Aiello v. Town of Brookhaven

• Decision Date: 15 March 2001
• Docket Number: No. 94 CNF 2622 FB.,94 CNF 2622 FB.
• Citation: 136 F.Supp.2d 81
• Parties: Thomas and Marie AIELLO; Dominick and Diane Cerretani; Michael and Debra Josiah; Robert and Christine McGinnis; Kristine McGroary; Timothy and Deborah Odietus; Philip and Lynn Paul; Philip J. Paul, Jr. and Lisa Paul; Denise Ann Vogt; Glen and Dianne Adone; Steven and Kathleen Colasuonno, individually and on behalf of Steven and Michelle Donisi, minors; Don and Kathleen Devereaux; Teresa Rehberg; Louis and Patricia Donisi, individually and on behalf of Steven and Michelle Donisi, minors; Anthony and Janice Genco; Karen Gibaldi; Salvatore Gibaldi; Gina Gibaldi; Joseph C. Sr., and Mary E. Lauricella, individually and on behalf of James and Lori Lauricella, minors; Harold and Susan Liles; Erik Liles; Cory and Linda McKibbin, individually and on behalf of Thomas and Jonathan McKibbin, minors; Andrew and Lorraine Magyar; Andrew and Alyssa Marvel; Frederick and Pamela Portz; Eric and Evelyn Pust; Tara M. Rizzo; Ronald and Linda M. Rizzo, individually and on behalf of Kim L. Rizzo, minor; Angelo C. and Joyce L. Saladino; and Daniel and Janet Weaver, Plaintiffs, v. TOWN OF BROOKHAVEN, Defendant.
• Court: U.S. District Court — Eastern District of New York

136 F.Supp.2d 81

Thomas and Marie AIELLO; Dominick and Diane Cerretani; Michael and Debra Josiah; Robert and Christine McGinnis; Kristine McGroary; Timothy and Deborah Odietus; Philip and Lynn Paul; Philip J. Paul, Jr. and Lisa Paul; Denise Ann Vogt; Glen and Dianne Adone; Steven and Kathleen Colasuonno, individually and on behalf of Steven and Michelle Donisi, minors; Don and Kathleen Devereaux; Teresa Rehberg; Louis and Patricia Donisi, individually and on behalf of Steven and Michelle Donisi, minors; Anthony and Janice Genco; Karen Gibaldi; Salvatore Gibaldi; Gina Gibaldi; Joseph C. Sr., and Mary E. Lauricella, individually and on behalf of James and Lori Lauricella, minors; Harold and Susan Liles;

Erik Liles; Cory and Linda McKibbin, individually and on behalf of Thomas and Jonathan McKibbin, minors; Andrew and Lorraine Magyar; Andrew and Alyssa Marvel; Frederick and Pamela Portz; Eric and Evelyn Pust; Tara M. Rizzo; Ronald and Linda M. Rizzo, individually and on behalf of Kim L. Rizzo, minor; Angelo C. and Joyce L. Saladino; and Daniel and Janet Weaver, Plaintiffs, v. TOWN OF BROOKHAVEN, Defendant.

No. 94 CNF 2622 FB.

United States District Court, E.D. New York.

March 15, 2001.

Robert N. Zausmer, Meyer, Suozzi, English & Klein, P.C., Mineola, NY, Bernard L. Burton, Burton & Associates, P.C., Melville, NY, for Plaintiffs.

Annette Eaderesto, Town Attorney, Brookhaven Department of Law, Medford, NY, Charles D. Cunningham, Snitnow & Cunningham, LLP, New York City, for Defendant.

DECISION, ORDER AND CERTIFICATION

BLOCK, District Judge.

                TABLE OF CONTENTS
                INTRODUCTION .....................................................................84
                FINDINGS OF FACT .................................................................85
                     I. The Old Town Landfill ....................................................85
                    II. The Pond and Creek .......................................................86
                   III. The Phase I Report .......................................................88
                    IV. The Phase II Report ......................................................90
                     V. The Court's Expert .......................................................94
                        A. The Sinking Plume ......................................................95
                        B. The Chemical Contamination of the Pond and Creek Attributable to
                              the Landfill .......................................................96
                

                           1. Ammonia-N ..........................................................97
                           2. Iron ...............................................................97
                           3. Manganese ..........................................................99
                           4. Other Chemicals ....................................................99
                        C. Elimination of Other Sources ..........................................100
                DISCUSSION ......................................................................100
                     I. Resource Conservation and Recovery Act ..................................100
                        A. Statutory and Regulatory Framework ....................................100
                        B. Parties' Contentions ..................................................104
                        C. Subject Matter Jurisdiction ...........................................105
                        D. Application of Statute ................................................110
                           1. Has Solid Waste Been Disposed of at the Landfill? .................110
                           2. Has the Town Contributed to the Past or Present Disposal of the
                                Solid Waste? ....................................................111
                           3. Has the Pond and Creek Been Contaminated by the Leachate
                                Plume? ..........................................................113
                           4. Does the Contamination of the Pond and Creek Present an
                                Imminent and Substantial Endangerment to Health or the
                                Environment? ....................................................114
                    II. Clean Water Act .........................................................117
                        A. Statutory Framework ...................................................117
                        B. Application of Statute ................................................118
                           1. Has There Been a Discharge of a Pollutant from a Point Source? ....118
                           2. Was the Discharge Into Navigable Waters? ..........................119
                           3. Can the Town, As a Past Polluter, Be Held Liable for the
                                Ongoing Nature of the Discharge? ................................120
                CONCLUSION ......................................................................121
                CERTIFICATION PURSUANT TO 28 U.S.C. § 1292(b) ...................................121
                ADDENDUM A (Map of Former Holtsville Landfill Monitoring Well Locations) ........123
                ADDENDUM B (Color-reproduced copy of photograph of Motts Pond) ..................124
                

