DEC orders operator of waste-to-energy plant in Hempstead to pay more than $800,000

New York State on Friday ordered the operator of a waste-to-energy plant in Hempstead to pay $378,500 in penalties and another $500,000 to fund an "environmental benefit" project after an investigation found the facility violated state law and its operating permit.

The order against the plant owned by Reworld (formerly Covanta) follows a yearslong probe by the state Department of Environmental Conservation following a 2013 whistleblower lawsuit that alleged a decade of improperly mixed ash from the facility.

The plant, Long Island's largest with a stack visible from the Meadowbrook Parkway, takes in and incinerates more than 2,600 tons of primarily residential trash a day from Brookhaven and six other towns, and produces up to 650 tons of ash daily.

The $378,500 penalty will resolve violations identified by the DEC in a report released last month. The DEC launched the investigation at the urging of Gov. Kathy Hochul in 2021 following revelations in Newsday. A Newsday investigation in 2023 found engineers at the plant suspected for nearly a decade that ash practices were "risky, imprecise and contrary to what they represented" to the DEC. 

The plant operates under strict rules for mixing and transporting incinerated ash to prevent its unintended dispersal, with lighter "fly ash," which contains toxic metals such as lead and cadmium, mixed at an approximately 70-30 ratio to heavier and less toxic bottom ash.

The DEC probe found "multiple environmental violations," including improperly mixed fly ash and bottom ash that could have allowed the more toxic fly ash to disperse into the open air, as former employee Patrick Fahey originally alleged in his lawsuit. His lawyer, David Kovel, on Friday declined to comment.

In its report, the DEC said it reviewed logs for 15,128 trucks loaded with the ash between 2006 and 2013, and found 601 were out of compliance by 5%. DEC also found 346 truckloads were 5% to 10% outside the proper ratio, and 255 truckloads more than 10% out of compliance.

Reworld, in a statement, noted that the DEC "determined that 96% of the ash loads at issue were in compliance" and that the "identified noncompliance was focused on process and did not indicate a risk to health or safety." Reworld noted the DEC "found no violations with respect to the company’s current operations."

Former owner Covanta in 2014 implemented "comprehensive changes to its operations" under the DEC’s oversight, the agency said, including "overhauling" ash-handling and disposal processes, preventing odors and other off-site impacts and "ensuring the facility meets stringent air-quality and solid-waste impacts."

DEC said the plant, which sells its energy to the Long Island Power Authority under a $607 million, 15-year contract that expires in 2027, is "currently in compliance."

LIPA and municipalities, including Garden City and Hempstead, had been named plaintiffs in the Fahey complaint, but after years of legal wrangling only Brookhaven and Fahey remain as plaintiffs. A Nassau judge is expected to decide soon on whether to allow Brookhaven to accept a $1 million settlement in the case.

As part of the company’s DEC settlement announced Friday, Reword must fund an environmental benefit project that "must improve, restore, protect or reduce risks to public health or the environment beyond that achieved" by the company’s full compliance with environmental laws and regulations.

DEC said it’s seeking ideas from "the community" to identify projects that fit the criteria, and could include air-quality monitoring or pollution prevention initiatives. Ideas can be submitted to the agency by March 28, and Reworld must submit a plan within 180 days.

By Mark Harrington

mark.harrington@newsday.comMHarringtonNews

Mark Harrington, a Newsday reporter since 1999, covers energy, wineries, Indian affairs and fisheries.