New City Neighborhood Association & Hackensack Riverkeeper Allege Rockland Transit Mix Inc. Polluted Hackensack River & Tributaries
Rockland County’s New City Neighborhood Association and the New Jersey-based Hackensack Riverkeeper Inc. have accused Rockland Transit Mix Inc. of violating the federal Clean Water Act (CWA).
This was in a complaint filed Aug. 17 in the U.S. District Court, White Plains, reported Rockland County Business Journal.
According to both nonprofits, West Nyack concrete company is polluting the 45-mile Hackensack River, which empties into Newark Bay. The Upper Hackensack River also flows into several man-made reservoirs, reported Rockland County Business Journal.
It is alleged that whenever it rains or snows, contaminants from the concrete business drain into a tributary of the Hackensack River, which flow into Newark Bay, New York Harbor, and the Atlantic Ocean.
According to the suit, the sources of pollution are: the company’s concrete batch plant; fleet of trucks; truck washing equipment; piles of materials; and other industrial equipment.
The suit also alleges that Rockland Transit Mix does not have a state storm water permit, does not comply with storm water regulations, developing a pollution plan, implementing pollution controls, and monitoring discharges.
As stated in the suit: The defendants fail to “adequately shelter and otherwise contain these materials to prevent their exposure to precipitation. Storm water transports wastes including but not limited to sand, aggregate, cement, cement additives, minerals, waste materials, fluids from vehicles and machinery, lead, iron, zinc, oil and grease, materials that generate Chemical Oxygen Demand, and pH altering pollutants.”
The plaintiffs are asking the court to declare the company in violation of the CWA, stop it from discharging pollutants, and require it to apply for a storm water permit. They are asking for unspecified civil penalties as well.
