I am proud to announce that I am the lead plaintiff with Councilmember Jessica Lappin and Asphalt Green on a new federal lawsuit against the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and the City to stop the construction of Mayor Bloomberg’s ill-conceived East 91^st Street Marine Transfer Station.

When Superstorm Sandy hit on October 29^th, the area around the East 91^st Street Marine Transfer Station flooded, damaging Asphalt Green’s facilities – with waters reaching as far as First Avenue.  This new reality of frequent extreme weather should be a wake up call for the Bloomberg administration and the City Council – that building a Marine Transfer Station in Flood Zone “A” is a disaster in the making.

Our new lawsuit exposes the fact that the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers violated the requirements of the Federal Clean Water Act along with its own guidelines in granting the final permit necessary to begin construction on the East 91^st Street Marine Transfer Station.  The Army Corps of Engineers cut corners in issuing its permit in July. They failed to thoroughly evaluate all possible alternative sites, the true long term environmental impact on this densely populated residential neighborhood and whether constructing a Marine Transfer Station at East 91^st Street is truly in the public interest.  That puts our community, and the tens-of-thousands of people who use Asphalt Green each year, at risk.

In June, I sued Mayor Bloomberg and the City Council in State Supreme Court to stop the East 91^st Street Marine Transfer Station.  While that lawsuit is ongoing, this new lawsuit will give us yet another avenue to finally stop the construction of the East 91^stStreet Marine Transfer Station.

Below you may find my press release announcing the lawsuit and a copy of the lawsuit itself.