Sara Cline and Brian Nearing are reporting for the Times Union dozens of residents March 20, attended a meeting of the Rensselaer school board to air their concerns and ask officials to do something about the 99-acre S.A. Dunn landfill, which earlier that same day was ordered by state environmental officials to install an odor control system due to numerous complaints. The dump is the state's largest construction and demolition debris dump and it is located next door to the school district's campus. It opened in 2015 off of Partition Street. The Dunn landfill can legally accept concrete, drywall, asphalt, masonry, roofing materials, plumbing fixtures, non-asbestos insulation, empty buckets, wood, plastics and pulverized waste. It cannot take regular household garbage or hazardous waste. Residents say the dump is the source of a horrible smell, as well as noise, and dust and fumes from trucks. According to the state Health Department, short-term exposure to hydrogen sulfide gas can cause coughing, headache, nausea, breathing difficulties, and irritation of the eyes, nose and throat. Landfill gases can also contain ammonia, according to the department. Beginning in April, the state Department of Environmental Conservation will deploy four portable sensors around the landfill to measure emissions of hydrogen sulfide. DEC also ordered Dunn officials to cap over the landfill at the end of each day, rather than once weekly, in an effort to better contain gases and odors, as well as loose paper and other debris, from escaping into the air. David Ellis, who is part of the grassroots group Rensselaer Residents Against Toxic Dumping, said the dump ought to be closed and characterized the DEC actions to date as tepid. He said the new measures announced by the department were an attempt to "cover up that residents are concerned about all these violations at the dump ... I am not convinced they are taking these concerns seriously." Although some residents at the school board meeting, including Ellis, asked the members to urge Gov. Andrew Cuomo to close the dump, the school board said it would look at the concerns and continue the conversation with DEC and landfill operators. Read the full story in the Times Union.