9/17/2019 FAFE Statement to the Media
/FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Waste Management of New York Fails to get FAFE, Inc. Case Thrown Out
Despite a lack of support from county, town or state leadership, Fresh Air for the Eastside, Inc. (FAFE) and more than 220 individual residents of Fairport, Macedon and the surrounding areas, through their attorneys Knauf Shaw LLP, have been granted the ability to pursue both Waste Management of New York (WMNY) and New York City (NYC) under violations of RCRA and the Clean Air Act, as well as several tort actions including public nuisance, negligence and even gross negligence.
The complaint, which will be tried in Federal Court, cites persistent, noxious and offensive odors of garbage and landfill gas impacting the named property owners near the High Acres Landfill. These noxious odors are derived from the negligent, intentional, wrongful and/or illegal non-discretionary acts and/or omissions on the part of WMNY to adequately install, maintain and operate the landfill gas collection system, and NYC’s railcars full of odorous garbage being shipped to the area.
“While we continue to be extremely frustrated by the lack of awareness and action from our local, state and county officials, we are pleased with Judge Wolford’s decision to deny WM and NYC’s motions to dismiss our case. Our goals remain the same; (i) to end the flow of garbage from far away cities via rail, which WM has been unable to handle without devastating impacts on FAFE members, (ii) permanently close the broken Perinton side of the landfill and require enhanced management of the landfill gas system, and (iii) push for daily intake levels from more local garbage sources that have been managed effectively at the facility in the past. We look forward to our day in court. – Gary McNeil, FAFE, Inc. President
This decision comes at critical time since odor complaints have begun to rise again in the last three months. September is already reporting 238 odor complaints logged throughout the community. FAFE continues to wait for the Towns of Perinton and Macedon to voice their support for this case since it is unclear why the supervisors of either Town do not want to mandate odor controls from this facility for the benefit of their residents.
Fresh Air for the Eastside, Inc (FAFE, Inc.) is a grassroots community group that was born out of concern for the quality of life and the health of residents in areas impacted by High Acres Landfill. FAFE, Inc. members have logged over 13,000 complaints against the Waste Management owned facility since November 4th, 2017.