NYS Legislators and Advocates Press DEC Acting Commissioner on Leachate Loophole During 2025 Budget Hearings

On Tuesday, January 28, a Joint Legislative Public Hearing of the New York State Assembly and Senate gathered during the 2025 Executive Budget Proposal related to Environmental Conservation and Energy. 

During the hearings, Assemblymember Deborah J. Glick (District 66), Senator Michelle Hinchey (District 41), and Hudson Riverkeeper all raised critical questions to Acting Commissioner of the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) Sean Mahar regarding the leachate loophole.

Assemblymember Deborah J. Glick regarding emerging contaminants and landfill leachate.

Assemblymember Glick asked if municipal wastewater treatment plants were aware of what’s in the raw leachate that they were accepting.  DEC Mahar responded that there were permit requirements for municipal wastewater treatment plants before discharging, ensuring the treatment process complies with those conditions.   But WWTPs are neither required nor equipped to remove the pollutants that are present in landfill leachate. This is a key issue in the leachate loophole, especially concerning emerging contaminants.

 

An excerpt from our report The Leachate Loophole and Emerging Contaminants:

“In theory, the Clean Water Act (CWA) aims to stop pollution into waterways. In reality, pollution is controlled and monitored through permits. In New York State (NYS), facilities that discharge waste into surface or groundwater are regulated under the State Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (SPDES) permit program, part of the CWA. The purpose of SPDES permits is to limit the amount of polluting substances that facilities discharge. The CWA sets minimum baseline requirements according to the facility type (a state may apply more stringent standards), and requires SPDES permits to be renewed every five years. Originally, Congress intended this renewal process to provide an opportunity for state agencies to require new water pollution control technology in SPDES permits as it developed. In turn, pollution discharges would be eliminated as technological capacity increased.

Under the CWA, a WWTP permit renewal should include a full review of information about the facility, including industrial operations that discharge to it, expanded effluent monitoring data, and an opportunity for public comment. The administrative burden of this review cycle has led to large backlogs of expired permits in many states, including New York. In response, DEC’s policy is to administratively renew or extend permits as is, until a “full technical review” can be conducted. At the time of this report and based on available information, of the 14 WWTPs in the project area that accept leachate, nine have expired SPDES permits. Only five of these permits have been updated in the past five years.”

Senator Michelle Hinchey: “What is the DEC doing to help communities right now with onsite treatment of leachate at landfills?”

Later, Senator Michelle Hinchey, concerned about a landfill in her town (Town of Hurley), which was recently reported on in the Times Union, asked what the DEC was doing to support communities with onsite storage tanks and treatment solutions now.  She emphasized that this issue will only grow in magnitude, and communities needed funding available for mitigation efforts.  She urged her colleagues to consider this pressing problem as they review the budget in 2025.

 

 

Jeremy Cherson of Hudson Riverkeeper: “89 million gallons of untreated landfill leachate that is released into the Hudson and Mohawk Rivers Annually”

Hudson Riverkeeper referenced our report and called on the legislature to increase funding for the Clean Water Infrastructure Act to $600 million, in order to address the ongoing issues of diluting and dumping landfill leachate into our rivers, and other critical water quality concerns.

 

We are deeply grateful to our representatives and advocates for highlighting this issue during the budget hearing and pushing for meaningful solutions.

Want to learn more? Watch our webinar from January 6, 2025. 

 


For more information, visit:  https://www.newyorkriverwatch.org/take-action/

 

 

Grant Funding is Available in NYS for Emerging Contaminant Treatment at Landfills 

UPDATE:  The status of the federal funding described in this blog post is uncertain. President Trump’s White House froze all federal grant and loan payments on January 27, 2025. As of February 5, 2025, the order has been rescinded by the Federal Government and blocked by two federal​ judges, but funding is not being paid out. While this issue plays out in court, we urge you to contact your Congressional representatives (find them here) and local leaders and ask them to protect funding for safe drinking water.

 

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The Bipartisan Infrastructure Law (BIL), passed in 2022, included $1 billion in funds for infrastructure to address emerging contaminant pollution, such as perfluoroalkyl and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS), in surface water and groundwater. The US Environmental Protection Agency (US EPA) allocates these funds to New York State through the Clean Water State Revolving Fund (CWSRF), which is administered by the NYS Environmental Facilities Corporation (EFC). 

