Local residents may soon have a hotline to report maverick garbage and hazardous material trucks traveling routes other than those designated by the state.
U.S. Senator Charles Schumer organized a truck-traffic summit in New York City Tuesday to stop city wastehaulers from taking shortcuts off Interstate 81 and the Thruway.
Schumer said the problem was still quite complex.
“Even if we get a good solution from New York City, we still have to work with other counties,” he said. “Not all the garbage comes from New York City.”
He called the summit “a good first step.”
“This is a very serious problem,” Schumer said. “I stood on Route 20 in Skaneateles for a half hour and watched them going by.”
He visited Skaneateles in October and proposed his own three-point plan at that time.
He said the truck problem was the top one cited by people he met at the state fair last summer.
Finger Lakes residents have been complaining about truck traffic for years.
Worries about out-of-state garbage haulers driving on local roads like Routes 20 and 90 stem from trucks hopping off the interstates to avoid tolls and to save on gas and money as they travel to places such as the Seneca Meadows landfill in Seneca Falls.
Residents are concerned about quality of life and environmental and infrastructure issues resulting from truck traffic.
Schumer outlined four steps that those attending the meeting generally supported.
Immediately, a contract between the New York City Department of Sanitation, and IESI, the hauler, and owner of the landfill, Seneca Meadows, will be drawn up. It will prohibit trucks from going past environmentally sensitive areas, such as lakeshores on Routes 41, 41A, 20, and 90. This would include the lakeshore areas of Skaneateles and Cayuga lakes, for example.
New York City has agreed to set up a quick process, according to Schumer, that will take effect within the next couple of weeks. The city will designate the environmentally sensitive areas where the truckers can't go.
The second step is putting in place an enforcement system. The IESI doesn't own all of the trucks; it subcontracts to other trucking companies, so once the sensitive areas are designated, a truck going on the wrong route can have its license reported, losing its contract to haul.
The city will set up a toll-free phone number to report violations.
Schumer is counting on residents to be his “tracking system” to vigilantly report violators.
The third step will be modifying Brooklyn and Queens contracts for waste disposal here. Schumer said that when the Brooklyn contract is up for renewal in November of 2008, it will be renegotiated to indicate where the trucks can go, with all trucks off the road and onto the major highways.
While New York City can control its own truckers and those contracting for waste with its boroughs, it can't control private truckers who are engaged in hauling waste materials from other sites. They can go wherever they want.
“There is no law on the books,” Schumer said, “to keep these trucks on designated routes.”
Schumer considered the fourth step the “ultimate solution” to stop all trucking violations - getting the state to designate routes for hazardous materials and garbage.
This step has already been taken with a bill cosponsored by state Senators Michael Nozzolio, R-Fayette, and John DeFrancisco, R-Syracuse, which has already passed the Senate. It focuses on non-local commercial trucks hauling hazardous and municipal waste to keep them off rural roads and to limit them to interstate routes, such as 81 and 90.
Schumer said that for some reason, the pending bill is getting resistance in the Assembly from the DOT. He said he would call Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver and Gov. Eliot Spitzer to help.
The law, now moving into the Assembly, would require the state Department of Transportation to work with the departments of Health and Environmental Conservation in designating truck routes.
Staff writer Kathleen Barran can be contacted at 253-5311 ext. 238 or kathleen.barran@lee.net
Schumer said the problem was still quite complex.
“Even if we get a good solution from New York City, we still have to work with other counties,” he said. “Not all the garbage comes from New York City.”
He called the summit “a good first step.”
“This is a very serious problem,” Schumer said. “I stood on Route 20 in Skaneateles for a half hour and watched them going by.”
He visited Skaneateles in October and proposed his own three-point plan at that time.
He said the truck problem was the top one cited by people he met at the state fair last summer.
Finger Lakes residents have been complaining about truck traffic for years.
Worries about out-of-state garbage haulers driving on local roads like Routes 20 and 90 stem from trucks hopping off the interstates to avoid tolls and to save on gas and money as they travel to places such as the Seneca Meadows landfill in Seneca Falls.
Residents are concerned about quality of life and environmental and infrastructure issues resulting from truck traffic.
Schumer outlined four steps that those attending the meeting generally supported.
Immediately, a contract between the New York City Department of Sanitation, and IESI, the hauler, and owner of the landfill, Seneca Meadows, will be drawn up. It will prohibit trucks from going past environmentally sensitive areas, such as lakeshores on Routes 41, 41A, 20, and 90. This would include the lakeshore areas of Skaneateles and Cayuga lakes, for example.
New York City has agreed to set up a quick process, according to Schumer, that will take effect within the next couple of weeks. The city will designate the environmentally sensitive areas where the truckers can't go.
The second step is putting in place an enforcement system. The IESI doesn't own all of the trucks; it subcontracts to other trucking companies, so once the sensitive areas are designated, a truck going on the wrong route can have its license reported, losing its contract to haul.
The city will set up a toll-free phone number to report violations.
Schumer is counting on residents to be his “tracking system” to vigilantly report violators.
The third step will be modifying Brooklyn and Queens contracts for waste disposal here. Schumer said that when the Brooklyn contract is up for renewal in November of 2008, it will be renegotiated to indicate where the trucks can go, with all trucks off the road and onto the major highways.
While New York City can control its own truckers and those contracting for waste with its boroughs, it can't control private truckers who are engaged in hauling waste materials from other sites. They can go wherever they want.
“There is no law on the books,” Schumer said, “to keep these trucks on designated routes.”
Schumer considered the fourth step the “ultimate solution” to stop all trucking violations - getting the state to designate routes for hazardous materials and garbage.
This step has already been taken with a bill cosponsored by state Senators Michael Nozzolio, R-Fayette, and John DeFrancisco, R-Syracuse, which has already passed the Senate. It focuses on non-local commercial trucks hauling hazardous and municipal waste to keep them off rural roads and to limit them to interstate routes, such as 81 and 90.
Schumer said that for some reason, the pending bill is getting resistance in the Assembly from the DOT. He said he would call Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver and Gov. Eliot Spitzer to help.
The law, now moving into the Assembly, would require the state Department of Transportation to work with the departments of Health and Environmental Conservation in designating truck routes.
Staff writer Kathleen Barran can be contacted at 253-5311 ext. 238 or kathleen.barran@lee.net
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