This article appeared on rochesterfirst.com on November 17, 2023
By George Gandy
An incident is under investigation at the Ontario County Landfill after around three-and-a-half acres of permanent cap slid down the landfill Wednesday.
According to the county, the acres of the newly constructed seven-acre permanent cap slid down the southwest face of the landfill. No injuries were reported, but the displaced clean materials are within the waste area.
Workers at the county landfill place permanent caps over an area of a landfill that has reached capacity. In this case, Casella Waste Management was working to place permanent capping material on around seven acres of the landfill.
Even though there were no injuries, the county notes that a large amount of soil went down the slope in the Southwest area of the site, damaging landfill gas collection and leading to the potential of gas odors around the area. No waste got out of the landfill.
The incident occurred within a few days of the one-year anniversary of the state’s announcement of a $500,000 fine imposed on the county and Casella for an assortment of environmental violations between the years 2015 and 2022.
The violations included 225 documented cases of excessive hydrogen sulfide in ambient air, failure to properly grade slopes, failure to install gas collection infrastructure and multiple releases of toxic leachate and contaminated stormwater.
Required corrective actions were spelled out in a September 2022 state Department of Environmental Conservation consent order that applies to the county and the subsidiary, Casella Waste Services of Ontario, LLC.
Casella was responsible for paying the fine under its contract with the county.
County Administrator Chris DeBolt said Friday that county officials were working with Casella and the NYS Department of Environmental Conservation to understand what happened.
“At this time, the cause of the permanent cap failure is still unknown,” he said.
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