INTRODUCTION

Plaintiffs, a group of individuals residing in the immediate vicinity of the former Holtsville Landfill (the "landfill") located in the southwest portion of the Town of Brookhaven, New York ("Town"), have brought this action against the Town alleging violations of two federal environmental statutes, the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act of 1976 ("RCRA") and the Federal Water Pollution Control Act of 1972 ("Clean Water Act" or "CWA"). Their claims are based upon their contention that the landfill has contaminated a creek and pond abutting or in close proximity to their homes. They also allege certain New York State statutory and common law claims as a consequence of such contamination. Plaintiffs seek remediation, compensatory damages, civil penalties and attorney's fees.

The parties stipulated that the trial would be bifurcated. The first phase would resolve liability under the federal claims. If the Town prevailed, plaintiffs agreed to discontinue their state law claims. If plaintiffs were successful, the second phase would resolve the state law claims, in addition to addressing remedies for the federal violations.¹ The federal liability claims thereafter were tried before the Court without a jury.² Pursuant to Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 52(a), the following constitutes the Court's findings of fact and conclusions of law. As gleaned therefrom, the Town is not liable under the Clean Water Act, but is responsible under RCRA for contaminating the creek and pond because it contributed to the disposal of solid waste which presents an imminent and substantial endangerment to the environment. The case will accordingly proceed to the second phase.

FINDINGS OF FACT

I. The Old Town Landfill

Although the record does not precisely trace the history of the landfill, it appears that for some indeterminate period prior to 1937 the property was owned by New York State and used as an open dump for burning garbage. See Ex. 27 at 4-1.³ Thereafter, the Town began acquiring the property and it became the proverbial town dump. In 1968 it was converted by the New York State Environmental Facilities Corporation ("EFC") to a forty-acre sanitary landfill with septage lagoons. See id.; Ex. 33 at 4-1. In 1974 the landfill was closed by EFC and transformed into Town recreational facilities. See Ex. 27 at 4-1, 4-5.⁴

James Heil ("Heil"), EFC's project manager at the time of the closing of the landfill, testified for the Town that the landfill was closed by first covering it with "sand or material" and then applying "another 18 inches to two feet" of "loam," which was "sort of a tight soil," as a "final cover." Tr. at 875.⁵ It was not lined. See Ex. 33 at 4-1. Moreover, it "d[id] not contain a leachate collection system." Id.

Although the Town did not maintain records documenting the types or quantities of materials it allowed to be deposited in the landfill, it was "always easily accessible for disposal of industrial waste." Ex. 27 at 4-1. Heil, who prior to becoming the project manager for EFC had inspected the landfill during the late 1960s when employed by the Suffolk County Department of Health Services ("SCDHS"), candidly told the Court that "[t]here [was] no restriction as to what could be dumped into the landfill." Tr. at 902. As he stated, it had been "an open landfill for years and anybody [could] dump anything in it." Tr. at 902-03. Given his personal familiarity with the dump, Heil characterized its contents as "municipal solid waste," id., meaning "solid waste garbage, refuse, yard waste, construction demolition debris, sludges, originating from residential and commercial establishments within a municipality." Tr. at 890. This was confirmed by James Lapienski ("Lapienski"), a former employee of the Town who was employed as a bulldozer operator at the landfill in the mid-1960s. He observed at that time household garbage, televisions, old boats, trees, automotive parts, batteries, tires and sludge being dumped, most of which was brought to the landfill by municipal and private carting firms. See Tr. of Lapienski Dep. at 8-14.⁶

II. The Pond and Creek

Approximately 2,500 feet south of the landfill, and about 1,000 feet south of Woodside Avenue, lies Motts Pond. See Ex. I-1.⁷ It was characterized by the Town's witness, David Tonjes ("Tonjes"), a Town engineer since 1992, as basically a "still body of water." Tr. at 685. Tonjes explained that although there is an "intermittent stream" feeding into the pond from the north, this stream had "very little flow," Tr. at 686, and that "Motts Pond appears to be fed by groundwater" coming from "the shallow groundwater system surrounding the pond." Tr. at 573. Michael Veraldi ("Veraldi"), the plaintiffs' expert witness, opined that groundwater migrates "underneath the landfill and does not surface to become a surface body of water until it gets to Motts Pond." Tr. at 236. Tonjes described the pond as "perhaps 300 feet long, approximately fifty feet wide." Tr. at 573. Although Tonjes placed its depth at one location as ...