Dewey Loeffel Landfill Case Study

The Dewey Loeffel Landfill, located in Rensselaer County of Upstate New York, was used and filled in between the years of 1952 and 1968. The site was used by companies in the area such as General Electric (GE), Bendix Corporation (now Honeywell International, Inc. [Honeywell]) and Schenectady Chemicals (now SI Group, Inc. [SI]). Around 46,000 tons of waste materials were put into this site for disposal. The waste includes everything from sludge and solids to industrial solvents and polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs). Because of this landfill, the surrounding areas have been contaminated. Ground water has been infiltrated with volatile organic compounds and hazardous waste materials. The more serious issue is the contamination of nearby lakes.

These lakes are used for recreation by many and are surrounded by housing. The lake’s sediment and many species of fish are now harmed by the PCBs which have travelled from the landfill. Since the beginning, there have been lawsuits and fights over who should be held responsible.
After the landfill had been being used for many years, legal action began because of fires and the releasing of chemicals. This led to the issuing of a state order to stop discharge into the landfill. General Electric and the other involved parties had to end dumping and find other locations to get rid of their volatile waste material. The first official actions occurred in 1980. The “Seven Sites Agreement” regarding the seven affected areas surrounding the landfill. The agreement was made between New York State and General Electric. This is because 90% of the waste put into the landfill was from GE, therefore the other companies we not held to the same standards. With this agreement, GE was required to run field testing and investigations. Site closure plans were also discussed and it was decided that General Electric would fund a slurry wall around the dumping area. Around 1984 the slurry wall was finally installed and the landfill was capped off. Due to this agreement, General Electric could no longer be held liable for the landfill that they created.
Aside from the struggles of responsibility, the damage was mounting up in the waterways. PCBs leaked out of the landfill and into the groundwater. When PCBs accumulate in a pond of lake it gets into the food chain and can wipe out a whole habitat. PCBs store in an animals’ fatty tissue and works its way up to the top predators. PCBs biomagnify meaning that the concentration of the chemical increases as it moves up the food chain. Due to all this, the species that can survive in the water are living with huge concentrations PCBs in their body. Also the biodiversity in these habitats have dramatically decreased because of the pollutants. The benthic zone of these water bodies also develop at a much slower rate. The algae and other primary producers cannot grow as fast because of the contamination. Overall, the productivity and health of all habitats affected by PCBs cannot function the way they should.
On the legal side of events, General Electric could be held responsible once again. This is because the leachate had moved so far away from the original dumping site. Offsite contamination was what General Electric was held accountable for. In 1989 New York State was able to sue General Electric and other related parties. This ended in General Electric having to pay for offsite cleanup. Also GE was told they needed to take responsibility for natural resource damages. This seems ridiculous because it is so hard to put a monetary value on nature. I do not believe that any amount of money could replace the damages that have been done to the habitat. Starting around 2005 GE agreed to build a dam on one of the polluted lakes to ensure that no more PCBs were able to leak into the lake. The dam was completed in 2009 and has been monitored ever since its completion. This plus other cleanup work was closely monitored and it was soon discovered that the levels of PCBs leveled off not had not improved at all. Around this time, New York State was realizing they did not have the money or legal resources to handle General Electric and the fight to restore the lands around the Dewey Loeffel Landfill. In March of 2010 the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) proposed the site for listing in the Federal Register. The Dewey Loeffel Landfill and surrounding areas were nominated by the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation and requested that it be part of the Federal Superfund Program. Once the issues were turned over to the EPA the “Seven Sites Agreement” no longer applied and General Electric could be held responsible for the Landfill itself and not just the offsite contaminations. A year later, in 2011 the Dewey Loeffel Landfill was placed on the National Priorities List by the EPA. Since this time the surrounding lakes and contaminated waters have been closely monitored. The EPA has yet to take any significant and/or successful action towards helping the habitats that have been effected. If they do not do so, the ecosystems will never restore. Without removing the PCBs that concentrate the bottoms of the lakes, life will never thrive.
Another issue is the effect on humans.

The polluted lakes are surrounded by housing. These homeowners were more or less tricked into buying their houses in the 1980s and 1990s. None of the buyers were told that the water was polluted. Because of this and the fact that the contamination became common knowledge in the 2000s, they own homes that are extremely hard to sell. The values of the homes are extremely low and the owners have lot tons of money. Another issue the people face is the health damages. All the species of fish in the lakes are on the regional fish advisory published by the New York State Department of Health and the public is told not to eat them whatsoever. These advisories were put in place as warnings in 1980 when high levels of PCBs were first found in the lakes and surrounding groundwater. People’s pets are also a health concern. Dogs swim in the water and drink the water. When people pet their dogs they can become contaminated and bring the pollutants in to homes. Overall, people living near the lakes have many issues to be concerned about. Not to mention the constant risk of drinking water contamination. Monitoring is continuously going on and levels are pushing the limits. Living around the lakes is not ideal for anyone, but most people have been there for so long they have no

choice.
The Environmental Protection Agency needs to hold GE and the other involved parties more responsible. These companies need to be forced to completely remove all the pollutants, sludge, PCBs and volatile organic compounds that are still at the site of the Dewey Loeffel Landfill. Aside from this, the effected lakes need to be dredged so the sludge and sediment and the bottom holding majority of the PCBs get removed. Without action, the habitats cannot begin to rebuild. These lakes also support huge communities that cannot benefit from the lake while it is so severely contaminated. Restoration must happen in order to bring back the ecosystem and the economic value of the areas around the Dewey Loeffel Landfill.