Borough supports solid waste management bill
Legislation would allow state broader regulatory power
BY SARAH KLEPNER
Staff Writer

RED BANK - - The Borough Council has passed a resolution in support of federal legislation that brings solid waste handling facilities near rail lines under state control.

The resolution approved at the April 23 meeting is in support of H.R. 4821, The Solid Waste Environmental Regulation Clarification Affecting Railroads Act.

The legislation "will ensure solid waste facilities next to rail lines fall under the same regulations as every other waste facility, which would allow New Jersey to regulate these facilities," according to a press release from the office of Rep. Frank Pallone Jr. (D-6).

Before passing the resolution, council members briefly reviewed last spring's controversy regarding plans by Red Bank Recycling to build a 600-ton-per day rail transfer facility for construction and demolition waste on its site at Central Ave and Drs. James Parker Blvd.

The plans were withdrawn by Red Bank Recycling after significant public and official opposition developed.

Before the plans were withdrawn, borough officials and residents learned about a loophole in federal surface transportation regulations which would have negated all local, county and state input on the matter.

Attorney Michael Weisslitz, representing Red Bank Recycling in May 2006, said, "If [the Solid Waste Advisory Council] denies us, or if SWAC approves us, and the plan is denied by [the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection], we can always do a pre-emption facility, which would cause all local authorities to lose any control over the project. It would be governed under federal law, and federal law pre-empts all law in this area."

The Red Bank resolution explains that the Surface Transportation Board "offer[s] railroads the ability to operate a nationally uniform system free from varying state requirements." According to STB guidelines, smaller companies can, as Weisslitz mentioned, claim exemption from any local and state reviews, permits and approvals, allowing it to proceed with no review or approval of specific plans.

"Despite attempts by the state of New Jersey to properly regulate ... rail-based solid waste facilities," the resolution states, strong federal preemption language ... has continued to thwart all efforts to establish control of these waste stations."

Pallone held a press conference in Freehold last Friday to call attention to the need for the legislation after a company filed for a Notice of Exemption in order to create a solid waste transfer station on 10 acres of open land next to the rail line in Freehold.

"The control should be on the local level," Red Bank Councilman John Curley said at the council meeting prior to voting on the resolution.

Pallone introduced the bill in 2006, and again this year. U.S. Sen. Frank Lautenberg (D-NJ) has introduced companion legislation in the U.S. Senate.

"The bill has been referred to the Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, but has not yet been acted upon there," said Heather Lasher Todd, Pallone's press secretary.

Speaking at the council meeting, Curley recalled the opposition to the expansion as "one of the greatest bi-partisan efforts in recent years."

Curley and Councilwoman Grace Cangemi, both Republicans, and then-council president and current Mayor Pasquale Menna, a Democrat, appeared at the Solid Waste Advisory Council in May 2006 to voice Red Bank's official opposition to the transfer station.

Last May, Pallone sent a letter of support to Menna, informing him of the federal legislation and of his testimony before the House Subcommittee on Railroads, part of the Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure, regarding "the impacts that waste transfer stations sited near rail lines can have on residents of New Jersey and other northeastern states."