Photos by Tom Rivers – The former McKenna and Orleans Sanitary landfills were built next to the Erie Canal in Albion, between Densmore and Transit roads.

ALBION – State and local environmental officials should soon have some answers about the contaminants – if there are any – in the Orleans Sanitary Landfill.

The state Department of Environmental Conservation will do a comprehensive test of groundwater at about 25 spots on the 35-acre OSL, which closed about 20 years ago. The DEC also will test water at the manholes were the landfill was being pumped.

A fund that paid to have leachate – garbage juice – pumped, hauled and treated at the Albion sewer plant was depleted in 2009. Since then, the landfill hasn’t been pumped.

Local and state officials want to know if the water at the site is dangerous, just in case the liner fails or the water spreads off site.

The DEC has hired a contractor to sample water for metals, volatile hydrocarbons, turbidity and other characteristics.

“When you test at a landfill there’s not any one thing you’re looking for,” said Dan Schuth, manager of the Soil and Water Conservation District in Orleans County.

The site was built to accept municipal waste so there shouldn’t be dangerous chemicals and pollution at OSL. However, a previous operator was fined for accepting garbage after hours.

“They will do a broad test of the water so we know what’s there in case it leaches out,” Schuth said.

He credited local state legislators for pressing the issue with the DEC to do the testing. A local citizens’ group, Stop Polluting Orleans County, also has been lobbying for the testing and for maintenance at the site.

A closed gate near Transit Road blocks access to the McKenna Landfill, which is a Superfund site. Neither McKenna or the Orleans Sanitary Landfill are currently being pumped of leachate.

Not only is OSL no longer being pumped, but the neighboring McKenna Landfill, an 18-acre site that is on the Superfund, also stopped being pumped about two months ago. The site will continue to have monitoring wells checked, Schuth said.

The state DEC wants to study the water quality at McKenna over a year to see if it’s necessary to continue pumping the leachate from the landfill and having it treated off site.

Albion town officials have been approached by Richard Penfold from Blasdell about a new landfill in the community, a project that was first proposed by Waste Management in the mid-1990s. The DEC approved a permit for Waste Management, but the Town Board later rejected the project, a decision that was upheld in court.

As part of its proposal for a new 78-acre landfill, Waste Management offered to take care of OSL and McKenna. Waste Management was leasing the property from John and Irene Smith, the former OSL owners, but that lease ended in 2011 and the site is back in the hands of the Smith’s bankrupt estate.

Ongoing care for the landfill should fall on the owners, DEC officials have said, but the Smiths declared bankruptcy.

Press release, NYS Correctional Officers and Police Benevolent Association

ALBION – State investigators are looking into the possible poisoning of a correction officer at Orleans Correctional Facility on Wednesday. The apparent assault left the officer hospitalized for two days. It is not yet clear when he will be able to return to work.

The incident took place on Wednesday afternoon. The correction officer took a sip from a store-bought drink that he had been consuming throughout the day, and immediately noticed burning in his throat and became violently ill.

The officer was initially taken to Medina Memorial Hospital and later transported to Buffalo General, where he stayed for two days with pain in his mouth, throat, esophagus and stomach. Testing on the drink found PH-levels three-to-five times higher when compared to an untainted sample.

The dorm at the Orleans Correctional Facility where the incident took place was locked-down and searched immediately after the officer became ill. The New York State Police and Inspector General’s Office are now assisting with the investigation as well.

On Friday, Gov. Andrew Cuomo announced the state will close four more correctional facilities across the state, bringing the total of closures since the governor took office to 15.

“This incident at Orleans is just the latest proof that Gov. Cuomo and the Department of Corrections and Community Supervision have an irresponsible approach to managing the budget of this public safety agency,” said Donn Rowe, President of the New York State Correctional Officers and Police Benevolent Association.

“The state wants to create the illusion that the system is rife with empty beds, but this is only made possible by double-bunking inmates. Instead of taking the opportunity to right-size the system – and make it safer for correction officers and inmates – the state continues to warehouse inmates by double-bunking and maintaining crowded and understaffed facilities,” Rowe said.

The incident follows a number of violent assaults at Orleans, reflecting a general rise in violence perpetrated against NYSCOPBA members statewide in recent years. Since 2011, while the overall number of inmate-on-officer assaults has gone down, the rate of assaults has actually increased.

The same statistical trend can also be seen in the number of inmate-on-inmate assaults and incidents of contraband being found in the possession of inmates. The trend points to the fact that while the inmate population has decreased, the state is housing a more violent inmate in medium security settings, like Orleans, the corrections officer union said.