NJ Takes Over Stinky Landfill Site

State environmental officials have taken over a northern New Jersey landfill they say failed to control a stinky gas odor that left a neighborhood reeking of rotten eggs.

Department of Environmental Protection Commissioner Bob Martin says the agency seized control of the Fenimore Landfill in Roxbury on Wednesday, less than an hour after Gov. Chris Christie signed a measure authorizing the move.

Martin says the company that acquired the site to shut it down and turn it into a solar farm didn't follow protocol. That led to elevated levels of a rotten-egg smelling gas that residents said made them sick.

The DEP plans to cover an 18-acre area of the site with a concrete substance.

An attorney for the site owner is appealing the take over and denies the allegations.