{"id":187807,"date":"2026-04-06T23:49:09","date_gmt":"2026-04-06T23:49:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/187807\/"},"modified":"2026-04-06T23:49:09","modified_gmt":"2026-04-06T23:49:09","slug":"environmentalists-argue-for-air-permit-reform-in-new-york","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/187807\/","title":{"rendered":"Environmentalists argue for air permit reform in New York"},"content":{"rendered":"

New York\u2019s largest landfill, Seneca Meadows, will remain open, an appellate court recently ruled in March.<\/a><\/p>\n

In 2016, the town of Seneca Falls passed a law requiring the landfill to close in 2025, the same year that its air permit expired.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Courts have now twice declared the law invalid, saying that the original decision to close the facility was based on a flawed environmental review.\u00a0<\/p>\n

But the landfill\u2019s original air quality permit has now expired.<\/p>\n

Environmentalists are unhappy that under the state\u2019s air quality program, landfills and other industries may continue to operate for years while the state Department of Environmental Conservation considers whether to renew a permit.\u00a0<\/p>\n

It\u2019s the primary reason environmentalists like Yvonne Taylor, co-founder and vice president of Seneca Lake Guardian, want the state\u2019s air quality control program to be reformed.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen a permit ends, it really should mean something,\u201d Taylor told Capital Tonight.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Legislation to reform the air control program<\/a> has been sponsored by state Sen. Pete Harckham.<\/p>\n

The bill would ensure that air quality permits cannot be extended indefinitely.<\/p>\n

The Business Council of the State of New York is strongly opposed to the legislation.\u00a0<\/a>The Business Council\u2019s opposition memo states that the legislation provides for the suspension of Title V air permits and the denial of Title V permit renewable applications \u201cdue to the lack of timely DEC action.”<\/p>\n

Additionally, the Business Council points out that there has been no increase in the DEC\u2019s Division of Air Resources funding that could help address the backlog.\u00a0<\/p>\n

In an email to Capital Tonight, the DEC stated:<\/p>\n

\u201cThe New York State Department of Environmental Conservation\u2019s (DEC)\u00a0air permit review processes are thorough, transparent, and most importantly, guided by the State\u2019s stringent laws and regulations.\u00a0DEC oversees the State\u2019s air permitting program and routinely prioritizes improvements to the facility permits and registration process\u00a0as part of the stationary source compliance program\u00a0to ensure it continues to serve as an effective tool to reduce air pollution. While state law allows a facility\u2019s permit to remain in effect during DEC\u2019s reviews, every facility must comply with applicable air regulations.\u201d<\/p>\n

Capital Tonight reached out the Seneca Meadows landfill for comment but did not hear back.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"New York\u2019s largest landfill, Seneca Meadows, will remain open, an appellate court recently ruled in March. In 2016,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":187808,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[206,205,109,116,204,202,3242,9,11,10,49,51,50,12,112,87,115,201,27,200],"class_list":{"0":"post-187807","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-new-york","8":"tag-albany-capital-region","9":"tag-app-capital-tonight","10":"tag-app-local-state-politics","11":"tag-app-ny-state-of-politics","12":"tag-capital-tonight","13":"tag-capital-tonight-interviews","14":"tag-environment","15":"tag-new-york","16":"tag-new-york-headlines","17":"tag-new-york-news","18":"tag-new-york-state","19":"tag-new-york-state-headlines","20":"tag-new-york-state-news","21":"tag-news","22":"tag-ny-state-of-politics","23":"tag-politics","24":"tag-rochester","25":"tag-susan-arbetter","26":"tag-top-stories","27":"tag-vod"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/187807","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=187807"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/187807\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/187808"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=187807"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=187807"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=187807"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}