Subject: Menendez wants garbage sites shut: By PETER J. SAMPSON; The Record (Bergen County), STAFF WRITER: Rep. Robert Menendez added his voice Wednesday to a coalition of government and industry groups urging the federal Surface Transportation Board to shut down solid waste transfer sites operating along a rail line in North Bergen. Menendez wants garbage sites shut In a letter to the board, the Hoboken Democrat said he supports the petition by the National Solid Waste Management Association, the New Jersey League of Municipalities and others for an order declaring that the transfer stations are subject to state and local regulation. "These solid waste transfer stations have been operating alongside rail lines in my district for some time now," the congressman wrote. "They are open to the air, polluting the surrounding neighborhoods with wind-blown debris, and have extremely poor stormwater controls, if any at all, allowing rain to leach through the trash piles and into sensitive wetlands." The New York Susquehanna & Western Railway Corp., which runs the sites, has claimed that under federal law the sites are exempt from state regulation. However, the railroad is voluntarily erecting buildings to enclose the operations, in which construction and demolition debris is tipped from trucks, sorted and loaded onto rail cars for out-of-state disposal. Menendez noted the pending petition contains strong evidence that these sites are operating as solid waste processing facilities, not merely as transfer sites, and as such should not qualify for preemption. There is also evidence that the solid waste operations are being performed by an entity independent of the railroad, he said. "The state of New Jersey has taken legal action to try to force these operations to comply with state environmental regulations, but has been thwarted because the legal status of these sites is unclear," Menendez wrote. "On behalf of the health and safety of the families of New Jersey, I believe the Surface Transportation Board needs to declare, once and for all, that railroads cannot continue to use a federal loophole as an excuse to pollute without fear," the letter said. The state's bid to enforce new regulations, including a $2.5 million penalty assessed in July, prompted NYS&W to sue in federal court. A judge has stayed the fines and allowed the transfer facilities to continue operating as the railroad moves to enclose two sites and phase out three open-air sites by the year's end. Menendez, who serves on a House subcommittee on railroads, also urged the board to extend the 20-day comment period to 45 days.