Closing Rikers Island as a jail offers an opportunity to change aspects of New York’s waste management infrastructure and potentially rethink expanding the city’s role in overseeing it.
John Moore via Getty Images
By Robert Lange, written for WasteDive
The following is a guest piece by Robert Lange, former director of the New York City Department of Sanitation’s recycling program. He retired from the agency in 2016 after more than 20 years.
The closure of Rikers Island as a jail provides an opportunity to not only change aspects of New York’s waste management infrastructure but also to potentially rethink expanding the city’s role in overseeing it.
While I agree with the majority of the sentiments expressed in a number of recent opinion pieces and legislative proposals regarding the future potential uses of Rikers Island as a center of sustainability and green energy production, following the closure of the jail facility, I believe these proposals fall short of accomplishing their expressed goals.
Having worked in bureaucracies for over three decades I know firsthand that merely having good ideas or passing legislation is insufficient grounds for being able to bring those ideas and goals into practical reality. This is especially true in a place like New York, where there are always numerous and powerful special interests groups with opposing viewpoints.
Assuming Rikers Island will in fact be vacated by the Department of Correction in the not too distant future, and the effort is not abandoned by a future mayoral administration and new City Council, accomplishing the various ideas that have been floated thus far will require fundamental changes to portions of the city’s existing operational bureaucracy.
For example, several of the suggested future uses assume that certain waste streams in New York, such as biosolids and municipal solid waste (MSW), can be easily combined at the site. While from a theoretical standpoint this may be true, the reality is not all of those waste streams are controlled by a single entity. In fact, they are controlled by several different city agencies and in some cases, the private sector. City agencies may all ultimately report and answer to the same administration, but they frequently possess very different agendas.
If the Rikers closure opens up discussions about fundamentally overhauling all of New York’s collection, processing, recycling and disposal of waste then a citywide waste management authority would be needed to oversee it. The passage of local flow control legislation would also be integral to creating this authority.
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Steve Adubato speaks with U.S. Rep. Frank Pallone, Jr. (D) – NJ, 6th Congressional District, to discuss President Biden’s American Rescue Plan, the role of the media in climate change, and the political divide across the nation. U.S. Rep Pallone also talks about the CLEAN Future Act and the importance of following safety protocols during the pandemic.
The CLEAN Future Act is the response to the climate action plan, explains Pallone. He suggests in order for people to understand climate change as more than just a myth, you have to bring it down to a level that they can understand. Pallone believes changes in weather patterns, temperatures rising, sea level rising, and greenhouse gases is impacting our health. For instance, greenhouse gases are linked to causing asthma and respiratory problems.
Pallone discusses the political divide and how this impacts individuals’ thoughts on climate change. He says both Republicans and Democrats are concerned about climate change, “I really don’t think, when it comes down to it, that we really don’t disagree…we’ve actually been doing things to address climate action on a bipartisan basis.” In addition, COVID-19 is another huge issue that has caused a political divide among Americans. Pallone says people’s ideologies are affecting their decision to get vaccinated and wear masks in public.
Heavy industrial pollution through the 19th and 20th centuries left the river-bottom laced with hazardous substances, including carcinogens like dioxins and polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs).
It’s a history of pollution that has robbed residents in Newark and surrounding towns of the chance to fully enjoy the river, a fact that once led U.S. Sen. Cory Booker to call the river “New Jersey’s biggest crime scene.” To this day, people are warned against eating any fish or crabs pulled from the Passaic.
Federal efforts to clean up this section of the river, known as the Diamond Alkali Superfund site, have been underway for decades. Now, the next chapter of that work is set to begin.
[Editor’s note: See previous related coverage]
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency announced on Wednesday plans to dredge 387,000 cubic yards of contaminated sediments from the bottom of a nine-mile stretch of the Passaic River, roughly between the Dundee Dam in Garfield and Kearny.
Not all of the pollution will be dredged and removed in the proposed plan. Some will be left behind, and buried underneath a cap to prevent it from spreading.
