Two environmental advocacy groups have given New York Susquehanna & Western Railway an ultimatum: shut down or clean up your act in 90 days, or we'll take you to court.
The groups claim that the five waste transfer stations NYS&W operates in the Meadowlands violate a federal law that bans dumping waste in stations without an enclosed building.
Andrew Willner, executive director of NY/NJ Baykeeper, and Bill Sheehan, executive director of Hackensack Riverkeeper, said the railroad transfers waste in open air and dumps it on bare ground or asphalt pads. Polluted storm water runs off piles of waste, garbage is blown into wetlands, debris is piled perilously close to overheard wires, and airborne pollutants go unchecked, they said.
The state last month fined NYS&W Railway $2.5 million for environmental violations at the Meadowlands sites. In the same week, Reps. Robert Menendez, D-Hoboken, and Bill Pascrell Jr., D-Paterson, and U.S. Sen. Frank Lautenberg introduced legislation to close a loophole in federal interstate commerce law that lets railroad waste transfer stations operate without oversight.
"They've been saying to the state of New Jersey, 'you can't touch us because we're on federal land and we answer to the federal authorities.' We found that the federal law doesn't support what they're doing," said Sheehan.
Tom O'Neil, a spokesman for NYS&W Railway, said the railroad is working to comply with the state regulations.
"We are moving toward enclosing all the sites of New Jersey," O'Neil said.
He said the railway helps the environment by getting trucks that pollute the air off highways. "We are enabling one rail cart to accommodate the same amount of product that would be moved in four trucks," he said.
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