Citing extensively from NYLPI’s April legal brief on the subject, a New York court on Friday evening dismissed an industry challenge to the waste equity law that we fought for a decade to win. You can read the court’s dismissal ruling here.

“The judge agreed with the communities we represented that this law was the least the city could do after decades of low income communities and communities of color facing disproportionate health impacts from disproportionate waste truck traffic,” said NYLPI’s senior attorney for environmental justice, Melissa Iachan, pictured, above, in the background behind Mayor Bill de Blasio as he signed the law into effect in summer 2018.

Communities in North Brooklyn, Southeast Queens and the South Bronx, neighborhoods where 75% of New York’s waste has been processed, for years, will now continue to be protected by local law 152, which NYLPI was instrumental in getting passed in the summer of 2018, the culmination of a decades-long fight. When the waste industry sued to try to block the law, our allies in city government asked for our help in elevating the community voices who stand to benefit from this law, and be protected by it. NYLPI filed an amicus brief—or “friend of the court” brief, in simpler language—to help defend the law.

Atypically, the court allowed Melissa, as the filer of the amicus brief, to argue in court on behalf of the affected communities.

The law reduces the capacity at the waste facilities in these communities. It also incentivizes recycling and exporting waste by rail, to reduce truck emissions and traffic. And the law also protects any other community from becoming overburdened, as a result.

The story was covered by Waste Dive:

NWRA loses challenge to New York transfer station capacity law

Cole Rosengren@ColeRosengren

• A New York Supreme Court judge recently dismissed all six counts of a challenge to the City of New York’s Local Law 152, which allows the Department of Sanitation (DSNY) to reduce permitted transfer station capacity in select areas. Petitioners included the National Waste & Recycling Association (NWRA), four local companies and two individuals.
• The challenge asserted the law violated both city and state environmental review requirements, inaccurately excluded the effects of a potential franchise zone policy and skirted necessary modifications to the city’s solid waste management plan. It also contended the policy was preempted by state law, “unconstitutionally vague” and in violation of facility owners’ rights under the Fourteenth Amendment.
• Petitioners were found to have not adequately disproved the city’s assessment that the new law would have no adverse environmental effects, or proved that it was arbitrary, capricious or in violation of procedure. “[W]hile economic loss is a tangible concern, not taken lightly by this Court, the loss of health, well-being, and life of the public affected by these overburdened transfer stations must be of paramount concern,” wrote Judge Verna Saunders.

   

  Local Law 152, commonly referred to by supporters as the “waste equity” law, was signed by Mayor Bill de Blasio last summer after years of legislative attempts. Its intention was to reduce the environmental effects of waste transfer activity in three areas of the Bronx, Brooklyn and Queens that have the highest concentration of permitted facilities. As of this month, the Department of Sanitation (DSNY) now has the authority to reduce capacity at facilities in those areas by as much as 33-50% when permits come up for renewal.

  “We are pleased the court upheld this important law. Local Law 152 will bring much-needed relief to some historically overburdened communities in the city,” said DSNY communications director Belinda Mager in a statement to Waste Dive.

  The NWRA did not provide comment prior to publication, but many industry operators have long been critical of the city’s methodology and rationale behind Local Law 152.

  City analysis did recognize the potential for volume displacement as a result of this law being implemented, outlining a short list of facilities taking both putrescible and non-putrescible waste as among the most financially affected. The lawsuit centered in part around the contention that the city’s required Environmental Assessment Statement hadn’t properly assessed slack capacity in permitted totals, or employment figures, and was generally underestimating the side effects of waste displacement.

  In her ruling, Saunders found that assertion “wholly conclusory and unsupported by evidence.” As to negative economic effects, Saunders effectively ruled New York’s duty in this process was to assess environmental outcomes citywide and not for individual businesses.

  Some of the transfer station owners expected to see the greatest reductions were parties to this lawsuit and continue to raise concerns about negative financial effects. Their ranks have effectively declined by one because original petitioner Metropolitan Transfer Station Inc. sold its Bronx property to Waste Connections earlier this year. The public giant has not been an active participant in the legal proceedings since.

  Along with the de Blasio administration, environmental and labor organizations that joined the city’s case via amicus brief are also celebrating the victory.

  “Many of my neighbors have been impacted by poor air quality, compromised street safety due to the high volume of truck traffic and health issues pertaining to waste inequity for decades,” Jen Chantrtanapichate​, founder of Cleanup North Brooklyn, said in a statement. “We’re looking forward to the long-overdue relief that the waste equity law will provide our overburdened community with.”

  However, based on the contentious nature of local waste politics, an attorney from New York Lawyers for the Public Interest (who represented Chantrtanapichate’s group) predicted it may not be over yet.

  “Industries tend to be as litigious as it comes, particular when you’re dealing with transformative change like waste equity imposes on the permitting process and like commercial waste zones will impose on the entire commercial waste process in the city,” Melissa Iachan, senior staff attorney, told Waste Dive. “I’d put a lot of money on the fact that they haven’t learned their lesson and they will sue.”