The EPA said dealing with this section of the river is critical to keeping pollution from spreading downstream, into areas where other cleanup work is already underway.
“This proposed interim action will address highly contaminated sediment located just upriver of the lower eight miles that is an ongoing source of contamination in the target area and acts as a reservoir for potential contaminant migration,” said Walter Mugdan, the acting regional administrator of EPA Region 2.
The new EPA plan has the support of Gov. Phil Murphy’s administration.
“This cleanup will improve water quality and benefit communities throughout the Passaic River Basin and will help New Jersey to further the promise of environmental justice by remedying a Superfund site that affects overburdened communities along the Passaic River,” said Shawn LaTourette, the commissioner of the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection.
The new cleanup is expected to cost $441 million and take over 4 years to complete. It’s unclear when work would begin.
The nine-mile stretch affected by the new plan is just one part of the sprawling superfund site, which encompasses Newark Bay and the lower 17 miles of the Passaic River.
Democratic State Senators filed a motion to dismiss a federal lawsuit filed by Republican lawmakers, which challenges a ban on natural gas development in Northeastern Pennsylvania.
Protesters march around Philadelphia City Hall in 2012 during a shale-gas conference at the Pennsylvania Convention Center. MICHAEL BRYANT / Staff Photographer
By Andrew Maykuth, Philadelphia Inquirer
The Harrisburg political battle over fracking has shifted venues from the Pennsylvania State Capitol to the U.S. District Court in Philadelphia.
A group of Democratic State Senators on Thursday filed a motion to dismiss a federal lawsuit filed by Republican lawmakers earlier this year that challenges a ban on natural gas development in the Delaware River Basin, in northeastern Pennsylvania.
The 16 Democratic senators said the Republicans lack standing to bring the suit and failed to state a claim upon which relief can be granted. “We argue that there are really no claims here,” Steve Miano, lawyer for the Democrats, said Thursday.
The Democratic lawmakers seemed particularly irked that the Republicans, in challenging the drilling ban, invoked Pennsylvania’s Environmental Rights Amendment of 1971 to support their arguments that the state legislature has authority over natural resources. The Republican’s interpretation of the ERA, a law championed by environmentalists, was “perverse,” the Democrats said.
State Sens. Gene Yaw (R., Lycoming) and Lisa Baker (R., Luzerne), the Pennsylvania Republican Caucus, and several local governments including Wayne and Carbon Counties filed suit to challenge a drilling moratorium imposed in 2010 by the Delaware River Basin Commission (DRBC), the interstate agency that manages water use in the vast Delaware watershed. The four-state agency upgraded the moratorium to a permanent fracking ban in February.
The court last month allowed the Democratic senators to intervene in the lawsuit — all but four of the state’s 20 Democratic senators signed on. Their filing on Thursday is similar to a motion filed last month by the Delaware Riverkeeper Network, the environmental advocacy group that has also intervened in the lawsuit.
State Sen. Steve Santarsiero (D., Bucks) and other elected officials announced the motion at a news conference on Thursday. Montgomery and Bucks County officials are also seeking to intervene in the Democrats’ lawsuit.
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Shawn LaTourette (Photo: Nicholas Huba, Press of Atlantic City)
Shawn LaTourette, the acting commissioner of the state Department of Environmental Protection, has been nominated by Gov. Phil Murphy to take over the role full time.
LaTourette has led the agency since his predecessor, Catherine R. McCabe, retired in January.
“New Jersey has no shortage of environmental challenges — from confronting the climate crisis to modernizing our water infrastructure,” LaTourette said. “NJDEP is charting a new course for the future in our great state, with a stronger, more just environment at its center.”
Murphy’s nomination will require confirmation by the state Senate.
LaTourette has a 20-year record fighting for equity and the environment. A New Jersey native and graduate of Rutgers and Rutgers Law School, he initially worked with Erin Brokovich’s law firm, defending New Jersey communities whose tap water had been spoiled by petrochemicals.
Before joining the Murphy administration, he was most recently a director of the Environmental Law Department at Gibbons PC, where he focused on brownfields redevelopment projects and litigated environmental cases in state and federal court.
