PERINTON, N.Y. -- New Yorkers have the constitutional right to clean air, clean water and a healthful environment.

Voters approved that amendment to the state constitution's language last year and now a group of residents that live around High Acres Landfill in Perinton said the company Waste Management is violating their rights.

"The company just keeps raking in the money and not spending the money on the controls necessary to keep the landfill from impacting the community," attorney Linda Shaw, of Knauf Shaw LLP, said.

Shaw represents the group Fresh Air For the Eastside, which has brought lawsuits against WM for allegedly releasing unhealthy gases into the community and the state for lack of enforcement.

"Under not only this constitutional amendment, but also the state's new Climate Leadership and Community Protection Act, they are supposed to be doing everything they can to make this facility not emit methane and other things that come with the methane gas into the atmosphere, and that's just not happening," Shaw said.

She said the company has interpreted a law requiring the surface of the 155 landfill be covered, to not apply to the side slopes. The suits asks a state Supreme Court judge to require the company cover the sides and more monitoring of emissions.

The attorney said the firm has already brought two other more technical lawsuits, including one in the discovery stage in federal court, but the green amendment allows the plaintiffs to take a broader focus.

"We're hoping that this lawsuit, which is really focused on a resolution to what's causing the problem, will speed along the ultimate resolution of all the cases," Shaw said.

Opponents of the green amendment expressed concerns the vague language would lead to a proliferation of unnecessary lawsuits, but Shaw said this suit has very specific facts and documentation about gas emission exceeding standards.

"Lawsuits of this nature that have those types of facts will succeed," she said.

Waste Management said it is reviewing the complaint. The company said it's committed to bringing both this and the pending federal case to a satisfactory conclusion for all parties.

It pointed out in the time the federal case has been pending it resolved a class action suit on behalf of residents that live near the landfill and both the towns of Perinton and Macedon approved new five-year operating permits.