Kearny Mayor Al Santos is calling on the state to temporarily close the Keegan Landfill after smelly air samples recently collected from the facility revealed levels of hydrogen sulfide that he says could impact the health of residents.

“We’re asking you to put controls in place so it doesn’t affect the quality of life of our residents, it doesn’t affect the health of our residents, and this is not the headache it has become,” said Santos, who recorded an 11-minute video on the issue and posted it on his Facebook page Friday.

Santos said in the last few months residents have logged more than 200 complaints of a sulfurous “rotten eggs” smell coming from 100-plus-acre landfill owned by the New Jersey Sports and Exposition Authority.

The site is monitored by the Hudson Regional Health Commission, which said Monday that it has been tracking odor complaints around the landfill but has been unable to verify the landfill is the source of the smell. The commission is in the preliminary stage of sorting through air reading data.

It’s not the first time Santos has butted heads with the NJSEA over the landfill. Last month, he noted that in July the site was issued a violation for accepting liquid sewage sludge, which is illegal at the facility. He said sewage can emit the sulfurous odor, as can decomposing sheet rock.

But the NJSEA contends the substance Santos was referencing was not liquid sewerage, but was solid waste.

“The issue raised regarding the material brought to the Keegan Landfill on July 3, 2018, was investigated, immediately clarified and resolved. There was, and is, no illegal dumping at the Landfill," the NJSEA said in a statement. "Furthermore, no violation was issued to the hauler that brought in the material.”

The NJSEA said Monday that the facility has been inspected 30 times since June and inspectors are trying to determine where the odor is coming from, but there is no reason to think it is emanating from the landfill.

Santos doesn’t agree.

Now in his 20th year as Kearny’s mayor, Santos seems quite certain the landfill is the source. He said the the release of hydrogen sulfide can become a health issue when the levels exceed 30 parts billion.

However, The Jersey Journal could not confirm Santos’ assessment and the state DEP could not be reached for comment because of the Presidents Day holiday.

According to a hydrogen sulfide fact sheet published by the state Department of Health, exposure to low concentrations within the range of 30 ppb may cause eye, nose, or throat irritation, headaches and nausea. But the Centers for Disease Control’s Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry states that low concentrations of 50 ppm can rapidly produce irritation of the nose, throat, and lower respiratory tract.

Santos said the HRHC conducted air tests at the facility on Feb. 7 and within an hour, there were 21 readings above 30 ppb. He said several were over 100 ppb.

Angela DeQuina, a spokeswoman for HRHC, said the commission set up a 24-hour hotline in May to field odor complaints at the request of Santos. She said there were a few complaints a month until a spike began in December.

Inspectors were unable to verify the source of the odors which were often faint and fleeting, DeQuina said, adding that there are other landfills in the area as well.

In December, the HRHC obtained the air metering instrument referred to by Santos, at a cost of nearly $20,000. DeQuina said Monday that the commission has raw data from air tests and is in the preliminary stages of going through it.

But the town has since acquired its own air monitor and placed it at the Department of Public Works garage, about 500 feet outside landfill, just off Bergen Avenue. Santos said the first batch of results will be available Tuesday and the public will be informed of any high readings. The device will also monitor two greenhouse gasses: methane and nitrous oxide.

Santos also alleged the site has no permit for the system of 28 pipes that vent underground gasses.

Regarding Santos’ statement on the permit, the NJSEA said in a statement that it “does not agree with this assessment. Notwithstanding, the NJSEA has voluntarily capped and sealed the pipes in question and is awaiting an inspection to resolve this issue.”

The mayor said that without the permit, “There’s no way they can monitor and verify that the emissions meet all the regulatory requirements.”

The mayor wants the site capped for use for recreation fields as was the original promise when the New Jersey Meadowlands Commission began leasing the landfill about in 2005. Santos said the deal with the Meadowlands Commission, which was later absorbed by the NJSEA, “turned out to be one of the biggest bait and switches Kearny ever suffered.”

After five years, the commission asked for a five-year extension, saying not enough material had been dumped to cap the site and build the fields. The city agreed to the extension but in 2016, the NJSEA condemned the property, put what it felt was the fair market value into a bank account for Kearny and took the title, Santos said.

The two parties battled in court, with Kearny losing decisions in Hudson County Superior Court and at the Appellate Division, before the state Supreme Court declined to take the case. The town even petitioned for the U.S. Supreme Court to consider its case, to no avail.

“Ultimately, I want what was promised to the town — a permanently closed landfill that can be used for open space for recreation fields,” Santos said Monday.