The funding is provided as 100% grants, and will be available on an annual basis until 2026. Some examples of eligible projects are:

  • Landfill leachate collection and treatment to remove emerging contaminants;
  • Emerging contaminant treatment at municipal wastewater treatment plants; and
  • Emerging contaminant treatment or removal of contaminated material at Superfund sites.

For Fiscal Year 2025 (ending September 30), NYS proposed to award nearly $81 million in BIL funds for emerging contaminant projects. Municipalities have requested about $60 million in FY 2025. The proposed projects include: 

  • Town of Hurley: $1.3 million to design a landfill leachate collection and treatment system at the Town of Hurley landfill.
  • Village of Malone: $14.5 million to plan, design, and construct landfill leachate pretreatment at its wastewater treatment plant.
  • Development Authority of the North Country: $1.4 million plan and design a landfill leachate pretreatment facility.
  • Steuben County: $25.3 million to plan, design, and construct landfill leachate pretreatment for PFAS.

How to Access Grant Funding for Emerging Contaminant Treatment

The first step toward accessing these grants is to submit your project for listing on NYS EFC’s Intended Use Plan (IUP). The deadline is May 30, 2025. 

NYS EFC offers assistance in preparing project applications.

Where to Find More Information

These links lead to additional information about the Clean Water State Revolving Fund and Bipartisan Infrastructure Law emerging contaminants funding. 

       NYS EFC | Clean Water State Revolving Fund 

       NYS EFC | Types of Funding & Deadlines – Bipartisan Infrastructure Law

          US EPA | Bipartisan Infrastructure Law Resources for Clean Water

          US EPA | Emerging Contaminants Supplemental Appropriation FAQ 

Coalition Urges DEC to Adopt New Regulations for Onsite Treatment and Disposal of Leachate at Landfills

Broad Coalition of New York Organizations Calls on the State to End Outdated Practices That Threaten Rivers and Drinking Water.

A broad coalition of New York State organizations submitted a letter today urging the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) to adopt new regulations for onsite treatment and disposal of landfill leachate. The letter calls for the DEC to open the rulemaking process immediately, with a 90-day public comment period, stressing the urgent need for new regulations to protect public health and the environment from untreated leachate being sent to municipal wastewater treatment plants. Municipal systems are not required to test for or remove the toxic chemicals in leachate, such as heavy metals, “forever chemicals” (PFAS), and other contaminants, allowing them to be untreated and discharged into rivers that serve as drinking water sources.

This push for new regulations follows the December, 2024 release of the major report The Threat of Landfill Leachate to Drinking Water in the Hudson and Mohawk Rivers, which highlights the “Leachate Loophole”—a regulatory gap allowing raw leachate to be sent to municipal treatment plants. These facilities discharge the toxic contaminants into the Hudson and Mohawk Rivers, which provide drinking water for 368,000 people.

“After two years of promises, the DEC has failed to act on the critical need for new leachate regulations,” said Rebecca Martin, Project Manager of the Hudson and Mohawk Rivers Leachate Collaborative. “The evidence is clear: municipal treatment plants cannot handle the toxic chemicals in leachate. DEC must open the rulemaking process now and provide a 90-day public comment period to allow all New Yorkers, especially those in impacted communities, to weigh in.”

The letter highlights the need for an immediate action to protect drinking water supplies, ensure accountability, and modernize outdated waste management practices. It also calls for a new waste management regime that prioritizes public health and the environment, while shifting the cost burdens from municipalities back to the polluters.

Organizations signing onto the letter include: Seneca Lake Guardian, Beyond Plastics, Riverkeeper, Hudson River Sloop Clearwater, Scenic Hudson, Earthjustice, Sierra Club Atlantic Chapter, NRDC, Pace Environmental Litigation Clinic, Catskill Mountainkeeper, and others.

Notably, the Cary Institute of Ecosystem Studies is among the signatories and is credited with editing a recent research article published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS), which found that “forever chemicals” in municipal wastewater threaten drinking water supplies for millions of Americans.

For more information, visit:  https://www.newyorkriverwatch.org/take-action/