Plans to build a pair of warehouses — more than 585,000 and 650,000 square feet in size, intended to help store and transfer waste off of Long Island — were approved by the Town of Brookhaven in March without any input from the community.
An Article 78 lawsuit, filed by the NAACP, Citizens Campaign for the Environment and 10 residents, seeks to force the town to conduct a full environmental review, as required by state law.
The Town Board declared the proposal to have “no significant impact” on the environment or health of North Bellport and surrounding neighborhoods. This came a day before a New York working group identified this area as a disadvantaged community that is disproportionately affected by pollution and climate change.
“Supervisor Edward Romaine and the Brookhaven Town Board should not pick and choose what local laws they support and which community they will stand and protect,” Hazel Dukes, president of the NAACP New York State Conference, said in a statement.
Article 78 is a compressed legal proceeding reserved for urgent cases, particularly when it comes to government action. The proceeding before the state court to review the town’s decision is on June 1.
The Town of Brookhaven, the Town Board, the waste management company Winter Bros. and its rail terminal subsidiaries, all named in the lawsuit, each failed to respond to requests for comment on the pending litigation.
“Winter Bros should stop the shenanigans and follow the local laws, have a public hearing, and complete an environmental review process as required,” Dukes said. “Follow your own laws and hold Winter Bros accountable.”
The warehouse proposal was submitted in February. Town planners recommended the Town Board could expedite the process for the new warehouses without public hearings, because the plans for redeveloping the rest of the 280-acre industrial property were approved in 2017.
“To use that environmental review from six years ago doesn't fit the facts as they now exist,” said Ed Bailey, the attorney representing the NAACP and environmental groups. “The proposal for the expansion of the rail terminal that's on the table now is vastly different from the project that was described in that 2017 environmental document.”
According to the environmental review, Winter Bros. has a proposal pending before the federal Surface Transportation Board to extend a rail spur to serve the two buildings. While the warehouses would be open to 350 trucks from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. weekdays, freight trains could arrive anytime to haul an estimated 6,000 tons per day, depending on the availability of the New York & Atlantic Railway, which operates freight carriers for the Long Island Rail Road.
“You can't just simply turn a blind eye to the next use of this parcel, which we all know what it is or what it is what they want it to be,” Bailey said, referring to the piecemeal approach to industrial site planning.
“The courts have held that if something is real enough that it really shouldn't be a segment,” he said. “If it can be demonstrated that there is an overall plan in place that this is leading toward, you can take into account that overall plan.”
In a separate resolution, the Town Board encouraged the use of freight operations from the warehouses, saying they would “reduce truck traffic over Long Island roads.”
Organizations, including the NAACP and the Brookhaven Landfill Action and Remediation Group, have challenged any attempt to build more waste infrastructure without hearings to plan for a regional strategy for equitable waste management. Winter Bros.’ proposal is among four waste transfers in Yaphank, Medford, Brentwood and Kings Park that are planned to accept construction and demolition debris when the Brookhaven Landfill begins to close by the end of 2024.
“What we want is for our voice to be heard, our health to be taken seriously, and for them to know, we have a civic voice,” Brookhaven NAACP president Georgette Grier-Key said.
More than half of New York’s waste disposal and transfer facilities are located in disadvantaged communities. “For me and my community, this is a thousand cuts to death,” Grier-Key added.
The groups said these low-income residents and communities of color are disproportionately burdened by the environmental and health impacts. Nearly 30 lawsuits have been filed to close the landfill, remediate the ground, air and groundwater from suspected pollution, and pay for damages.
“This process has been irrational and absurd, and anything but transparent,” said Maureen Murphy, the executive program manager at the Citizens Campaign for the Environment. “The community deserves transparency. They deserve a process that is holistic, a process that is open, a process that thoroughly assesses the environmental impact, a process that incorporates public input and feedback, and the lack of transparency is one more burden on a disadvantaged community.”
