ITHACA, N.Y. (WHCU) — Tompkins County legislators will not push back on a proposed project in Seneca County.
A landfill known as Seneca Meadows might be made larger. On Tuesday, officials voted not to oppose the project. Legislator Dan Klein thinks holding back the landfill would be unproductive.
“This will not create one less ounce of garbage in New York State; it will shift the problem elsewhere,” he says. “And with that problem will be a lot of unforeseen things such as increased costs for other people, trucks going in other directions, possibly more gasoline used to haul garbage, etcetera.”
Legislator Deborah Dawson thinks other options should be explored.
“I think this landfill sucks, but I don’t think people are going to stop generating garbage because we close a landfill,” she says. “I think we ought to be looking at things we can do.”
Critics of the project argue it will increase greenhouse gasses and negatively impact tourism.