Brookhaven Coalition Calls on DEC to Rescind Compost Permit

An 11-year-old permit variance allowing the Long Island Compost facility in Yaphank to operate without an enclosure will be revoked if a new community group has its way.

The Brookhaven Coalition, which formed in July to push for changes at the Brookhaven Town Landfill, has called on the state Department of Environmental Conservation to rescind a permit variance it granted in 2000 to allow the compost facility to operate in the open. The coalition's stance is that the variance has created nuisance conditions such as foul odors, dust, and debris in residential neighborhoods near the compost facility.

The coalition sent a letter dated Aug. 11 to state DEC commissioner Joe Martens asserting these nuisance conditions could qualify as a special condition through which the DEC could overturn or modify the original variance. The letter proposes Long Island Compost should operate in an enclosed facility.

"These odors are more than a nuisance. In short, our neighborhoods stink," the coalition stated in its letter. "Repeatedly, residents cannot and will not spend time outside. Children are not able to play in their own yards. ... In the spring and summer we cannot open our windows."

On Tuesday Martens released a statement that said, "We will review the concerns raised in the letter and reply after careful consideration of the issues involved."

Long Island Compost's 62-acre facility in Yaphank is one of two locations on Long Island. The company also operates a yard waste transfer station in Westbury.

Long Island Compost CEO Charles Vigliotti issued a statement Wednesday that described the Yaphank facility as an environmentally sound answer to the needs created by residents' organic waste.

"As the primary recycler of organic waste, we keep hundreds of thousands of tons of landscape-related materials generated by Long Islanders out of landfills and incinerators – and save taxpayers millions of dollars in the process," Vigliotti said. "We take this responsibility seriously, strive to remain in complete regulatory compliance, and are proud of our record of accomplishment."

In the past, the Brookhaven Coalition has also in Yaphank. The coalition is a group of more than 25 community organizations, including the Brookhaven Fire Department, Citizens Campaign for the Environment, South Yaphank Civic Association, and the Yaphank Taxpayers and Civic Association.

"We are left wondering why the DEC issued a variance in the first place," the coalition said in its letter to Martens. "... Yaphank and the surrounding impacted communities were established in the early 1800s. We are not new communities that grew around the facility but rather the facility was allowed to expand around our communities."

Brookhaven supervisor Mark Lesko said in a statement the town has established a Landfill Liaison Committee to meet with the Brookhaven Coalition about the landfill and compost facility.