He arrived at New Jersey’s DEP with McCabe in 2018, eventually becoming deputy commissioner.
LaTourette will be the first openly gay state environmental commissioner in the U.S. He chaired LGBTQ rights activities for the New Jersey Bar Association until last year.
Christian Fuscarino, executive director of the LGBTQ rights group Garden State Equality, said LaTourette’s nomination is welcome “at a time when the New Jersey Legislature is empty from any representation for the LGBTQ community.”
The commissioner is not a member of the Legislature, but can affect policy.
Likewise, LaTourette has garnered the support of New Jersey environmental groups such as the Audubon Society, Clean Water Action, New Jersey Future, and the League of Conservation Voters. Those groups praised LaTourette for his aggressive actions on pollutants that ravage the waterways of underserved communities of color, developing an Energy Master Plan, and working to reverse climate change.
Notably absent from the list of supporters was the New Jersey Sierra Club. (See statement below).
LaTourette’s predecessor, McCabe, offered no reason when she announced her retirement in December.
Murphy said at the time that McCabe had “a very particular family-driven reason” for her departure but did not elaborate, according to previous reports.
Statement of the New Jersey Sierra Club
Shawn Latourette has been named Commissioner of the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection. Jeff Tittel, Director of the New Jersey Sierra Club, released the following statement:
“The Governor has decided to name Shawn Latourette as DEP Commissioner. This is not a surprise since he was named Acting Commissioner by the Governor and has held the position of Chief of Staff. He is a known quantity to the administration and was a favorite to get the job, and he did get it. He’s very sharp politically, and he’s someone we can work with, but we do have some concerns. He doesn’t have a government background and has never run an agency or managed anything like the DEP, so that could create some challenges.
“We have concerns that Latourette has lobbied for clients in front of DEP. He’s actually had to recuse himself on a number of issues because of companies that he has worked for. He will be the first DEP Commissioner in New Jersey’s history who lobbied in front of the DEP for applicants. We also have concerns about some of his positions on issues, and we hope that he follows through on Governor Murphy’s commitments on Environmental Justice and equity for the state.
“We were hoping for a DEP Commissioner who had a stronger background in Environmental Justice and who came from an EJ Community. However, we know that Shawn does make this a top concern. At today’s budget hearing, he refused to answer about having a moratorium on fossil fuels, even in overburdened and Environmental Justice communities. We’ve also disagreed with him on issues like logging at Sparta Mountain, burning of CF4 at the Rahway Incinerator, streamlining permits, regulating CO2 and meeting the IPCC goal of 45% reductions by 2030, stopping Horizontal Directional Drilling (HDD), and allowing developers to ‘build at your own risk’ in flood risk zones. We have a good dialogue and working relationship, but we do have serious concerns.
“Shawn Latourette has worked within the DEP for a few years, and he’s working on many issues. He’s been carrying out the work of the administration, but we hope that they can go further. The Murphy Administration needs to take the climate emergency more seriously and move faster to strengthen our rules. They not only need to fix Christie’s rollbacks but move DEP forward when it comes to integrating climate impacts into rules and regulations. They also need to move faster to get the Environmental Justice Rules in place while helping to reduce pollution from existing facilities. Shawn has been appointed by Governor Murphy to carry out his agenda, so the Governor needs to step up to make stronger commitments and move New Jersey forward. We hope that Shawn can actually help modernize the DEP and move them forward when it comes to protecting the environment and tackling these issues of Environmental Justice, climate change, moving forward with renewable energy, and getting rid of fossil fuels.”
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The Diamond Alkali factory complex during its heyday in Newark, N.J.
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) today proposed a plan to address contaminated sediment in the upper nine miles of the Lower Passaic River Study Area of the Diamond Alkali Superfund site in Essex, Bergen, and Passaic Counties, New Jersey. The Lower Passaic River and the Diamond Alkali site include overburdened communities that are often disproportionately impacted by environmental health risks. The EPA said it was committed to advancing environmental justice in such communities across the nation.
