Dumping in the Meadowlands: State slapped agency for allowing sewage at landfill

A state agency violated state law when it allowed a hauler to dump what appears to be sewage sludge at the Keegan Landfill in Kearny — a move that has renewed calls to close the last Meadowlands dumping ground.

Although the violation was issued last summer to the New Jersey Sports and Exposition Authority, it was made public last week by Kearny Mayor Alberto Santos, who posted a video on social media of the dumping that occurred on July 3. The video is posted below.

"This is clearly not a one-time thing," Santos said Monday. "Residents have been complaining about noxious fumes from that landfill for at least a year."

New Jersey barred sewage sludge from being dumped in landfills in 1985 under the state Solid Waste Management Act to prevent leaching from landfills, posing a possible health risk.

An official with the sports authority had argued to New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection inspectors that the black slurry was not "liquid sewage waste," but the official did not identify the material. A director of the North Bergen wastewater treatment plant, where the slurry originated, called it "sewer treatment materials."

Santos said those officials were playing semantics. "The odor has continued repeatedly," he said. "We were trying to figure out what it was, and now we finally have an answer."

The story continues after this DEP inspection video posted by Kearny Mayor Albert Santos that shows sewage being dumped at the Keegan Landfill on July 3, 2018:

In a statement last week that offered few details, the sports authority said the incident had been rectified and a follow-up inspection by DEP in November showed the landfill was in compliance with regulations.

According to an inspection report that is posted below, DEP inspectors visited the 110-acre site on July 3 and saw a truck from the North Bergen Municipal Utilities Authority "dumping a liquid sewage sludge material."

Inspectors took photos and a video of the dumping that Santos recently obtained using a public records request.

Tom Marturano, the authority's solid waste director, told the inspectors that the materials had been classified as "dry industrial waste," according to the report. In a letter months later to the DEP, Marturano said the authority has never accepted "liquid sewage sludge."

DEP officials determined that it was sewage sludge after reviewing the photos and videos, which show a dark slurry pouring onto the ground from a dump truck.

The driver of the truck told DEP inspectors that he was hauling waste for the North Bergen Municipal Utilities Authority, which operates a wastewater treatment plant near the Hudson River.

Frank Pestana, executive director of the North Bergen MUA, said Monday that the agency sent one container of "sewer treatment materials" to the landfill due to upgrades at its Woodcliff Treatment Plant. Pestana said the shipment was legal because "it was not liquid sludge and therefore did not constitute a violation."

DEP officials have stood by their findings. They told the authority that it must stop accepting the sludge. A violation notice was sent in late August.

The DEP and the Hudson Regional Health Commission inspected the landfill last week because of the odors mentioned in Santos' social media post. "We have been informed that no violations were found during this inspection," said Brian Aberback, a sports authority spokesman.

Santos said he wants a criminal investigation.

"It was a very orchestrated operation," he said. "They were accepting an illegal substance, and there is reason to believe they have been doing it for quite a while."

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Keegan is the last landfill operating in the Meadowlands, once home to as many as 51 dumping areas. The 14-town region is still recovering from a century of large-scale legal and illegal dumping.

Kearny officials have been fighting for years to close the Keegan landfill, which generated $17.7 million in tipping fees last year for the sports authority.

The landfill was to be closed in June 2016. Plans called for it to be capped and turned into recreation fields for the town.

But Superior Court Judge Peter Bariso ruled in 2016 that the landfill can stay open because "its closure at this time would have drastic and deleterious effects on the surrounding communities and their taxpayers."

DEP inspection report and violation notice for Keegan Landfill