KEARNY — In a unanimous vote Tuesday, the Kearny town council move to request that a federal agency investigate the odors allegedly emanating from the state-owned Keegan Landfill.

The nine-member council voted to submit a petition to the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry, an arm of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. The petition will ask the agency to investigate the hydrogen sulfide levels the town’s mayor says emanate from the Keegan Landfill off Bergen Avenue.

The ATSDR does not have the authority to bring enforcement action, but the federal agency can investigate claims, collect data, and make its findings available to the public.

Kearny Mayor Al Santos said a hurdle he’s been facing with the state’s Department of Environmental Protection is that the agency does not release the findings of its inspections of the facility because an investigation into the fumes is ongoing.

“That’s part of the challenge that we have with the state DEP and Hudson Regional Health Commission: they’re not publicly sharing their data,” Santos noted. He recently obtained a report related to a Jan. 22 inspection of the facility after filing an Open Public Records Act request.

Residents have been filing complaints about a rotten-egg like odor believed to be coming from the landfill, which is operated by the New Jersey Sports Exposition Authority. The state agency has said it is investigating the smell and has not said the landfill is the source.

The mayor will also join town residents in attending NJSEA’s public board meeting on March 21 at 10 a.m. at 2 DeKorte Park Plaza in Lyndhurst.

“The NJSEA welcomes the public to attend its meetings. The Authority wants to hear residents’ comments and concerns so that it can work to address them,” NJSEA told The Jersey Journal in a statement.

Aya Elamroussi may be reached at aelamroussi@jjournal.com. Follow her on Twitter @aya_elamroussi. Find The Jersey Journal on Facebook.