For Immediate Release
August 7, 2012 Contact Jeff Tittel, 609-558-9100
Fenimore Needs to Do Proper Landfill Clean Up **
Jeff Tittel, Director of the New Jersey Sierra Club, issued the following statement on the remediation of the Fenimore Municipal Landfill in Roxbury, NJ:
"Sierra Club's support of the former Fenimore Municipal Landfill in Roxbury, NJ has been mischaracterized by the company remediating the site, Strategic Environmental Partners.We support solar on landfills, but not dumping of more pollution.The current plan is to cap the abandoned landfill and install enough solar panels to power about 2500 homes.How the landfill is cleaned up and capped is just as important as the positives of solar on the site.Capping the landfill should not be used as an excuse to open up the landfill and dump more materials.Roxbury claims the current DEP approved plan would allow the company to dump four times the amount of fill needed to cap the landfill.We do not support violations of environmental law.We do not support trucking in more waste and pollution to a community.We believe in closing a landfill by bringing in clean fill or clay, not garbage and debris.SEP told the Club they needed to break ground on the project by the end of the year to qualify for federal tax credits, not to turn it into a landfill again."
"The Sierra Club supported the project before the Highlands Council for a redevelopment area application, but not before the DEP.We would have opposed the closure plan had we known the details as we did with the Encap closure.One of the reasons we supported the plan there was because then-Mayor Rilee and Roxbury Township was not going to conform to the Regional Master Plan and the redevelopment area designation was the only way the solar energy project could move forward."
"We never endorsed the landfill closure plan for this site and have opposed similar plans throughout New Jersey.We never saw the plans or permits for the closure.We endorsed the concept of solar on landfills before the Highlands Council but we never endorsed their landfill closure plan.They need to stop misrepresenting the Sierra Club position on this issue."
"Landfills like Fenimore are polluting the environment. By putting solar farms on the site, we'll take an environmental blight and turn it into a positive for the people of New Jersey.But this remediation must not be used as an excuse to dump more materials on site."
"Sierra Club supports solar on landfills because the remediation work helps stop toxic leakage issues and public health hazards, while providing clean energy. Installing solar on former landfills is preferable to clear-cutting forests and using open spaces."
"Do not use the Sierra Club for cover, instead cover the landfill properly."
-- Kate Millsaps Program Assistant NJ Chapter of the Sierra Club 609-656-7612