Environmental activists are calling for the Seneca Meadows Landfill in the Finger Lakes to shut down operations.
Michelle Grillone has children who go to school less than a mile from the landfill, and she said as soon as she gets to the school parking lot, she can smell the landfill.
"It's terrifying knowing that, I feel like I'm dropping them off and they're going in to this enclosed space that should be a space to learn, and instead, is causing them actual health issues," she said.
Grillone is just of the community members speaking out about their Seneca Meadows concerns.
Environmental activists said the state’s largest landfill’s permit expired at the end of 2025, but instead of shutting down, the landfill submitted a proposal to the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation to expand and extend its permit another 15 years.
Until a decision is made, the landfill can continue accepting deliveries.
Yvonne Taylor, the vice president of the Seneca Lake Guardian, an organization that works to protect the Finger Lakes, is calling on the DEC to reject the proposal.
"This is a region defined by its farms, wineries, schools, small businesses, and extraordinary natural beauty, not by a mountain of garbage that keeps growing taller,” she said.
In 2016, the Town of Seneca Falls voted to close the landfill, but in March, a judge invalidated that law. The landfill’s owner denies that the property is creating hazardous health conditions.
In response to a question about the status of the landfill's application with the NYS DEC, the DEC released a statement saying:
"On May 11, 2026, New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) provided the applicant, Seneca Meadows Inc., a Notice of Incomplete Application (NOIA) for the Seneca Meadows Valley Infill Expansion solid waste management facility and Air Title V permit applications.
"If DEC accepts the draft Environmental Impact Statement (DEIS) and deems the permit applications complete after reviewing SMI’s response to the NOIA, a public comment period will commence which will be noticed in the Environmental Notice Bulletin and local newspapers."
