Brookhaven Town Supervisor Ed Romaine said if there’s any toxic ash in the Brookhaven Landfill, then the state is to blame. The candidate for Suffolk County executive made the accusation during a debate hosted by News12 Long Island.
Environmental justice has been a key issue throughout the race. Republican candidate Ed Romaine played defense against attacks that toxic ash from waste company Covanta made its way into the landfill on his watch.
He blamed the state Department of Environmental Conservation.
“DEC monitors Covanta just like they monitor our landfill," Romaine said. "If there’s toxic ash there, then DEC did not do their job on monitoring the ash that was coming to our landfill. It should be monitored and we rely on DEC.”
Democratic candidate Dave Calone said Romaine, as town supervisor, knew the state was not rigorously monitoring the ash and squandered earlier opportunities to launch an investigation.
A Covanta spokesperson said in a statement that "there is no evidence that any ash delivered by Covanta to the Brookhaven Landfill has ever caused any environmental contamination. In fact, testing has shown there is no such contamination."
The landfill is scheduled to start the years-long process of closing by the end of 2024.
