A recent report that found no evidence Seneca Meadows Inc. contributes to lung cancer in its vicinity is a superficial whitewash paid for by the landfill and written by a pair of waste industry veterans.

It should be read with alert skepticism.

The report bungles facts, cherry-picks data, and sidesteps the statistical evidence that suggests that emissions from the landfill may be contributing to elevated cases of lung cancer in census tracts nearby.

The timing of the Oct. 28 report is notable. It comes at a crucial stage in SMI’s pending bid for a state permit for a major expansion. Without the permit, the state’s largest landfill will be forced to close in December 2025. With it, garbage will continue to be trucked into it from faraway regions until 2040.

Seneca Meadows hired Dr. Rosanne McTyre and Dr. Ben Hoffman to give their good-housekeeping seal of approval. For a decade, Hoffman was the chief medical officer for Waste Management Inc., which also employed McTyre as an epidemiologist.

WMI, the nation’s largest waste company, owns the High Acres landfill in Monroe County, New York’s second-largest landfill. Waste Connections Inc., the nation’s third-largest waste company, owns Seneca Meadows.

Both mega-landfills face lawsuits that allege health harms from their odorous emissions. They are landmark cases that will test the reach and enforceability of........

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