Ulster County Legislature urges DEC to open rulemaking on on-site landfill leachate treatment

The Ulster County Legislature voted to urge the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation to begin formal rulemaking on on-site treatment and disposal of landfill leachate, passing a memorializing resolution during its Environmental Committee meeting.

Rebecca Martin, who presented the leachate research to the committee, told legislators the group’s statewide review found roughly 671,000,000 gallons of landfill leachate produced annually from 2019–2023 and that about 40% of that volume is being sent to Class A or Class A special waters — including stretches of the Niagara River and parts of the Hudson River — that serve as drinking-water sources. “We dove into it and looked at all the active landfills in the state,” Martin said. “Forty percent of it is going into Class A and Class A special streams, drinking water in the state.”

Martin and other speakers argued that many municipal wastewater treatment plants were not designed to remove the range of contaminants now being found in landfill leachate and that on-site treatment at landfills or mobile treatment units could prevent long-distance hauling and repeated transfers to facilities not designed for those contaminants. She said mobile units can cost about $400,000 a year to lease for a single landfill and that the county and towns could face significant costs if hauls to distant facilities became the primary option.

Committee members discussed the tradeoffs between central treatment facilities, upgrades to wastewater treatment plants, and on-site treatment at landfills. Legislator comments noted the need to see what the DEC proposes through its rulemaking before endorsing specific infrastructure choices; others urged the county to press the state to include funding for municipalities that must implement new requirements.

The resolution (No. 126) asks the DEC to initiate rulemaking under 6 NYCRR parts 360 and 363 and provide a 90-day public comment period to allow robust public review. The motion to adopt the resolution was made and seconded and the committee approved the memorializing resolution. The committee discussion and the resolution request were framed repeatedly as a request for the state to open the formal regulatory process so local governments and stakeholders can review and respond to specific DEC proposals.

Legislators and presenters said they will follow up with outreach and a planned press conference when the group’s new data are publicly released.