Press
Hurley discusses its leachate problems
“The closed Hurley landfill was declared a state Superfund site. Due to the presence of PFOS and PFOA, Kingston stopped accepting the leachate. No other communities Boms has called will accept it. It will cost the town $10,000 each time the tanks are pumped and sent to the Passaic Valley wastewater treatment center in New Jersey. And it would cost us about $3000 to send a truck there and back, Boms said. He called up the state DEC and said, “Now it’s your problem.”
– Hudson Valley One – 3/10/25 – Read More
Environmental groups urge DEC to tighten landfill leachate regulations
“The letter to Mahar calls on the DEC to adopt new regulations for on-site treatment and disposal of landfill leachate “to protect public health and drinking water sources.” The letter calls for the DEC to open the rule-making process immediately, with a 90-day public comment period, stressing the urgent need for new regulations to promote public health and the environment on untreated leachate being sent to municipal wastewater treatment plants.”
– Finger Lake Times – 1/28/25 – Read More
Groups urge New York DEC to require on-site landfill leachate treatment
They say toxic pollutants like PFAS are released into drinking water through the practice of shipping leachate for disposal in wastewater treatment plants ill-equipped to handle the contaminants.
– Waste Dive – 1/23/25 – Read More
Editorial: Stop Dumping Leachate Toxins in our rivers.
The good news is that leachate by law can’t be released directly into waterways. So in most cases, the polluted water is collected at the landfills and transported to municipal treatment plants, whence it flows untreated into our rivers. Yes, you read that right. The plants don’t have the technology needed to remove the chemicals, and they are not required to. That nonsensical gap in environmental regulations results in 89 million gallons of landfill pollution being dumped in the Hudson and Mohawk rivers annually, even though that pollution threatens human health and both waterways are drinking water sources.
– Times Union – 1/23/25 – Read More
The Leachate Loophole … New River Pollution Concerns
Just when you thought the Hudson and Mohawk Rivers had endured too much harm from pollutants (PCBs to nuclear waste water, sewage overflow to industrial leakage) a trio of local environmentalists are highlighting another concern: Leachate, the combined liquids that join together in landfills and eventually leak into our waterways. For more definitions and details of the process and solutions, Rebecca Martin, Jen Epstein and John Lipscomb join the Green Radio Hour.
– Green Radio Hour with Jon Bowermaster – 1/20/25 – Listen
Environmental groups call on state to adopt new rules for landfill leachate
A coalition of environmental groups billing itself the “Hudson and Mohawk Rivers Leachate Collaborative” announced Friday that they are pushing the state Department of Environmental Conservation to adopt new regulations for onsite treatment and disposal of landfill leachate.
– Daily Freeman – 1/20/25 – Read More
How one city allowed millions of gallons of landfill leachate into its water.
Gaps in environmental regulations allow millions of gallons of leachate to be emptied into rivers. Here’s how it happened in Kingston
The agency manages leachate collection from several closed landfills. The leachate discharged through the Kingston Wastewater Treatment Plant comes from four inactive, capped-off landfills in the towns of Ulster, New Paltz and Hurley as well as the Jockey Hill landfill near Bluestone Wild Forest. From 2019 to 2023, UCRRA collected nearly 4.5 million gallons of leachate from these landfills and transported it to the wastewater treatment plant on the Rondout, according to the collaborative’s report.
– Times Union – 1/14/25 – Read More
Environmental advocates claim drinking water sources in New York at risk from landfill leachate
A new report released to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the Safe Drinking Water Act claims toxic landfill pollution threatens drinking water in 19 New York communities.
Environmentalists say the report entitled “The Threat of Landfill Leachate to Drinking Water in the Hudson and Mohawk Rivers” is based on public records obtained through the Freedom of Information Act.
– WAMC Midday Magazine 1/5/25 – Read More
BIGGER PICTURE: Living on the edge (of a landfill)
Recently, based on public records obtained through the Freedom of Information Act, a major new report, “The Threat of Landfill Leachate to Drinking Water in the Hudson and Mohawk Rivers,” was released. It revealed regulatory gaps in the way the Department of Environmental Conservation is addressing this problem.
-Finger Lakes Times 12/31/24 – Read More
Hudson, Mohawk rivers contaminated with landfill runoff, advocates say
Landfills capture what is called leachate and trucks it to water treatment plants. But there are thousands of chemicals contained within that are still released into rivers.
-Times Union 12/18/24 – Read More
Watchdog highlights leachate’s threat to Hudson and Mohawk drinking water safety
CBS6 Albany
