The United States House of Representatives recently passed legislation that seeks to prevent the New York City Department of Sanitation (DSNY) from constructing a waste transfer facility near a LaGuardia Airport runway – a move that critics argue would attract birds and lead to potentially lethal bird strikes.
In the wake of the “double bird strike”-induced “miracle on the Hudson” emergency landing of US Airways Flight 1549 in January, U.S. Congressmembers Gary Ackerman and Joseph Crowley and local leaders renewed their calls for the DSNY and the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) to halt their construction plans on the $125 million Marine Transfer Station (MTS).
Erection of the facility was initially set to begin this month, just 1,900 feet from the end of LaGuardia’s eastern runway in College Point.
The co-pilot of Flight 1549, Jeffrey Skiles, recently told the Associated Press that an MTS so close to an airport was “just insane” and added, “We have a lot of difficulty keeping birds away from airports as it is.”
Opponents are quick to point to FAA safety guidelines that prohibit “hazardous wildlife attractants” within 5,000 feet of airports operating propeller aircraft; 10,000 feet of airports operating jet aircraft and five miles of all airports where the attractant would cause hazardous wildlife to cross aircraft approach or departure paths.
Under the guidelines, however, “enclosed” waste facilities – like the proposed MTS – are permitted near airports “provided they are not located on airport property or within the Runway Protection Zone” (RPZ). But according to Ackerman, the FAA has “imminent” plans to extend LaGuardia’s RPZ from 1,700 feet to 2,500 – a move that would envelop the proposed MTS. Thus, Ackerman argues, the station would be in violation of FAA safety guidelines.
The FAA did not return a call by press time to verify its alleged plans for an RPZ extension.
For their part, DSNY claimed their state-of-the-art enclosed station would be no such attractant to birds. In March, the agency said that the 3,000 tons of garbage collected in eastern Queens, from Community Boards seven through 14, would arrive at the MTS in trucks and be dumped onto the building’s floor. The waste would then be sealed into containers and placed onto a barge via an FAA-approved crane.
After conducting a study that began in 2004 – and successfully urging the DSNY to reduce the height of the tower from 110 to 100 feet – the FAA concluded that the MTS would not pose a hazard to aviation and issued a favorable determination. The DSNY appeared to be on the verge of breaking ground.
But Ackerman and Crowley – who argued that even at an enclosed MTS, garbage discharged from trucks is bound to attract birds – gained ground on May 21 with the unanimous passing of an amendment, which they co-sponsored, to the FAA Reauthorization Act. The legislation, which has yet to appear before the Senate, would apply the FAA’s existing safety guidelines – including the agency’s protocols on installing trash facilities near runways and within RPZs, protecting the flying public and surrounding communities and preserving future runway expansions – to the proposed transfer station.
“I don’t have a clue” why the FAA and DSNY are choosing to go ahead with the plan, Ackerman said on the phone, supposing that if the station were to move into a more residential area it might turn into a ‘not-in-my-backyard’ issue.
“Of all the shorelines that surround all the boroughs, why would the Sanitation Department pick the one spot for this facility that is directly opposite one of the busiest runways in the nation?” Ackerman added in a statement. “It makes no sense.”
Crowley, who called the MTS “an invitation for disaster,” said he and Ackerman would continue their fight to oppose the facility.
