New York-New York Organic Fertilizer Co., the focus of repeated protests over foul odors caused by the processing of sewage into fertilizer, is being sued by N.Y. State Atty. Gen. Andrew Cuomo, who announced Feb. 5 he is joining efforts to protect the right to clean and healthy air. “The facility has been a foul and persistent threat to Hunts Point for years,” declared Cuomo, who said he is also including in the suit the parent company Synagro Technologies Inc. He added, “The stench has plagued the community, making simple activities like opening windows, walking to school or enjoying a local park not only unpleasant, but an actual health risk.” Both plant officials and those with Houston-based Synagro denied violating pollution laws, describing the plant as a “good neighbor.” Synagro’s statement, released through their lawyer, Christopher McKenzie, a prominent New York environmental attorney, insisted that the “facility has taken, and will continue to take, proactive measures to ensure that it is in compliance with its permits and applicable law and is a good neighbor in the community.” Cuomo’s lawsuit charges that New York Organic Fertilizer, located in the Hunts Point neighborhood of South Bronx, has created a public nuisance under New York State law by producing odors that “unreasonably interfere with the comfortable enjoyment of life or property.” Further, the lawsuit charges that the facility and Synagro have failed to control odors “so they do not constitute nuisances or threats to public health, safety or property.” New York Organic accepts sewage sludge from New York City’s sewage treatment plants and processes it into fertilizer pellets for sale to out-of-state agricultural operations. The attorney general’s lawsuit aims to address the odor problems by requiring both companies to comprehensively investigate solutions to ending offensive and noxious odors and then implement those that will be most effective.
Transparency Across the Fertilizer Value-Chain