Ashfill comment period extended, again

Residents can now provide comments regarding the draft environmental impact statement for the proposed regional recovery and recycling residue facility through Jan. 15, 2021. The proposal of the RRRF reflects the understanding that Brookhaven Town Landfill will reach capacity in 2024 and thus close.

The initial meeting relevant to the scoping occurred on Oct. 1 via Zoom, and the initial comment period was listed as 30 days. Upon request by the Brookhaven Landfill Action and Remediation Group, the public comment period was extended to Dec. 2. And as of Nov. 24, the comment period was extended further down the road, into 2021.

“In addition to the comments received at the scoping session, the written comment period, as recommended by the Department of Planning, Environment and Land Management has been extended,” reads a disclaimer posted on the town’s webpage relevant to the proposed regional RRRF.

The Town of Brookhaven’s Ad-Hoc Committee for Waste Solutions, according to committee chair Greg Miglino, has a narrow scope.

“The Ad-Hoc Committee is not a political action group or one [whose] charge is all-encompassing when it comes to matters landfill related,” Miglino wrote in addition to responding to a host of questions drafted by the Landfill Action and Remediation Group. “It has a narrow scope as it pertains to [municipal solid waste] for the entire town and ways to deal with it after the landfill closes in 2024.”

The project site would contain an approximately 59-acre area that will comprise the regional RRRF waste footprint. As the proposal has the potential to provide solutions for waste, the regional RRRF proposal is relevant to the AHC.

Brookhaven Landfill Action and Remediation Group has vocally opposed the proposed regional RRRF as a waste solution once Brookhaven Town Landfill is closed in 2024. The group has been requesting “public and accessible Town Halls on the matter where town decisionmakers who can actually answer the public's questions engage with the people,” according to an email sent by the group to Tom Williams, a member of the AHC who attended a meeting with the group.