And by Waste 360:

Court Dismisses Industry Challenge to NYC Waste Equity Law

Communities in North Brooklyn, Southeast Queens and the South Bronx will now continue to be protected by Local Law 152.

Mallory Szczepanski | Oct 09, 2019

A New York Supreme Court judge on October 4 ruled to dismiss a challenge from the waste industry to Local Law 152, better known as the waste equity bill, which requires more than 20 transfer stations located in Brooklyn, Queens and the Bronx to reduce their capacity by as much as 33 to 50 percent when their permits come up for renewal.

The law was originally passed by a City Council vote of 32-13 in July 2018 and focuses mainly on the neighborhoods of North Brooklyn, Southeast Queens and the South Bronx, all of which are considered “low-income communities and communities of color” and are home to 26 of the city’s 38 waste transfer stations.

Advocates say Local Law 152 is helping communities overburdened by waste truck traffic and tonnage, but critics say the law provides little actual relief to the targeted areas and instead increases costs to the city’s businesses, results in the loss of good working-class jobs and damages the infrastructure necessary to keep the city clean.

In November 2018, the law was challenged by a coalition of New York City businesses, city residents and the National Waste & Recycling Association (NWRA), which argued that “the city ignored required environmental reviews in order to pass a law that does not improve the environment and in fact will increase traffic and air pollution. This arbitrary law will extinguish hundreds of jobs in low-income communities and imperil family-owned businesses that run transfer stations and small vendors and fuel suppliers that rely on them. The city also ignored New York State law governing solid waste management and disregarded the city’s own Solid Waste Management Plan.”

In response to this challenge, environmental and health justice advocacy group New York Lawyers for the Public Interest (NYLPI) filed an amicus brief to defend Local Law 152.

“Our Environmental Justice program, which was born out of advocacy for waste equity, has been involved in advocating on behalf of and alongside communities who have historically disproportionately suffered the negative impacts of waste infrastructure,” says Melissa Iachan, a senior staff attorney in the Environmental Justice program at NYLPI. “For decades, over 75 percent of the city’s commercial and residential waste has been processed in North Brooklyn, Southeast Queens and the South Bronx. We’ve worked closely with community organizations in these areas for years and worked on things like the Solid Waste Management Plan, Local Law 152 and the commercial waste zone bill to help change how the city manages its waste.”

“In spring 2018, we introduced the waste equity bill for the third time in City Council, but that time we had momentum, we had awareness and we had the necessary political momentum,” she adds. “It was a slightly more realistic bill than we had started with, but we knew it would still provide some meaningful and long-needed relief to these communities. When the bill passed, we were thrilled, but then the lawsuit from the industry was filed, and we were asked to defend the law. So, we filed an amicus brief on behalf of community organizations, and I was actually allowed to argue in court on behalf of the affected communities, which is atypical. We felt really good at that point, and we’re very happy with the outcome and that the point was made that this isn’t about technicalities, an environmental review or nickels and dimes; it’s about the health and wellbeing of communities that for decades had been processing 75 percent of the city’s waste.”

The New York State Supreme Court ended up dismissing the challenge from the waste industry, stating that the challenge petitioners didn’t prove that Local Law 152 was arbitrary, capricious or made in violation of lawful procedure.

“We are disappointed with this decision that will ultimately cost jobs while providing no environmental benefit,” Steve Changaris, vice president of NWRA’s Northeast Region, told Waste360. “Our coalition has already had discussions on how to move forward. While we are still reviewing our options, there is strong sentiment to appeal this ruling and are confident that would result in a favorable outcome.”

While this outcome wasn’t what NWRA and other opposers had hoped for, advocates like NYLPI and the City of New York Department of Sanitation (DSNY) are celebrating Local Law 152 staying enacted.

“Community members are elated because this is the first big win that they’ve had in decades of advocacy. It’s a huge and significant victory, especially given the politics that surrounded this campaign,” says Iachan. “There’s a lot of money on the other side, and there’s little to no money on the side of these grassroots communities and public interest lawyers, so it’s always inspiring and energizing for communities to see that it’s not always about who has the biggest guns; it’s about what’s right and wrong and that equity can win.”

Adding to Iachan’s statement, DSNY told Waste360 that it’s “pleased the court upheld this important law. Local Law 152 will bring much-needed relief to some historically overburdened communities in the city.”

Looking ahead to the next plan of action, NYLPI, along with New York City Council Member Antonio Reynoso, DSNY and others, is working to advance a commercial waste zoning bill, which aims to divide the city into at least 20 zones serviced by contracted carters selected through a competitive process. The bill, which has received some support from advocates and some pushback from members of the waste and recycling industry, could go to a full vote in the City Council by the end of October.

Waste360 will continue to follow the progress of New York City’s commercial waste zoning bill as well as any appeal to the waste equity bill challenge ruling.