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Dobbs Ferry, New York Residential Development on Construction and Demolition Landfill May Increase Cancer Risks New townhouses are being built on a former construction and demolition debris landfill in Dobbs Ferry, New York. Although preliminary studies indicate the presence of toxic chemicals at levels exceeding New York state standards, officials are risking the health of future residents by allowing the development to proceed without thorough assessment or remediation. Mercy College's former construction and demolition landfill is about to become the location of a new housing development. Without any remediation or even a thorough assessment, a developer is building townhouses on and adjacent to the landfill, which overlooks the Hudson River in the small Westchester County village of Dobbs Ferry. What the future residents of this development probably won't know is that exposure to methane gas and other landfill contaminants could increase their cancer risks. Mercy College opened its construction and demolition landfill in 1976 and operated it until the early 1980s, when environmental laws began to require more stringent standards for such facilities. The landfill was never capped, covered and equipped with the kind of methane and groundwater monitoring systems generally required today as part of routine landfill closure. Although the site has not been thoroughly assessed, partial studies have found toxic chemicals in the soil and groundwater at concentrations that exceed New York state limits. Lead levels are 12 times New York State Department of Environmental Conservation's (DEC) groundwater and soil standards, for example, and phenols exceed the state's standards by more than 700 times. In addition, the landfill emits methane gas. In July, 1998, just weeks before the Village of Dobbs Ferry approved the development project, New York State's Department of Health issued a report on a statewide survey of landfills with methane gas emissions. The report concluded that there was a statistically significant increase in female bladder cancer and leukemia associated with residence within the exposure zone of landfills with methane gas migration problems. Despite this conclusion, which should have raised cautionary flags, NYDEC approved a plan to build 104 townhouses on and adjacent to the landfill. DEC has also resisted the Village of Dobbs Ferry's requests for a more thorough site assessment. Most people would be tempted to conclude that if the state environmental agency approved the development, it must be safe. But the Mercy College landfill falls between the cracks of New York's regulations. New York State's Superfund law only authorizes jurisdiction over hazardous waste sites, which by definition are sites contaminated with the by-products of industrial pollution. Since a construction and demolition landfill is presumed to contain nonhazardous materials, and since it is often impossible to identify the source of a hazardous waste material illegally deposited and found in older landfills, these landfills, including the Mercy College landfill, receive less state regulatory and enforcement attention. The New York State Legislature has identified hundreds of sites similar to the Mercy College landfill but has not amended its law to eliminate this loophole. In effect, NYDEC has turned a blind eye to residential development at unremediated construction and demolition landfills throughout the state. While the Mercy College landfill has pollutants and contaminants that would meet the CERCLA definitions of a hazardous substance site, and contaminated groundwater is likely discharging into the Hudson River, the U.S. EPA has declined to act in this case, as it often does when a state proposes to address a hazardous substance site, regardless of the adequacy of the state's regulations. As a result of failing to clean up the landfill before creating a residential development, future residents may suffer from an increased cancer risks, and contaminated groundwater from the site may continue to discharge into the Hudson River. Developers who want to construct housing on sites like this should completely remediate such sites. This should be a minimum federal requirement for any remedial or voluntary agreement or brownfields program. After remediation, a site specific health assessment should confirm that all health and ecological risks have been eliminated. Up to Top HOME | Email Signup | About Us | Contact Us | Terms of Use | © 2008 Sierra Club |
