Site a hot mess
Rage over toxic fires at dump by LIRR tracks
A WASTE FACILITY with a checkered history right next to the Long Island Rail Road tracks in Brooklyn should be investigated and booted from its space, community activists and elected officials say.
Brooklyn Resource Recovery has been using 45,000 square feet of land along Preston Court between Ralph Ave. and E. 56th St. in East Flatbush, according to residents and elected officials from the area who believe the site is partially owned by the MTA.
Workers at the scrap metal yard shred cars and other metal products, witnesses say.
Community advocates and elected officials contend that a large percentage of the waste processed at the facility by the company is “highly hazardous and flammable.”
The waste at the location has led to serious fires.
In 2007, 138 firefighters needed 18 hours to bring under control a fire with flames up to 50 feet high at the location.
Last year, smoke plumes could be seen from Manhattan as the site experienced another major blaze. The fires, with explosions and flying debris, put people in the neighborhood at risk, critics of the company say. The flames also sent toxic fumes into the atmosphere, they contend.
Kirsten John Foy of the National Action Network and other activists believe the spot is actually owned by the MTA and say the firm has been illegally squatting on the spot without paying rent for over two decades.
“We are calling on the MTA to adequately and appropriately secure their facilities,” said Foy.
“We want them to look at the history of the theft of the land, determine the value to the state, and then force the company to remit the money to the state,” he said.
But the MTA maintains the spot is privately owned.
The LIRR owns the tracks next to the industrial location that handle freight trains, which are operated by a third party, said MTA spokesman Jon Weinstein.
“Our lease agreement with the freight rail operator for those tracks does not allow for any encroachment onto the right-of-way (the tracks) without our consent,” he said.
“We will look into the matter and take any appropriate legal action, if necessary.”
A company representative denied using the site.
“I’m not buying any scrap metal there,” said a man who answered the phone at the firm. “I have no idea what you’re talking about.”
“I don’t want to be part of any story,” he added, declining to give his name before hanging up.