Brookhaven Rail Terminal Plan would boost Economic Recovery

BRT leadership affirms their opposition to an unlawful waste transfer station at the rail terminal

In a multimillion dollar vote of confidence in Long Island’s future, The Brookhaven Rail Terminal (BRT) is proposing to move ahead with a $172 million development plan that would allow the facility to broaden its ability to welcome by rail the expanded goods and services that will meet the needs of the region in need of rebuilding its economy.

“At a time when the pandemic has harmed virtually every aspect of Long Island’s economy, tax base, and employment prospects, BRT is prepared to commit millions of dollars for the purpose of strengthening its intermodal rail and warehouse infrastructure. By doing so, we are not only able to serve the environment by eliminating thousands of tractor trailers from our roads but directly assist in our economic recovery,” stated Andrew Kaufman, President of BRT.

BRT’s commitment comes at a time when Suffolk County is expected to shoulder enormous deficits over the next 18 months. In addition, the federal Bureau of Economic Analysis cautions that New York’s gross domestic product fell 36.3% in the second quarter of 2020, reflecting the economic damage from the pandemic.

BRT’s proposed development will also provide a critical lifeline to the Town of Brookhaven which is facing its own budget crisis. The Town is expecting a revenue shortfall of at least $13.9 million which Brookhaven officials blame on the pandemic. The Town has already concluded, as part of its environmental review of the project, that BRT’s expansion of the rail terminal would generate approximately $5,912,030 in annual property taxes and create approximately 650 permanent jobs as well as 579 short term jobs per year. “We believe that our project which we expect to complete within a year will help alleviate the Town’s revenue shortfall during the COVID-19 crisis and for years to come,” continued the President of the BRT.

“At some point this contraction will stop and the region will start the process of rebuilding, redeveloping and reshaping its future. The BRT needs to be a strategic part of that effort given how industry and commerce have profoundly changed in getting to their markets,” added the BRT president.

BRT opposed to a proposed waste transfer station

Kaufman says that BRT’s project is consistent with a long standing agreement with the Town of Brookhaven that allows for the expanded operation of the BRT intermodal rail and warehouse facilities. “We are prepared to move forward with the expansion of our railway facility, which does not include a waste management facility, on the parcels we own and control at the BRT.”

The Town, however, is seeking fast track approval for a new waste management facility on one of the parcels at the rail terminal. “We are profoundly and permanently opposed to any plan that would provide a waste management facility at the rail terminal without appropriate approvals. That proposal did not originate with BRT, is the current subject of litigation, and would irreparably harm every environmental protocol we have put into place to ensure we are an innovative ‘green’ asset to the Town of Brookhaven,” Mr. Kaufman stated.

The Town has previously indicated its willingness to give up local oversight of the proposed waste management facility to the Federal Surface Transportation Board before reversing course late last month. “We were as surprised as everyone else that the Town was apparently willing to give up local control of the proposed waste management facility in order to benefit a private waste management company which does not even own the property,” noted Mr. Kaufman.

“It is incomprehensible that the Town and a private waste management company would seek to disregard the years of thoughtful discussion, review, negotiation and approval we all put into the development of this property in order to fast track a new waste management facility,” warned Mr. Kaufman.

Adrienne Esposito, Executive Director of the Citizens Campaign for the Environment and Assemblyman Steve Englebright, chairman of the State Assembly Committee on Environmental Conservation, have also raised objections to the development on a waste management facility at the BRT without appropriate oversight and environmental review.

“It should come as no surprise that their rush to build a waste transfer station is under the ruse of a ‘crisis’ to avoid oversight and public comment. Any comprehensive review would quickly reveal that this is not the place for such a garbage facility and the applicant is not even the lawful applicant for such a proposal,” concluded Mr. Kaufman.