WTC security and emergency response newspaper article

NYC 9/11 Public Portal Document

Trash Transfer> SJ (./J^T'hwS __ ^■iQo I To New Jerse^ Is Postponed I

Attorney GeneralRepo^ Sees an Ethics Problerri I

By ERIC UPTON ; New York City’s plan to move most of iis residential trash out of the region by rail has been delayed, after New Jersey investiga­ tors questioned whether Mayor John T. Gre­ gorio of Linden improperly brokered a de^l to build a station in Linden where Nejv York’s trash would be moved from barges to rail cars. i Since this past spring, when New Yoi^ City stopped sending its residential trash to the Fresh Kills landfill in Staten Island, almost all of the city’s residential garbage has been moved out of state by trucks. To reduce truck traffic, the city within the next several years had hoped to have a contrac­ tor build a large trash transfer station M Linden, where more than half of the cityfe daily load of trash would be taken by barge and then moved to distant landfills on rSl cars. ! But an investigation by the office of tl»e New Jersey attorney general, John J. Farri­ er Jr., released yesterday, concluded that Mr. Gregorio had helped secure a lucratm contract for his son-in-law. Domenick P^- cillo, who is a part owner of the proposed Linden trash transfer station site. 5 Mr. Fucillo and his partners are set make $8 for every ton of city trash thit passes through the site, or about $1.2 millio^ a month. But they will pay Linden only $1 ton as a host fee, an amount that the state says Mr. Gregorio negotiated, apparently in an effort to ensure his son-in-law would make the most profit possible. ' "The mayor participated in matted where his son-in-law had a financial intef- est,’’ the report says. ; Mr. Gregorio said he was confident lie would be cleared, { “I had nothing to do with the negotia­ tions,” Mr, Gregorio said, “And delayiijg this project is completely uncalled for,” T As a result of this investigation, the Sta'^ Department of Environmental ProtectiOT has refused to approve the project, sending it back to the Union County Board of Free­ holders, I In addition, the attorney general has asked for a formal state ethics inquiry, saying in a letter to the State Department 6f Community Affairs, which investigates eta- ics claims, that “the report raises serioiis questions regarding the involvement of Lin­ den Mayor John Gregorio in the project,”!

NYC-WTC_OOO1 52239