The sediment in the Lower Passaic River is severely contaminated with dioxins/furans, polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), heavy metals, heavy metals, pesticides, and other contaminants from more than a century of industrial activity. The proposed cleanup plan – supported by the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection – calls for using a combination of cleanup technologies including dredging approximately 387,000 cubic yards of contaminated sediment. The proposed remedy would be an interim action – a final remedy would be selected after this action has been implemented, as described in more detail below. This proposed interim action complements the cleanup selected in 2016 for the lower eight miles of the Lower Passaic River. That cleanup includes bank-to-bank dredging and capping in that stretch of the river.
“EPA looks forward to advancing work at the site and continuing our engagement with the community as we explain how studies support an adaptive, multiphase approach to addressing contamination in this case,” saidActing Regional Administrator Walter Mugdan. “This proposed interim action will address highly contaminated sediment located just upriver of the lower eight miles that is an ongoing source of contamination in the target area and acts as a reservoir for potential contaminant migration.”
“The Murphy Administration supports the proposed EPA plan for the cleanup of the upper nine miles of the Passaic River, which will remediate contamination that has persisted for too long and enable the recovery of this important natural resource,” said New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection Acting Commissioner Shawn M. LaTourette.“This cleanup will improve water quality and benefit communities throughout the Passaic River Basin and will help New Jersey to further the promise of environmental justice by remedying a Superfund site that affects overburdened communities along the Passaic River. We thank our EPA colleagues for their leadership and for their partnership in integrating DEP’s technical suggestions into the ultimate design of this remedy.”
The proposed cleanup includes:
Capping areas of contaminated sediment that have been identified as sources of contamination. Prior to capping, sediment would be dredged to a depth to accommodate the cap so that the potential for flooding is not increased.
Additional capping and dredging in areas with the potential for erosion and high concentrations of contaminants in the subsurface.
Areas identified for remediation would be evaluated to determine if sediments at depth in each area can be dredged so that capping would not be needed.
Dredged materials would be processed at one or more nearby sediment processing facilities for off-site disposal at licensed disposal facilities.
Institutional controls such as restrictions on activities in the river would be implemented to protect the cap, and New Jersey’s existing prohibitions on fish and crab consumption would remain in place.
Monitoring and maintenance of the cap would be required to ensure its stability and integrity in the long term.
EPA will consider public comments received on the proposed cleanup plan and if the proposed cleanup plan becomes final, EPA will pursue agreements with the responsible parties to implement the interim remedy. EPA expects to use an adaptive management approach to sample and gauge the progress of the cleanup toward a final remedy for the Lower Passaic River Study Area, which would include assessing the river to determine if more work is needed to meet the goals of a final remedy for the Lower Passaic River. EPA would propose a final remedy for the entire Lower Passaic River at that time.
The Diamond Alkali Superfund site is divided into Operable Units (OUs). EPA often divides cleanup activities at complex sites into different areas or OUs: The Diamond Alkali Superfund site is currently organized into four OUs.
OU1 is the location of the former Diamond Alkali pesticide manufacturing plant at 80-120 Lister Avenue, for which an interim remedy for containment was completed in 2001.
OU2 is the lower 8.3 miles of the Lower Passaic River, from Newark Bay to river mile 8.3, for which EPA selected a remedy in 2016. The estimated $1.38 billion cleanup plan is currently in remedial design under EPA oversight.
OU3 is the Newark Bay Study Area. EPA is currently overseeing an in-depth investigation of the bay, including the nature and extent of the contamination and the potential risks to human health and the environment from exposure to this contamination, and an evaluation of technologies and alternatives in order to determine how best to clean it up over the long term.
OU4 is the 17-mile Lower Passaic River Study Area which includes both the lower 8.3 miles of the River and the upper nine miles which is the subject of this proposed plan. This proposed cleanup plan covers the upper nine miles of OU4 in the Lower Passaic River Study Area and is an interim action. A final remedy for OU4 will be proposed and selected in the future.
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