Eric Goldstein of NRDC testifies on waste equity and Intro 367
Eric Goldstein of the Natural Resources Defense Council says DSNY has made progress but more is needed. He calls for equitable sanitation services at NYCHA, passage of Intro 367 to use marine transfer stations for commercial waste, and planning to end reliance on polluting incinerators.
You may begin.
Good afternoon, Chair Sanchez.
I'm Eric Goldstein with the Natural Resources Defense Council, and thank you for the opportunity to testify at this oversight hearing on waste equity and environmental justice.
Sanitation Department has made some progress on these issues over the years, thanks in good measure to the Council's leadership.
But much more is needed.
Here are three examples.
First, the city has not done nearly enough to provide equitable sanitation services to the hundreds of thousands of residents who live in NYCHA properties.
One thing DSNY should do is to support the expansion of the great jobs-producing work being done by the nonprofit groups Compost Power and Green City Forces at all NYCHA developments.
Every NYCHU resident should have the opportunity to participate in composting through these groups, and we support council legislation to accomplish that objective.
Second, private waste transfer stations located predominantly in North Brooklyn, the South Bronx, and Southeast Queens continue to pose environmental problems in already overburdened EJ communities.
And the promise of the 2006 Solid Waste Management Plan to facilitate the use of the city's marine transfer stations to assist
and the export of commercial waste remains unfulfilled.
We urge the passage of Intro 367, Council Member Nurse, that would direct the department to advance
this process after two decades of waiting.
Third, roughly one-third of the waste we export is sent to pollution-generating garbage-burning incinerators frequently located in environmental justice communities.
We're referring here to the Essex County incinerator in the Ironbound section of Newark and the incinerator in Chester, Pennsylvania.
The DSNY contracts with rework for these two problematic incinerators expire in 2032.
That gives us five years to plan for other disposal routes.
If the council wants to ensure environmental justice in the city's waste operation, it should take steps to ensure that these kinds of...
The time has expired.
These are the kinds of initiatives that should be included in the city's new 2027 plan.
They're not, and we urge the council to use its existing authority under Section 16140 to incorporate enhancements like these to the final draft plan.
Thank you so much.