another form of energy production that is classified as renewable. This Note summarizes the WTE pro- cess and the laws that allowed it to grow, argues that WTE is not economical- ly sound or environmentally sustainable, and proposes legislative changes to prevent more harm from WTE in the future.More Info

Three Ways To Fight The Incinerator Now

The residents of the Finger Lakes need your help. Here are four ways you can help today.More Info
Incinerator Viewshed

The Incinerator Viewshed

Want to see if you will see the incinerator IF it gets built?More Info

Hidden emissions

A story from the Netherlands
Case Study

Although presented as state of the art, the youngest incinerator in the Netherlands is far from a clean: long-term tests reveal emissions of dioxin, furan and persistent organic pollutants far beyond the limits.

The case of the REC plant raises important questions for future policy-making concerning waste incineration and its potential effects on public health and the environment.More Info
Regional Governments and Organizations Opposed to Romulus Incinerator

Regional Governments and Organizations Opposed to Romulus Waste Incinerator

Everyday opposition builds to the Romulus Waste Incinerator. Want to see if your local government or partner organizations are opposing the incinerator?More Info

GAIA Information Sheet

Garbage Inciineration is Dirty Energy

GAIA (Global Alliance for Incineration Alternatives) information sheet on incinerators.

Waste burning facilities are the most toxic, expensive, and climate-polluting energy industries in the U.S. More Info

Statement of Evidence

Particulate emissions and Health

Statement of Evidence
Particulate Emissions and Health
by Professor C. Vyvyan Howard MB. ChB. PhD. FRCPath.
June 2009More Info

Watch: Trash Incinerator Forum

On Jan. 7, 2018 we hosted an independent expert on how the impacts of the proposed “Waste to Energy” train trash facility at the Seneca Army Depot in the Town of Romulus would effect the Finger Lakes region.

You can watch an archive of our live stream of the Trash Incinerator Forum here.More Info

Watch: Seneca Lake Guardian Press Conference

Legislative Office Building Albany, NY

More Info

Dirty Power Plants
Dirty fossil fuel plants are operating or being proposed on Seneca and Cayuga lakes.

Letter to Tompkins County

Re: Cayuga Power Plant

Seneca Lake Guardian’s mission is to promote sustainable energy, increase investment in water supply/sewer systems, and to challenge destructive power plants, reckless development and decrepit infrastructure around Seneca Lake and throughout the Finger Lakes Region. As such, we write to urge you to adopt Resolution A, which asks the DEC to categorically deny Cayuga's application to convert to fracked gas, asks the Governor to provide support for transition to renewable energy, acknowledges that Cayuga’s proposal will result in significant environmental impacts, and calls on the DEC to require Cayuga to submit a full Environmental Impact Statement.  More Info
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Urgent: Action Needed!

Cargill running seismic testing without applying for a permit

John Dennis, a co-founder of CLEAN, was out in his kayak doing a HABs survey on Sunday when he spotted what appeared to be Bay Geophysical’s seismic research vessel pulling a pneumatic air gun array and the single string of hydrophones that is used to implement 2D seismic studies of underground rock formations. A photograph of a Bay Geophysical doing a 2016 seismic study in front of Cayuga Power
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Garbage Landfills
- The Finger Lakes takes in 50% of all of New York’s garbage.
- Liners Fail, with leachate seeping into the water table and eventually Seneca Lake
- The odor is overwhelming for area residents and visitors
- People are getting sick

When is enough enough?
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Citizens, Business Owners, Elected Officials and Community Organizations Share Concerns About New Waste Facility in the Finger Lakes

Citing concerns over PFAS and other issues, group collectively Urges Governor Cuomo to Deny Permits

Alternative Waste Systems has told DEC that it wants to turn land close to Connecticut Hill Wildlife Management Area and Newfield State Forest into a Materials Recovery Facility and Waste Transfer Station. The company is proposing to haul 500 tons of garbage and Construction / Demolition Debris via 185 trucks per day.
FLX Garbage Dump Truck Route

COMMENT DEADLINE FOR GARBAGE TRANSFER STATION DUE THIS THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 24TH!

IMMEDIATE ACTION REQUIRED!

We recently learned of a proposal for a garbage transfer facility that could negatively impact areas around Seneca and Cayuga Lakes. Please review the overview that we have gleaned from the project application. We have exactly 2 days remaining to submit comments to the DEC regarding this proposal (deadline September 24!), and to the Cayuta Town Board prior to October 14th.
FLX Garbage Dump Truck Route

Garbage Truck Route

Proposed Cayuta Facility In Schuyler County

“The concern is the negative impact on tourism,” SLG continues, “and the VOCs created by diesel trucks and their negative impact on agriculture, particularly grapes. Trucks taking Route 13 South to the Chemung County Landfill will have to pass through the Village of Horseheads.”

Please sign on to protect the Finger Lakes and the Chesapeake Bay Watershed!

Two Ways To Lend your Support

Seneca Lake Guardian has recently learned of an ill-conceived plan to convert prime agricultural land into a needless, environmentally and economically dangerous garbage and construction/ demolition debris facility in Schuyler County- the heart of the Finger Lakes.
FLX Garbage Dump Truck Route

Proposed Garbage Station in FLX

Immediate Action Required!

We recently learned of a proposal for a garbage transfer facility that could negatively impact areas around Seneca and Cayuga Lakes. Please review the overview that we have gleaned from the project application. We have exactly 10 days to submit comments to the DEC regarding this proposal (deadline September 24!), and to the Cayuta Town Board prior to October 14th.

Urge Schuyler County Legislature To Adopt A Trash Moratorium!

We recently learned of a Proposed Garbage Transfer Facility in Schuyler County with murky ties to Casella Waste.

A 10,575 square foot materials recovery facility that would accept municipal solid waste (Garbage), construction and demolition debris (C&D) and source-separated recyclables, with a maximum daily thoughput of 500 tons per day has been proposed in the Town of Cayuta.
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Coal Ash Landfills
Seneca Lake Guardian is a party to lawsuits to shut down coal ash landfills near Seneca and Cayuga lakes. We will begin a project this Spring to do stream testing around the coal ash landfills at Keuka Outlet/Dresden (Lockwood) and Milliken Creek/Lansing (Cayuga Power) for the EPA required analytes that are not routinely tested for and reported.

PFAS at Seneca Army Depot
Groundwater drawn from three sites at the former Seneca Army Depot in Romulus, NY is contaminated with the potent carcinogens PFOA and PFOS at levels of up to 1,327 times the federal health advisory limit. Even though the wells surrounding the depots did not show amounts higher than the EPA advisory level, most experts think the health advisory thresholds are way too high.
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Seneca Lake Guardian Reports On PFAS Testing

After being stonewalled by the Department of Health on whether PFAS were detected in drinking water sources near the Seneca Army Depot in Romulus, Seneca Lake Guardian independently sent test kits to the University of Michigan Biological Station Lab from different locations, including the Montour Falls, Watkins Glen and Seneca County Municipal Water Supplies along with 3 private wells in Romulus, NY.
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CAFO’s (Concentrated Animal Feeding Operations)
A controversial 10-million-gallon manure lagoon that state officials had recently ruled to be in violation of state regulations is being constructed in Cayuga County. Manure is high in phosphorous and nitrogen, nutrients that are suspected fuels for HABs (Harmful Algal Blooms).