(New York television station WSTM posted the following Associated Press article on its website on May 14.)
BUFFALO, N.Y. — Money problems have left nearly 400 large containers of New York City trash sitting at a Buffalo rail yard since last fall and neighbors say they want it out.
Residents filled a church auditorium Monday and listened as several governmental representatives promised the trash would go. But none could say when.
Canadian Pacific Railway cars have transported downstate waste to the SK Rail Yard since August for eventual disposal, via truck, at a Niagara County landfill, north of Buffalo. Financial problems at Chem-Rail Logistics of Glens Falls, the company responsible for the disposal, have left the garbage in the rail yard since November, The Buffalo News reported.
Neighbors have videotaped damaged tarpaulins used to try to contain the garbage, which includes construction and municipal waste. They say the foul-smelling trash continually blows through the neighborhood.
Authorities agree the situation violates state and city laws. A representative of the state Department of Environmental Conservation said a notice of violation, for operating a transfer station without a permit, was ignored. The department decided against administrative enforcement because collecting a fine would not get the garbage out.
The DEC in late April referred the matter to state Attorney General Eliot Spitzer’s office, which is in the process of determining what, if any, state laws are being violated and what to do about it.
“We are looking at it,” Spitzer spokesman Marc Violette said. “We have not made a determination on how best to proceed but we are making inquiries.”
The city, meanwhile, is building a public nuisance case. David State, senior deputy corporation counsel told residents to document their complaints.
“We will do whatever it takes to solve this problem,” he said.