Lead-Polluted Waste Dumped At Montgomery Farm: State

MONTGOMERY, NY – State environmental conservation police say lead-polluted materials were dumped at a local farm early this month.

An officer saw a dump truck driver dumping a load at the back of the farm on Jan. 9, according to a state Department of Environmental Conservation announcement Wednesday.

The property owner was grading other piles of material on the property at the time, officials said.

Additional environmental police officers responded to the farm to investigate.

They determined that construction and demolition debris, which included soil mixed with “potentially harmful materials” such as lead and PVC pipes, had been dumped there, the announcement said.

State officials concluded the material came from demolition sites in New Jersey.

The state DEC issued notices of violation against the New Jersey-based trucking company and the property owner for unlawful disposal of solid waste, transporting waste without a permit, and operating a solid waste management facility without a permit.

The DEC identified the trucking company as D. Rubio’s Express LLC of Belleville, New Jersey, and the property owner as Samuel A. Zylstra, 33. The DEC declined to provide the address of the farm.

According to DEC, it had administratively charged the trucking company in 2022 for similar practices.