Brookhaven landfill raises heap of questions

The Brookhaven landfill has been the solution to many of Long Island’s garbage problems for a long time. But the massive facility is scheduled to close at the end of 2024. And the passage of time has not generated the urgency needed to deal with this looming crisis.

Until now.

Finally, signs of a regional response are emerging. Brookhaven and Babylon, the only local towns with active municipal landfills or ash fills, are collaborating with waste management and business specialists at Stony Brook University on a study to determine the logistical and financial challenges and possible solutions to the landfill’s closure.

That’s an important step. We must note, however, that this is taking place because the state Department of Environmental Conservation, the obvious choice to oversee this effort, had no interest in doing the study. That is to the DEC’s discredit.

Rich Schaffer, the Democratic supervisor of Babylon, and Ed Romaine, the Republican supervisor of Brookhaven, presented the concept to their fellow Suffolk supervisors last week — on the correct theory that all towns will be affected in some way by Brookhaven’s closure — and their colleagues are on board. Schaffer is planning another meeting with Nassau’s three towns and two cities; it’s essential they also be part of the effort, funded by $250,000 negotiated into the current state budget by Assemb. Steve Englebright (D-Setauket).

TAX IMPACT, NEW FACILITIES

The report is due in six to eight months. Follow-through is critical. But the study should provide data to answer a host of questions. Like how much more will taxpayers in various towns have to pay for trash disposal when the landfill closes? And what kind of facilities will be needed to cart away the ash produced by burning garbage at the Island’s four Covanta plants, and the construction and demolition debris created by building across the region?

That last question is important because private industry has been working to fill the void, though not in a coordinated way. Two separate waste-transfer stations, in Medford and Brentwood, have already been permitted to haul away waste by train on the Long Island Rail Road’s Main Line. That’s preferable to an endless parade of trucks doing damage to our already-overstressed roads.

But a third waste-transfer station has been proposed for Yaphank, next to the Brookhaven landfill, and it would dwarf the other two. In fact, it would be the largest in New York State and likely would create many jobs. Is it needed? At what size? And is the location proposed the best one? The study will answer that.

The controversial proposal would require construction of a spur from the LIRR’s Main Line. The transfer station would be built in a community already impacted by environmental hazards. The project also includes 2.4 million square feet of rail-served warehouses, an opportunity to bring in goods via train and take more trucks off the region’s roads. The Winters Bros. solid-waste management company has been criticized for seeking permission for its project from the federal Surface Transportation Board, instead of Brookhaven Town. But the STB is the agency that regulates railroads. Its approval process includes an environmental review, public comment and public meetings.

Town officials will be part of the process. They should be clear about their objections, if any. And they and the developers must keep the public informed about opportunities for comment, insist on public meetings being held on Long Island, and then advertise them. The public has the right to weigh in on such a project. And the proposal could benefit from input that could lead to sensible modifications.

REDUCING WASTE WOULD HELP

Another vital part of the basket of solutions is reducing the amount of waste created. Promising signs abound here, too. Each will require cooperation at numerous levels of government.

Covanta, for example, sends about 355,000 tons of ash yearly to Brookhaven’s landfill. The company has been working to reduce the amount of metal in its ash and use what’s left as aggregate for roads. It even built two test roads, one in Pennsylvania and one a temporary short road on Long Island. State action is needed to allow such materials in road construction.

Brookhaven has had discussions with companies about crushing glass for use in concrete and asphalt mixes. As a pilot project, the town built drainage rings for its recycling center out of concrete mixed with glass. These processes require so much glass that many Long Island municipalities would have to participate, a win-win. Again, the state needs to provide the spark by allowing such mixes in construction and by incorporating them into their own standards for, say, Department of Transportation paving projects. Local specifications often mirror state specs.

And Babylon, whose ash fill closes in 2032, is teaming with an East Farmingdale company that washes contaminated soil to work on a new process that uses the town’s ash and other substances to create material for part of a bulkheading project in lower Manhattan.

The clock is still ticking, and it’s getting louder. But the contours of a path forward are coming into view. Lots of hard work and coordination will be needed. Because there is no time to waste.