Kearny Mayor Al Santos says the Keegan Landfill has kept the town’s new air quality meter busy since it was installed last week.
The device measures how much hydrogen sulfide, a colorless gas that reeks of rotten eggs, is in the air. Santos contends the 100-acre landfill off Bergen Avenue is the source the stinky fumes that have resulted in more than 200 complaints logged by residents.
Since the air meter was installed at the town’s nearby Department of Public Works facility on Feb. 13, Santos says “crazy bad” levels of hydrogen sulfide have been detected several times. The device registered levels of more than 30 parts per billion for about two hours on both Feb. 14 and Feb. 18, the mayor said.
“Exposure to concentrations of 30 parts per billion (ppb) may cause eye, nose or throat irritation, headaches and nausea, and difficulty breathing for individuals with respiratory problems,” Santos wrote on Facebook Tuesday afternoon.
But the New Jersey Sports and Exposition Authority, which owns the landfill, asserts that the facility isn’t the source of the stench. The agency said Monday the site has been inspected more than 30 times since June and no violations have been issued for the odor.
New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection spokesman Larry Hajna said Tuesday the DEP and the Hudson Regional Health Commission have been taking air readings at the landfill “nearly every day.”
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