'Rotten Egg' Landfill Smell Prompts Jersey Shore Residents To File Lawsuit

ABSECON, NJ — Dozens of residents living in a Jersey Shore retirement community have filed a federal lawsuit against the Atlantic County Utilities Authority, claiming the harmful gases from a nearby landfill have sent them to the hospital and made breathing difficult.

The lawsuit was filed in U.S. District Court last week by 65 residents of Bel Air Lakes, a retirement community in Absecon in Atlantic County.

In the lawsuit, attorneys for the residents claim the levels of hydrogen sulfide and methane emitted from a landfill in nearby Egg Harbor Township have exceeded state limits for almost a decade despite regular monitoring.

As a result, residents have been exposed to gases that smell of rotten eggs and feces, causing them to choke, vomit, and "endure a host of other acute physical and psychological injuries, including sleep deprivation and depression," according to court documents.

"On hundreds of days and nights over the past 10 years, continuing to the present day, the BAL Residents are overwhelmed by malodorous H2S gas emitted by the landfill, which a New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection investigator once described in 2014 is 'like walking into a wall of rotten odor suddenly. . . extremely objectionable odor – can almost taste," the lawsuit states.

The landfill is in the Atlantic County Utilities Authority Environmental Park, located about 8 miles from Atlantic City. Bel Air Lakes, a community of 125 homes, was built in the early 2000s and is located about 250 feet from the landfill, according to the lawsuit.

The lawsuit also accuses the Atlantic County Utilities Authority of not notifying Bel Air Lakes residents before expanding the landfill multiple times and causing odors to worsen.

"Since 2014, the BAL Residents and other communities surrounding the landfill have complained to the NJDEP more than 1,100 times, pleading for NJDEP to stop the continuing H2S emissions from the landfill," the lawsuit states.

According to attorneys, the complaints detailed an "array of acute injuries" caused by exposure to the gas, including difficulty breathing, nausea, vomiting, migraine headaches, eye, nose and throat irritation, and persistent cough.

Threats of the lawsuit first surfaced in January at a town hall meeting in Absecon. Dozens of people attended the meeting, many addressing concerns to authority President Matt DeNafo, NJ Advance Media reported.

“This sickening brew of foul, unbreathable air is an oppressive atmosphere in the town and in our homes,” Tony Kucharski of Absecon told DeNafo during the meeting, according to NJ.com. “We want relief from the air pollution that’s harming and immiserating.”

In the lawsuit, attorneys for the residents are seeking an injunction to stop the authority from processing waste at the landfill. A hearing is planned for June 17.

Meanwhile, authority officials have called the allegations "misleading" in a statement provided to NJ.com.

“The ACUA and its counsel intend to vigorously defend against these accusations in court by using facts and evidence, not false and sensationalist allegations,” the authority said.