Throwing Out the Trash: Waste to Energy in New York City an Analysis of Environmental Justice and NIMBY Concerns

New York City faces a crisis in its waste management system. Relying on expensive garbage export since the closure of Freshkills in 2001, the Department of Sanitation released a report in March 2012 documenting alternatives using biogas, as well as potential sites. What they did not include was any discussion of the complicated mix of potential Environmental Justice issues, NIMBY backlash of area residents and the decisions of businesses when the project moves through the approvals process. This paper explores concerns of the sites’ stakeholders and attempts to determine if they are rooted more in self-centered NIMBYism or a reaction over the over-reliance of siting facilities in poor communities that led to Environmental Justice. It also seeks to find a compromise that will avoid years of legal battles to force a project on a community