Office of Borough President James P. Molinaro
Staten Island, New York
B.P. Molinaro receives 150 letters from Great Kills residents willing to sue over Brookfield cleanup
Seeking “peace of mind,” litigation considered “to bring this nightmare to an end”
STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. – Anxious “to bring this nightmare to an end,” the Northern Great Kills Civic Association has told Borough President James P. Molinaro that they would consider litigation to force the City and State to live up to their promises of remediating the former Brookfield Landfill and inactive hazardous waste site.
The civic association yesterday delivered to Borough Hall more than 150 letters signed by residents living near the 30-year-old landfill expressing their support for Molinaro’s appeal to Governor Paterson to break the funding impasse between environmental agencies that is preventing a remediation contract from being awarded for the cleanup.
Specifically, the letters indicate that after five years of not implementing the remedial action plan that has resulted in a 200% increase in costs, the City and State are paralyzed on how to get the cleanup started due to lack of funding.
The letters addressed to the Borough President say in part, “I am encouraged by your efforts to bring the landfill’s remediation to fruition. However, I am of the opinion that a request to the governor will fall on the same deaf ears as those of the regulatory agencies that continuously neglect to fulfill their public promises to remediate this site. Thus, I urge you to explore even more aggressive action to ensure prompt cleanup of the Brookfield site, including litigation, if necessary.”
Upon receipt of the letters, Molinaro today said, “The strong response from the affected community clearly indicates to me that government has failed to live up to its promises. I agree wholeheartedly with each resident that after 30 years, everyone should have the peace of mind that Brookfield no longer poses a threat because it is now closed under State environmental regulations. But unfortunately, all we have at this point are just words and no action.”
The civic association plans to consult with legal counsel at their next meeting on June 11th.
Molinaro said, “I have been assured by the civic association and the Brookfield Citizen’s Advisory Committee that they will keep my environmental engineer, Nick Dmytryszyn, apprised of their next steps. I have likewise informed them that they have the full support of my office.”
May 29, 2008