Dispute over Wheatfield landfill test results

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The Department of Environmental Conservation on Tuesday said a toxic landfill in Wheatfield isn’t leaching chemicals onto nearby properties.

But Michael Stag, a New Orleans attorney representing current and former residents in a lawsuit, contends that the state got it wrong. In addition, he warned state authorities more than a month ago that his testing found dangerous levels of chemicals inside homes, not the soil.

In December 2015, the DEC deemed the landfill a significant risk to public health. The state designated it a Superfund site after removing 80-dump truck loads of Love Canal waste buried there in 1968. Some residents who live next to the landfill are sick and they believe the landfill is the culprit.

The DEC said it has no plans to test homes, but it will investigate contamination of the groundwater later this summer. Meanwhile, the Town of Wheatfield, which owns the landfill, has solicited bids to fence in the property and could select a contractor as early as Monday. Town officials pledged to fence in the landfill 16 months ago.