For Immediate Release | August 20, 2011
"From the inception, I have expressed serious concern regarding the plan to build a marine transfer station on East 91st St. This proposed location must finally be taken off the table, and I hope that the Army Corps of Engineers will help us do just that by denying the permit needed to expand the dock on which the station must be built.
"My long-standing opposition to a marine transfer station at East 91st Street is based on many factors. Individually, any number of the problems with this location provide enough reason to kill this proposal, but collectively they make this decision a no-brainer.
"Putting a marine transfer station within a few block radius of over 13,500 residents, in an area surrounded by three city parks, simply defies common sense. I have no doubt that the noise, noxious fumes and pollutants from the marine transfer station, as well as the exhaust from the hundreds of trucks that will line up to enter the marine transfer station each day, will dramatically affect the health and safety of the surrounding residents and community facilities.
"But it’s not just the surrounding community that would be harmed; this station would also do irreparable harm to the East River, which is not actually a river at all but a tidal straight/estuary. The unique nature of the ecosystem found in the East River cannot and should not be subject to any further disruptions or pollution, which could easily upset the delicate balance of this estuary and reverse the environmental gains of the last four decades.
"I urge every community member to voice his or her opinion so the Army Corps of Engineers has no doubt as to where the community stands on this matter. As I have said many times, this is an entirely inappropriate location for such a facility and we will continue to fight in every way possible to derail further development of this project"
