Staten Island Wetlands in Danger

 

Wetlands are key coastal ecosystems that provide habitat for valued and protected wildlife. They also afford vital ecosystem services to humans, such as protection from storm surge, sea level rise and other effects of climate change. They absorb CO2 and other pollutants.

 

These benefits are particularly important for the Environmental Justice (EJ) community in Graniteville, Staten Island, which is adjacent to the Graniteville Wetland and Forest. This is the only open green space this EJ community has, their only buffer against exhaust from the Staten Island Expressway, the only buffer against Newark Airport and nearby chemical refineries in New Jersey. And it is the only buffer against flooding. According to Carl Alderson, a NOAA scientist, this wetland saved its residents from flooding during Hurricane Sandy.

 

This majority black and brown community is about to lose this protection. The proposal is to build an 18-acre strip mall on this 30-acre wetland. The mall would include a large box store, parking for 835 cars, a gas station and two other buildings. 

 

We thought that our society had learned by now that wetlands should be appreciated and protected rather than destroyed. Nevertheless, the state and city have given approval to this project, which has set off a major controversy in Staten Island. The leader of the local SI organization fighting for preservation, Gabriella Velardi-Ward, and I, along with NOAA’s Carl Alderson, presented this information at a webinar sponsored by the NYC Sierra Club group. Why in the world would the state and the city approve of such a project? Ms. Velardi-Ward’s organization, the Staten Island Coalition for Wetlands and Forests, has kept the developer off the wetland for three years and is now suing to force the NYS DEC to redo its assessment.