Albion landfill suit closed

For more than 20 years, members of Stop Polluting Orleans County's (SPOC) environmental group have waged war against landfill placement in the county and they have been involved in numerous litigations. Pat Wood, chairperson of SPOC, said the group's battles - first against the Orleans Sanitary Landfill and now Waste Management of New York LLC - have been a "real David and Goliath story." And on May 6, a state Supreme Court judge dismissed a lawsuit filed against the Albion Town Board over a decision it made two years ago to deny permits for a landfill proposed in its town. The landfill would have been situated along the banks of the Erie Canal.

A proposal for a 72-acre landfill was presented to the town board by Waste Management of New York LLC. The site chosen for the Towpath Environmental and Recycling Center was on a closed landfill near the Town of Murray town line between Densmore and Transit Roads.

In May 2003 the Albion Town Board rejected Waste Management's proposal. The May 6 decision, handed down by Supreme Court Judge Michael Hudson, dismissed claims by Waste Management that the town board's decision was "arbitrary and capricious."

The Albion board rejected Waste Management's proposal for eight new landfill cells which would have been home to more than seven million tons of trash and could have reached heights of more than 200 feet - meaning trash would be clearly visible from the canal. Town officials were also concerned that the landfill would hamper tourism efforts in the area and that many of the garbage trucks would travel the main roads in the Village of Albion and would pass in front of the schools.

Wood said the decision was a real victory for the Town of Albion, but also for SPOC, Inc.

"It is not often that a grassroots group of local citizens will last this long in the long haul of fighting mega-giants," she said. "To win against Waste Management is next to impossible and we did it."

Wood said the only way SPOC has survived is by constant vigilance, perseverance and support of the local community.