Office of Borough President James P. Molinaro
Staten Island, New York
B.P. Molinaro says opposition to waste-transfer station near Laguardia Airport may be “bird-brained ploy” to send Queens trash back to Staten Island
Says enclosed College Point garbage facility will not attract plane-endangering birds and lawsuit to stop construction may violate City’s Solid Waste Management Plan
STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. – Borough President James P. Molinaro today voiced his concern that opposition to the City’s waste transfer station near LaGuardia Airport may be a “bird-brained ploy” to send Queens trash back to Staten Island – in violation of Mayor Bloomberg’s Solid Waste Management Plan.
A group called “Friends of LaGuardia Airport” has asked the Second Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals to halt construction of the North Shore Marine Transfer Station in College Point, citing the possibility of bird-plane collisions.
“When Fresh Kills -- the nation’s largest landfill – used to receive all of the city’s garbage, there were thousands of birds feasting on the trash,” said Molinaro. “However, our Travis waste transfer station is completely enclosed – as the College Point plant will be – with no birds around it, and we’ve had no bird problems since it opened five years ago.
“So, if the opponents are citing safety concerns in their lawsuit, it’s a specious argument and strictly for the birds,” Molinaro continued. “Queens residents have nothing to fear from this waste transfer station. However, I fear that the opponents are trying to stop construction on the transfer station as a bird-brained ploy to send Queens trash back to Staten Island – in violation of the City’s Solid Waste Management Plan.”
Mayor Bloomberg’s 20-year Solid Waste Management Plan went into effect in 2006, and requires each borough to take responsibility for handling its own trash over the next two decades.
Staten Island was the first borough to achieve the self-sufficiency outlined in the plan. The Travis transfer station compacts trash from collection trucks and loads them onto rail containers that transport it out of the borough. It handles all of Staten Island’s waste and is not permitted to accept refuse from any other borough.
In 2008, the Solid Waste Association of North America awarded the Sanitation Department its Gold Excellence in Solid Waste Management Award for the Travis facility for “promoting socially, environmentally and economically sound management of solid waste.”
In conclusion, Molinaro said, “When the College Point transfer station is built, it will handle 3,500 tons of garbage a day, but the opponents seem to want to push their garbage problem elsewhere. Staten Island certainly doesn’t want it, and they need to be mindful of the fact that the law and Mayor Bloomberg both say the Fresh Kills Landfill is closed for good.”
January 10, 2012