New York City must not abandon its commitment to environmental justice.

Solid waste transfer stations are disproportionately located in low-income neighborhoods and communities of color.That is the message [1] being conveyed by a number of environmental groups around the city -- including NYLCV -- in the wake of community opposition to new solid waste facilities being built in Manhattan [2] and Queens [3].

Six years ago, City Council Speaker Christine Quinn and Mayor Michael Bloomberg courageously pushed to alleviate the unfair burden that had been placed on the city's low-income neighborhoods and communities of color. The overwhelming majority of the city's solid waste transfer stations were located in these areas, and a new comprehensive Solid Waste Management Plan [4] was signed into law to require each borough to handle its own fair share of waste. 

To complete the plan, the Department of Sanitation is building a number of marine transfer stations [5] to move the Big Apple's waste more sustainably and equitably. Now that those stations are under construction, opposition to them has intensified. 

NYLCV urges the city to stay the course -- and honor its commitment to fairness and equality [6] -- by completing all of the Solid Waste Management Plan.