BERGEN RECORD
Operators of five railside waste transfer facilities in North Bergen will agree to follow state solid waste and local health rules under a settlement approved this morning by the New Jersey Meadowlands Commission.
The operators will also pay $1 million to the state and refund another $1 million to North Bergen that had been held in escrow.
The agreement ends a four-year legal battle over complaints about piles of debris at transfer stations.
The Meadowlands Commission, with help from the state Department of Environmental Protection, tried to force the operators to follow local and state regulations to clean up the transfer stations, where debris was, one point, piled two and a half stories high.
The New York Susquehanna & Western Railway Corp. argued in court that the company did not have to abide by state rules because federal law prohibits states from regulating waste facilities on interstate train lines.
The settlement comes just days after President Bush signed a law making it clear that waste transfer facilities across the country can indeed be subject to state and local rules.
?Our focus from the start has been to work with the Meadowlands Commission to protect the safety of our residents and the environmental integrity of the region,? North Bergen Mayor Nicholas J. Sacco said in a statement. ?To see these facilities now meeting DEP standards is an enormous step forward from where we were just a few years ago.?
The settlement was approved during the Meadowlands Commission?s monthly meeting this morning.
?We cannot return to the dark ages of illegal dumping in the Meadowlands, when waste fires smoldered and unknown chemicals oozed into our fragile ecosystem,? said Joseph Doria, Meadowlands Commission chairman and Commissioner of the state Department of Community Affairs. ?This is the 21st century and all businesses need to operate in a safe, environmentally sound manner.?
The federal legislation, which President Bush signed Oct. 16, had been authored by Sen. Frank Lautenberg and sponsored by Sen. Robert Menendez. ?Our law will save our backyards from becoming junkyards for industry,? Lautenberg said in a statement. ?This is a major victory for New Jersey ? it will allow our communities to protect residents from fire hazards and pollution caused by waste on rail sites.?
In addition to the five waste transfer stations in North Bergen, there is one in Paterson and four others throughout New Jersey. At least seven more have been proposed, including two in North Bergen and one in Paterson.
?This legislation clarifies a federal law that operators have exploited in order to accept thousands of tons of trash daily at open dumps near homes, businesses, motels and restaurants,? said Governor Corzine. ?Our citizens and our communities are now protected from those who seek to evade oversight and regulation.?
One environmental group hailed the federal legislation. ?With seven rail-side waste facilities already operating in northeast New Jersey and three more proposed, this law comes at a critical time,? said Bill Sheehan, executive director of Hackensack Riverkeeper. ?With little recourse to the courts, the only option available was for Congress to take the initiative.?
In the past, a lawyer for the NYS&W said the state had an agenda to shut the transfer stations down. NYS&W President Nathan Fenno has previously said that imposing New Jersey?s stricter environmental regulation instead of federal rules could strangle interstate commerce.
In 2005, wastewater samples collected at three of NYS&W railway stations in North Bergen showed excessive levels of lead, arsenic, mercury and copper, state officials had said. The company has said the debris at the sites is not toxic and that the greater environmental hazard would be trucking it across the state.
NYS&W, based in Cooperstown, N.Y., operates over 400 miles of track in New York, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania.
The state DEP will receive $700,000 of the $1 million payout arranged in the settlement, while the Meadowlands Commission will receive $300,000.
