cleanup · Erie County
Pfohl Brothers Landfill
Cheektowaga
Former municipal and industrial landfill bordering Transit Road where drums and contaminated material were removed, wastes were consolidated beneath engineered caps, and long-term monitoring continues.
The documented story
What happened here?
Pfohl Brothers is a roughly 130-acre former landfill near Transit Road, Aero Drive, wetlands, and residential property in Cheektowaga. Areas B and C received municipal and industrial wastes from 1932 to 1971; Area A was principally a soil-borrow area and received a separate no-action decision.
Industrial wastes reportedly came from steel, metal, chemical, petroleum, utility, optical, furnace-material, and other manufacturers. Disposal used shallow pits that were covered with fly ash and fill, leaving drums, waste, leachate, and contaminated environmental media to be addressed through Superfund.
The landfill sat in an inhabited and used landscape rather than an isolated waste zone: residential yards line Pfohl Road, wetlands and Aero Creek border the fill, people fish in the small on-site lake, and commercial development expanded along nearby Aero Drive. Those uses explain why the remedy combines physical containment with rules for groundwater, drainage, basements, excavation, and soil gas.
Thousands of drums were removed while the larger waste mass was contained
Pfohl Brothers combined municipal refuse with industrial disposal beside wetlands and growing suburbs
4,534 drumsremoved under the selected Superfund remedy
1932-1971
A landfill at the suburban edge accepted many industrial waste streams
Reported users represented steel, metals, chemicals, petroleum, utilities, optics, furnace materials, and other manufacturing. Areas B and C received waste, while Area A was principally a soil-borrow area.
1992-2002
The remedy separated removal from containment
Cleanup decisions selected no action for Area A and containment for Areas B and C. Crews removed 4,534 drums, consolidated waste, installed engineered caps, and built leachate collection and treatment.
Present
Long-term care protects Transit Road, wetlands, and nearby land uses
Groundwater and leachate monitoring, inspections, cap maintenance, land controls, and periodic federal review continue because the main waste mass remains beneath the remedy.
Atlas classification: agency investigation.
Historical records and sampling information are being reviewed. This page does not present the property as a confirmed PFAS source.
Compounds and evidence
Sampling planned or required; no result established
The operation-and-maintenance record requires PFAS analysis when unexpected material is encountered; it is not a reported detection.
Evidence limit: No individual PFAS compound or confirmed PFAS source has been established in the reviewed Pfohl Brothers record.
C8 and APFO: PFOA is often called C8. APFO is the ammonium salt of PFOA, but a PFOA environmental result does not identify APFO as the original product or prove where it came from.
News record
Major news events
Coverage selected here marks a turning point in public awareness, policy, enforcement, employment, or cleanup. Links open at the original publisher or archive; WNYAtlas does not reproduce restricted articles or images.
EPA completes the landfill's fifth five-year review
The recurring review exists because contamination remains above levels allowing unlimited use and unrestricted exposure; it tests whether the caps, leachate systems, monitoring, and property restrictions still protect people and the environment.
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency ↗Chemical guide
Chemicals named in this record
These links explain potential hazards and exposure pathways. A chemical named in a record does not establish that anyone was exposed or harmed.
Health context
Why PFAS are a long-term concern
PFAS are a large family of manufactured chemicals. Many are highly persistent, and some can remain in the environment or build up in people and animals over time. Persistence can allow releases to move through groundwater, surface water, waste systems, food, and fish long after the original use has ended.
Human studies have found associations between increased exposure to certain PFAS and higher cholesterol, lower antibody response to some vaccines, changes in liver enzymes, pregnancy-induced hypertension and preeclampsia, small decreases in birth weight, and kidney or testicular cancer for PFOA. Evidence differs by compound, and research continues. A site detection does not show that a particular person was exposed or that PFAS caused an illness.
Chronology
Timeline
- 1932–1971
Municipal and industrial wastes were disposed in Areas B and C.
- 1992–1995
Cleanup decisions selected containment for Areas B and C, no action for Area A, and removal of 4,534 drums.
- 2002
Waste consolidation, caps, containment, and leachate collection and treatment were completed.
- 2008
EPA deleted the site from the National Priorities List after completing the required remedial construction.
- 2025
EPA completed the fifth five-year review on November 13 because contaminants remain above levels allowing unrestricted use.
Environmental record
Documented impacts
- Investigations identified PAHs, PCBs, volatile organic compounds, metals, and contamination affecting soil, sediment, surface water, and groundwater.
- Leachate seeps, exposed waste, nearby wetlands, creeks, fishing areas, and residential surroundings created human and ecological exposure concerns.
- Area A differs from the landfilled Areas B and C and was not found to require the same containment remedy.
Response
Cleanup and controls
- The cleanup removed 4,534 drums and consolidated approximately 540,000 cubic yards of edge waste plus 9,200 cubic yards near wetlands into the interior of Areas B and C.
- Two large caps, landfill-gas vents, drainage works, containment, and leachate collection and treatment manage waste remaining on site.
- Covenants prohibit groundwater use and cap-disturbing excavation and impose redevelopment, drainage, basement, and soil-gas requirements.
Then and now
The site today
Pfohl Brothers remains a monitored and maintained containment site. About 36 uncapped acres along Aero Drive have been studied for light-industrial or commercial reuse, but the two capped landfill areas, fishing lake, wetlands, drainage, and residential edge require different decisions. NPL deletion means the required cleanup was completed; it does not mean all waste was removed or every acre supports unrestricted use.