ALBANY--New York State Department of Environmental Conservation Commissioner Pete Grannis announced today that the Department, in cooperation with the City of New York, has been carrying out a major enforcement action to address urban outdoor air quality in a neighborhood that has suffered disproportionately from pollution.
The program - focusing on polluting diesel trucks and boilers - is centered on East Harlem, from 96th Street to 116 Street, and from FDR Drive to 5th Avenue (zip code 10029), where asthma hospitalization rates are four times the national average. It's also an area of considerable truck traffic.
This is the first time DEC has launched such a plan. The City of New York has joined DEC in this targeted enforcement sweep.
Over the last two weeks, DEC law enforcement officers have been pulling over diesel trucks and issuing tickets to those that fail to comply with state emissions standards on emissions. So far, 311 trucks were pulled over and inspected, of which 110 trucks were found to be in violation of State air quality regulations. A total of 158 tickets were issued, including for violations not related to air quality standards.
As a second part of the initiative, DEC officers have been patrolling the neighborhood issuing tickets for trucks or buses illegally idling. The Department intends to work with fleet owners to get them to correct these problems.
Besides ticketing, DEC has placed an air monitoring unit on the grounds of Metropolitan Hospital, on the west side of First Avenue, between 97th and 99th streets, and will monitor the air in the area for two months.
NYC Department of Environmental Protection inspectors have been issuing tickets for boilers found emitting black smoke and polluting the neighborhood, and for illegally idling trucks. Promoting compliance with the city's strict three-minute limit on idling vehicles is a component of PlaNYC 2030, which includes 14 separate clean air initiatives.
Data from these enforcement actions will be used to develop a long-term strategy for addressing local outdoor air pollution sources in NYC and other urban areas. In this effort, DEC will join with the city and local organizations, including Manhattan Borough President Stringer's Go Green East Harlem Initiative, Community Board No. 11, West Harlem Environmental Action (WE ACT), and the Natural Resources Defense Council.
The affected neighborhood has an asthma hospital-discharge rate of 133 per 10,000 population. That is well above the national average (31 per 10,000), the state average (39/10,000) and city average (64/10,000). It is a compact area of 0.83 square miles, with two northbound and two southbound local truck traffic routes, and two east-west truck traffic routes.
New York State Department of Environmental Conservation
www.dec.ny.gov
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