Endless trash-cash machine
Judge says landfill can keep on stacking garbage
There’s big money in the garbage business, really big money.
In the Finger Lakes, garbage and cash are linked to the Seneca Meadows, Inc. landfill, a stinking mountain of oozing trash and toxins alongside a state highway north of Geneva, NY. This week in the Finger Lakes Times I wrote about a judge’s puzzling decision saying a town law ordering the shutdown the largest landfill in New York State was invalid.
Say what?
It seems the town’s environmental review didn’t take a hard enough look at the whole picture before passing its law in 2016. By the way, the deadline the law set was the end of 2025 to close the dump, a deadline on-site managers and the Texas-based corporate coyotes of Waste Connections (who own the landfill) simply ignored. My full column is at the the end of this post.
So what? Well, the so what is if this stands, it demonstrates (yet again, dammit) that local laws like the one passed by the Seneca Falls Town Board can be negated by any corporation willing to pay for an endless volley of lawsuits and motions. That’s part of the story of America, isn’t it? People with big money doing and getting whatever they want.
My hope is the Seneca Falls Town Board doesn’t simply slink off and let the dump continue to dominate the community, as it has for decades. The people of Seneca Falls and the region deserve better.
Here’s Write On from April 10, 2026:
The great irony in SMI court decision
By Michael J. Fitzgerald
The irony is rich, stinking rich, so to speak.
The Seneca Meadows Inc. landfill, roundly criticized for years for its epically foul odors, water pollution, air pollution and a panoply of environmentally unhealthy issues, might remain open and stacking garbage, ton by ton by ton.
A state appellate court ruled late last month that the Seneca Falls Town Board did not take a close enough look at environmental issues during its review process before it adopted Local Law 3 in 2016. That town law mandated that SMI’s massive landfill operation had to close by the end of last year.
So this environmentally sketchy dump will remain open, perhaps even expanding its footprint with untold millions of tons of additional garbage, if the NY Department of Environmental Conservation agrees. And all because the Town Board missed a step in its public-spirited efforts to protect the environment and health of the people of Seneca Falls.
It reminds me of a recent Finger Lakes Times story about a medical patient who arrived for an appointment one-minute passed the office grace period for late comers and was turned away.
That was just wrong. So is this.
Courts must interpret and follow the letter of the law. That’s a good thing. But so is protecting the health and welfare of the community and region. In this case, the duly elected Seneca Falls Town Board heard a torrent of residents’ complaints over many years about smells, pollution, traffic and other issues. So, the board made a well-reasoned decision that the Seneca Meadows landfill - often referred to sarcastically as Seneca Mountain because of its huge size - should close.
When the law was approved, the corporation had 9 years to comply.
Nine years.
If that wasn’t doable, SMI had ample time to negotiate with the town to extend that 2025 deadline. Instead, the corporation let loose its legal dogs. Worse, SMI arrogantly shrugged off obeying the law, eventually applying to the NY DEC for a breathtaking expansion. If approved, the gates will remain open to welcome the daily parade of garbage trucks from NYC and all over the state until 2040. Seneca Mountain will eventually be seven stories higher.
Seven stories. Kee-rist.
Landfill closure advocates may continue legal sparring. But SMI and its parent corporation have nearly bottomess deep pockets to fund legal fights. That goes for legally battling with the DEC, in the unlikely event the state agency musters up the chutzpah to turn down the expansion.
But perhaps the biggest disappointment is the Seneca Falls Town Board is giving up completely on enforcing the law requiring the landfill shutdown. That’s according to Town Supervisor Frank Schmitter.
Hold it right there, Seneca Falls Town Board and Mr. Supervisor.
The state appellate court ruled that a part of the environmental review was inadequate. Got it. But the court did not say the landfill has some constitutional right to operate in perpetuity. Why not fix any problems in the allegedly flawed environmental review and run it up the legal flagpole again? Really.
The sickening smells, pollution, health concerns, truck traffic congestion issues and suspicions of cancer clusters remain. The town board owes constituents and Finger Lake region residents every effort to uphold the 2016 law. Surrendering to the out-of-state corporate interests that own SMI sets a terrible precedent.
A little over a decade ago, activists across the Finger Lakes stood up against a proposed liquid propane gas storage facility. Nearly 400 people were arrested for blocking the gates of Crestwood Midstream. Thousands marched, wrote letters and spoke passionately against the potentially harmful and dangerous proposal. It eventually was scrapped.
Today, the Seneca Meadows landfill isn’t potentially a problem – it is a problem, has been a problem and will be a problem. The Seneca Falls Town Board had the right idea in 2016. It still is the right idea.
Fitzgerald has worked at six newspapers as a writer and editor as well as a correspondent for two news services. He splits his time between Valois, N.Y., and the Pacific Northwest. You can email him at Michael.Fitzgeraldfltcolumnist@gmail.com and visit his websites at michaeljfitzgerald.blogspot.com and michaeljfitzgerald.substack.com.
Money has a way of making many people shortsighted, even those with 20/20 vision. Unfortunately our current leadership makes corruption normal, just look who sits behind the Resolute Desk, a morally and ethically bankrupt shell of a man.