RWD_p004

RT04162015

4 times • APRIL 16, 2015 FOR BREAKING NEWS VISIT www.timesnewsweekly.com More funding secured to upgrade outdated freight locomotives BY ANTHONY GIUDICE agiudice@ridgewoodtimes.com @A_GiudiceReport Extra funds are coming down the track from Albany to clean up some of the state’s dirtiest diesel locomotives. Assemblyman Andrew Hevesi, along with other elected officials, civic organizations and the New York League of Conservative Voters, announced that $3 million was secured in the 2015 state budget to continue a program to overhaul old, state-owned freight locomotives. This funding comes after Hevesi previously secured $6 million in the 2013 and 2014 state budgets. That money has already been put into retrofitting two locomotives of the 11-car fleet at Glendale’s Fresh Pond Railyard, which are set to roll out this December. According to a source close to the situation, the first two locomotives, which received funding for upgrades during the last two years, were delayed getting their enhancements due to contract disputes with the Long Island Rail Road (LIRR), which owns the railyard but leases it to the New York and Atlantic Railway. The two train cars went in for their scheduled upgrades this past summer and will be set to go by the end of the year. “With this additional state funding, and the first two overhauled freight locomotives expected to come online later this year, it is encouraging that great strides are being made to fight for, and protect, the health of countless families in the boroughs of New York and on Long Island,” Hevesi said. Retrofitting diesel freight engines was a top transportation and environmental priority in the Fiscal Year 2013, 2014 and 2015 Assembly budgets. The request was supported and signed by over 60 members of the Assembly, and received bipartisan support in both chambers of the legislature. “I am very pleased that the new state budget includes an additional $3 million that will be used to continue a program to upgrade the engines of antiquated LIRR freight locomotives,” Queens Borough President Melinda Katz said. “This program will improve the lives of Queens residents by reducing the unhealthy nitrogen oxide emissions and curbing the unpleasant noise pollution generated by the locomotives’ existing diesel engines.” The train cars are currently equipped with antiquated engines which are up to the standards set by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) for 1970s locomotives and give off toxic emissions. These outdated trains operate throughout Brooklyn, Long Island and Queens, and specifically at the Fresh Pond Railyard. “This funding gives us greater ammunition in the fight for our constituents’ quality of life and I am thrilled we can continue to see the progress in overhauling the antiquated freight locomotives,” state Senator Joseph Addabbo said. “This benefits people near and far to the rail tracks — allowing those close to be less disturbed by train rumblings and those all around to allow more fresh, clean air into their lungs.” The continued funding of this program will allow for a third freight locomotive to be upgraded to meet the current EPA Tier 4 emissions standards. The EPA Tier 4 standards are some of the highest in the country since the EPA changed their emission standards in 2000. The enhancements to this third train car is expected to reduce nitrogen oxide emissions — a known byproduct of diesel engines linked to respiratory diseases — by up to 76 percent per year, or the equivalent of 120 tons of emissions over 10 years. Bioswale construction to begin this month BY ANTHONY GIUDICE The bioswales help improve the city’s overflow (CSO). agiudice@ridgewoodtimes.com water quality by reducing the amount CSO is a combination of sewage @A_GiudiceReport of rainwater entering the sewer system, water from homes and businesses and which helps lower combined sewer stormwater, which can become too The confines of Community Board 5 are about to get greener. Representatives from the Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) announced during the Community Board 5 (CB 5) meeting on Wednesday that the construction of 200 to 250 bioswales is set to begin at the end of the month. Bioswales are curbside gardens that collect stormwater runoff into large, underground basins through 5 feet of specially engineered soil, comprised of layers of broken stone and sandy soil. “New York’s infrastructure is hard, it’s very dense,” said Ibrahim Abdul- Matin, director of community affairs for the DEP. “Green infrastructure is, in a sense, peeling back a layer of that hard infrastructure.” “Part of what we’re doing is making the land spongy again,” he continued. “The goal is to improve water quality… this is one of our tools to do that.” much for the sewer system to handle, especially during times of heavy rainfall. The water then overflows and sends untreated water into the city’s waterways, such as Newtown Creek, which suffers from high levels of pollution. One single bioswale can manage almost 3,000 gallons of water and if the bioswale becomes overfilled, the water is released into the sewer catch basin as it normally would, just at a lower rate so there is not a rush of water that could overflow the sewer system. With the installation of the bioswales right around the corner, community issues are a major point of concern for the DEP. “One of the big questions we get a lot is, ‘Who is going to take care of these?’” Abdul-Matin told the board. “We build it, we’re going to maintain it. It’s not like we’re going to pass the buck onto you.” The construction and installation of these bioswales and other green infrastructure will help clean the city’s water and reduce flooding, making the neighborhoods they serve better. Photo courtesy of the Department of Environmental Protection Rendering of a bioswale. TIMES NEWSWEEKLY (USPS 465-940) is published weekly by Schneps NY Media LLC, 38-15 Bell Blvd., Bayside, NY 11361. Periodicals postage paid at Flushing, NY. POSTMASTER: Send address changes to: Times Newsweekly/Ridgewood Times, P.O. Box 863299, Ridgewood, N.Y. 11386-0299.


RT04162015
To see the actual publication please follow the link above