| TRENTON
– Attorney General Zulima V. Farber
and Department
of Environmental Protection Commissioner
Lisa P. Jackson announced today that they
have filed suit in federal court to halt
any further construction or operation of
an unauthorized solid waste station in Pleasantville.
The
Attorney General filed papers today in U.S.
District Court in Camden on behalf of the
DEP seeking a preliminary restraining order
and further injunctive relief against the
companies involved with the solid waste
station, Southern Railroad Company of New
Jersey, SRNJ Logistics and Magic Disposal,
Inc.
The
defendants commenced construction and operation
of the solid waste station on North Franklin
Boulevard in Pleasantville in January in
spite of the City of Pleasantville’s
rejection of proposals for the station and
in clear violation of federal and state
laws and regulations governing coastal zones
as well as state solid waste laws and regulations.
Construction
of the solid waste station began within
two weeks after the state obtained a court
order against the companies, halting their
construction of a similar solid waste station
in the Pinelands National Reserve in Mullica
Township. The state is seeking to have this
case consolidated with the pending suit
over the Mullica site.
“These
companies continue to act in disregard of
the state’s authority to protect public
health and the environment from the hazards
posed by this type of trash facility,”
said Attorney General Farber. “We
halted their proposed operation in the Pinelands,
but now they have moved into another environmentally
sensitive zone without state permission.”
“Once
again, we have a company with a record of
improperly operating solid waste transfer
stations claiming to be a railroad so they
don't have to follow New Jersey's environmental
regulations,” said DEP Commissioner
Lisa P. Jackson. “We will continue
to ferret them out wherever they may go.”
The
state’s complaint notes that inspections
have shown that the building constructed
at the solid waste station does not have
a drainage system, dust control system or
fire suppression system, despite its location
within two feet of coastal wetlands. This
permits dust and hazardous materials, such
as asbestos, to migrate off site through
air or water, potentially impacting the
surrounding coastal zone.
The
defendants have asserted that the solid
waste station is not subject to state regulation
because federal laws governing railroads
and railroad facilities preempt state law
with respect to the facility. However, the
federal court in the Mullica Township suit
rejected the same argument, declaring that
the solid waste station proposed there was
not a “railroad” facility and
therefore not within the scope of preemption
by the federal Interstate Commerce Commission
Termination Act of 1995.
The
Pleasantville trash station is within a
coastal zone covered by the New Jersey Coastal
Area Facility Review Act (“CAFRA”),
which was adopted by the state under the
federal Coastal Zone Management Act and
approved by the U.S. Secretary of Commerce.
CAFRA requires development projects in a
designated coastal zone to be in compliance
with the goals of CAFRA and the Coastal
Zone Management Act to “preserve,
protect, develop, and where possible, to
restore or enhance, the resources of the
Nation’s coastal zone for this and
succeeding generations.”
#
# #
|
