CHANGE Environmental, LLC was contracted by the Citizens Campaign for the Environment to support an assessment for the Brookhaven Community Coalition, (BCC) Executive, of the effects of the Brookhaven Landfill on human health and the environment. CHANGE reviewed a broad range of information provided by the (BCC) Executive Board that covered: Lack of landfill gas sampling; Lack of air samples representative of downwind impacts from the landfill; Groundwater sampling for volatile organic compounds (VOCs) and their potential impacts; and Assessment of the leachate plume emanating from the Brookhaven Landfill and its impact to the Beaver Dam Creek. CHANGE reviewed information provided by the BCC Executive Board regarding Brookhaven Landfill, New York State Department of Environmental Conservation, (NYSDEC 360 Permit No. 1-4722-00030/00004). The Brookhaven Landfill is currently permitted to accept ash (wastewater treatment plant sludge), ash municipal solid waste energy recovery combined, construction & demolition debris, sewage treatment plant sludge downtime waste, and bypass waste (unprocessible/processible) as noted by NYSDE’s summary of active landfills in Suffolk County.
CHANGE Environmental after conducting an intensive review of various documents for assessing potential risks to human health and the environmental. From this assessment, CHANGE identified several data gaps and required further clarification and /or additional data to ensure there are no measurable effects on the human health and environment as a result of activities associated with the Brookhaven Landfill. Until there is a more robust and comprehensive assessment examining air quality impacts on the surrounding communities and a more in depth ecological and environmental impacts assessment that examines the groundwater impacts to the surface water and arterial stream leading to major rivers resulting from the contamination emanating from the Brookhaven Landfill, the data that has been reviewed to date, specifically for water does not support that the Brookhaven Landfill is doing due diligence to protect surface water and streams, hence allowing natural resources to be impacted.
