ELR Citation: ELR 21056
No(s). CV 89-2532 (E.D.N.Y. Feb 26, 1990)

The court holds that the county is not entitled to modify a consent decree concerning the ocean dumping of sewage sludge to delete the schedule requiring the county to build and operate equipment to dewater all of its sludge by the end of 1991. The county and the Environmental Protection Agency entered into a decree to phase out the county's ocean dumping as required by the Ocean Dumping Ban Act of 1988. The county seeks the modification based on its decision to use a private vendor that would implement a system to reuse the sludge instead of placing it in a landfill. The court refuses to modify the decree, since the modification will not further the decree's purpose of ending ocean dumping without delay. The Ocean Dumping Ban Act's legislative history shows that Congress wanted to close every legal loophole to the 1991 deadline. The county has also failed to demonstrate any new and unforeseen conditions that require modification of the decree.

Counsel for Plaintiffs
Andrew J. Maloney, U.S. Attorney
Deborah B. Zwany, Ass't U.S. Attorney
U.S. Courthouse, 255 Cadman Plaza E., Brooklyn NY 11202
(718) 330-7106

Bruce C. Buckheit
Land and Natural Resources Division
U.S. Department of Justice, Washington DC 20530
(202) 514-4079

Counsel for Defendants
Gaines Gwathmey, John N. Gevertz
Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison
1285 Avenue of the Americas, New York NY 10019-6064
(212) 373-3000