A view of the Dunn Landfill in Rensselaer. The dump has been blamed for putrid odors blowing into a neighboring school, but the state Department of Environmental Conservation found ways to work with the dump's owners. Peanut the Squirrel wasn't so lucky.

Department of Environmental Conservation seized and euthanized Peanut, an Instagram-famous animal, as part of a raid.

Department of Environmental Conservation seized and euthanized Peanut, an Instagram-famous animal as part of a raid.

Officials from the state Department of Environmental Conservation confiscated Peanut the Squirrel during a raid Wednesday.

Department of Environmental Conservation seized and euthanized Peanut, an Instagram-famous animal, as part of a raid.

ALBANY — The state Department of Environmental Conservation is, as many of you will know, the agency that allowed a massive dump for construction debris to open next to a school in Rensselaer.

When the S.A. Dunn Landfill subsequently bathed the school's students in foul and possibly unhealthy odors in violation of its operating permit, the response from the DEC was modest. It didn't seize garbage trucks or rush in with armed officers to shut the dump down. The agency worked with the landfill to get the worst of its problems under control.

Today, the landfill is operating under an expired permit — even though many residents of densely populated Rensselaer, frustrated by the impact of truck traffic on their lives,........

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