700 trucks PER DAY are expected at this facility in the FIRST year alone. Trucks bring diesel emissions, and diesel emissions wreak havoc on our air quality and our lungs. DIESEL MAKES US SICK. Western Suffolk County is already in non-attaintment status — our air quality received a D-minus rating! Albany’s answer? Ignore the rating, make it worse by dumping an intermodal in our area! I mean, it begs the question: who thinks up these things? Or better yet — WHO THINKS????
In the more than ten years since this intermodal facility was first conceived, much has changed. Unchecked development and sprawl have changed the Long Island landscape dramatically. Without having had the proper infrastructure in place to support that development, Western Suffolk County now has to deal with clogged roads, streets that are not safe to walk or bike, and the highest rate of childhood asthma on Long Island.
We recognize that excessive truck traffic on our roads, highways and bridges must be addressed, but we insist it be done in a responsible fashion and that hard data be used to support the claim from mostly city voices that Long Island needs a 50-plus acre intermodal. Important questions must be answered, and so far no one — not the NYS DOT, nor any of the groups who support this project have been able to intelligently answer these questions:
The number and distance of truck trips expected? How many fewer truck trips would the intermodal facility at Pilgrim result in? Where would products arriving by rail be delivered? What SPECIFIC products would be delivered by rail to Long Island and why? What products would the trains take OUT — or would they leave EMPTY? Would trucks LEAVE and TAKE products — or would they be EMPTY one way? What are the VMT reduction calculations?
The NYSDOT prepared a draft Environmental Impact Study (EIS) that encompassed a one-mile radius “zone of influence”. The study says that the proposed site is in a “wholly nonresidential community” and yet, within that one-mile radius, there are a dozen schools (comprising 6,500 students), fourteen parks, fourteen religious institutions, and numerous baseball and soccer fields. The study did not include the effects of an intermodal on patients and staff at Pilgrim State Hospital, which is completely irresponsible.
Download the map to see if your community will be affected:
Five Mile Radius Zone of Influence Map
The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) recommends a five-mile radius “zone of influence”. Had the NYSDOT followed the federal government’s recommendation, all schools in Brentwood, Deer Park, and Dix Hills, and most, if not all, schools in Commack, North Bayshore, Bayshore, and North Babylon would have been included. In Brentwood alone, there are 11 elementary schools and 7 secondary schools, comprising 16,000 students and 71,000 residents. This entire 5-mile radius comprises dozens of schools, thousands of students and at least a quarter of a million residents. How can the state claim that this site is “wholly nonresidential”?
A letter sent by the EPA to the NYSDOT in July 2007 gave the study a thumbs down, requesting more thorough and inclusive air studies. The EPA essentially said there was insufficient documentation for the conclusions offered in the study and their concerns about air quality impacts needed to be addressed. According to the EPA, a major concern not addressed in the NYSDOT’s draft study is air quality in all areas where the freight trains might idle. That could be anywhere in Queens, Nassau or Suffolk County.
Download the EPA letter:
EPA letter to NYS DOT
The draft study claims accordance with the Clean Air Act, a federal law that says projects cannot cause or contribute to local violations or increase the severity of existing violations. The state says, “No violations exist in the Project Area either now or at the time of project completion.” However, Western Suffolk County is indeed already in violation, with a D-minus air quality rating. According to a U.S. Dept. of Transportation- funded study, exposure to only 32 idling diesel trucks per day can cause 1 in 1200 people to develop cancer. How many more will develop cancer due to 700 idling diesel trucks? If the NYS DOT and those who readily and publicly and vigorously cheered this project on, cannot answer the questions listed above, how can they possibly assure us that our children, our grandparents, our other loves ones will not get sick because of all these trucks? We don’t think they can. The NYS DOT and its supporerts have not made a serious or intelligent case for this project. Alas, we say STOP.
Download the Friends of Edgewood Preserve response to the EPA letter here:
friendsrespondstoepa
