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10/05/23 | Articles and TV
Newsday reports on KM whistleblower suit against Covanta regarding ash practices at Long Island’s Brookhaven landfill
Published in: NEWSDAY
Newsday has published an investigation, relying heavily on documents filed in a whistleblower lawsuit brought by KM-client and former Covanta maintenance employee Patrick Fahey against Covanta Hempstead, Long Island’s leading waste incinerator, which has been dumping ash at the Long Island’s Brookhaven landfill for years. As Newsday reports, for nearly a decade, the company couldn’t be certain that the ash they were dumping at Brookhaven landfill was nonhazardous and engaged in risky and imprecise practices.
Mr. Fahey filed a whistleblower suit in 2013, represented by KM Co-Managing Partner David Kovel. Mr. Fahey’s complaints have centered around the company’s allegedly substandard conditions at their ash loading facility, specifically regarding the mixing and loading of ash, and misrepresentations the company allegedly made to the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) regarding its practices.
Dry “fly” ash, when not properly mixed with heavier, more-benign “bottom” ash, is more likely to become airborne, endangering residents and contaminating the local environment. During the time covered by the lawsuit, Covanta Hempstead allegedly told the DEC its ash mix met necessary environmental standards, when in fact the facility specially mixed the samples it submitted to a laboratory for required toxicity testing to obscure the fact that the ash it was dumping at Brookhaven was not properly mixed.
Nearby residents of the landfill, including those from the town of North Bellport, have been left both concerned and angered by the potential health side effects of the ash as well as the state’s lax oversight of Covanta’s practices. There is a possibility that toxic heavy metals from the ash, including lead and cadmium, could have contaminated the environment. According to the National Cancer Institute, these toxic heavy metals can cause certain cancers with long-term exposure.
Read the full article.
Mr. Fahey filed a whistleblower suit in 2013, represented by KM Co-Managing Partner David Kovel. Mr. Fahey’s complaints have centered around the company’s allegedly substandard conditions at their ash loading facility, specifically regarding the mixing and loading of ash, and misrepresentations the company allegedly made to the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) regarding its practices.
Dry “fly” ash, when not properly mixed with heavier, more-benign “bottom” ash, is more likely to become airborne, endangering residents and contaminating the local environment. During the time covered by the lawsuit, Covanta Hempstead allegedly told the DEC its ash mix met necessary environmental standards, when in fact the facility specially mixed the samples it submitted to a laboratory for required toxicity testing to obscure the fact that the ash it was dumping at Brookhaven was not properly mixed.
Nearby residents of the landfill, including those from the town of North Bellport, have been left both concerned and angered by the potential health side effects of the ash as well as the state’s lax oversight of Covanta’s practices. There is a possibility that toxic heavy metals from the ash, including lead and cadmium, could have contaminated the environment. According to the National Cancer Institute, these toxic heavy metals can cause certain cancers with long-term exposure.
Read the full article.
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