Lawmaker In Talks With State Regulators
The state may force waste haulers on Long Island to cover trash-filled train cars that are causing a stink as they pass through Community Board 5 toward out-of-state dumps, it was announced at the Glendale Property Owners Association’s (GPOA) Feb. 6 meeting.
Assemblyman Andrew Hevesi told residents that he has spoken with the Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC), and the state agency is mulling regulations that would require “containerization” of putrescible waste.
“They said it was probably time they looked at containerization issue,” said Alex Schnell, Hevesi’s chief of staff.
Schnell said the DEC indicated it would look into the issue in October 2013. Since then, the assemblyman’s office has been in frequent contact with the department, but the DEC is still wrestling with the issue internally, he said.
As of press time Wednesday, the DEC did not return requests for a comment.
The smelly trains have been an issue for Board 5 residents for more than a year, and civic groups and elected officials alike have been lobbying the DEC for some kind of rules change.
“For the first time, they heard us,” Hevesi told the GPOA.
In related news, Hevesi told the GPOA that than 80 colleagues in the state legislature signed a letter to Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver requesting funding for low-emission trains.
Currently, the fleet of about 10 freight trains running through Board 5 are classified as “tier 0”-meaning they predate the Environmental Protection Agency’s 1970 Clean Air Act and are subject to lax emissions standards.
The Long Island Rail Road owns the trains, but they are operated by private company New York & Atlantic.
Last year, Hevesi secured $3 million to retrofit one train with emissions-reducing parts.
This year, he is seeking an additional $3 million to do the same for a second engine, he said last Thursday night.
