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Expanding E-Commerce & Warehousing Industries Pose Health Risk To Local Communities
Analysis
Along with the conveniences of same day or next day delivery, mega-warehouses, according to a study conducted by NASA and published in Nature, also deliver nitrogen dioxide (NO2) and fine particulate matter, both traffic related pollutants, to local communities.
With the proliferation of existing and newly proposed warehouses in Rockland County (and the Hudson Valley at-large), regulators, environmental advocates, land use boards, and community groups are, or should be, concerned about the air pollution associated with the expanding e-commerce and warehousing industries.
The Village of West Haverstraw’s land use boards are taking a hard look into an as-of-right, zoning compliant, 454,000 square foot, 76 bay warehouse off Ecology Lane, where a former uncapped construction and demolition debris warehouse has sat idle for decades. While the developer’s engineers are working with the DEC to address concerns about heavy metals in the groundwater and methane off-gassing at the surface, there’s little talk about the dangers of nitrogen dioxide emissions affecting nearby residents.
According to the study published in Nature, in a nationwide study of nearly 150,000 warehouses in the U.S., these facilities “worsen local traffic-related air pollution with an average near-warehouse NO2 enhancement of nearly 20% and are disproportionately located in marginalized and minoritized communities.”
There is a direct correlation between the number of warehouse loading docks and parking spaces and near-warehouse truck traffic and NO2 increases. Warehousing and goods movement also increases traffic-related fine particulate matter. Coupled with NO2, these pollutants are associated with pediatric asthma development, cardiovascular disease, premature death, and other health impacts. The negative effects are more dramatic when warehouses are clustered near each other.
At the former Novartis site in Suffern, a developer plans to construct three Class “A” industrial warehouse/wholesale distribution facilities totaling 1,221,800 square feet with loading bays, trailer storage spaces and parking. In 2022, the Village of Suffern planning board issued a positive SEQRA declaration, meaning that experts are studying the potential adverse environmental impacts of the project, including the impacts on air quality and the environment.
Last year, Clarkstown approved plans for a 225,000 square-foot warehouse adjacent to Route 303 in Valley Cottage. In exchange for a small parcel of land donated to the Town, the project received a negative SEQRA declaration, indicating that the warehouse operation would not adversely affect nearby air quality or the local environment. Construction was completed in 2023.
And in Orangetown, developer Gabe Alexander hopes to construct two warehouses totaling 543,000 square feet on industrial zoned land close to Clausland Mountain on South Greenbush Road. Last month, the Town of Orangetown Planning Board issued a positive SEQRA declaration and determined that the proposed project may have a significant adverse impact on the environment. It ordered a Draft Environmental Impact Statement for the project to proceed.
Warehouses are also in development along previously wooded land adjacent to the New York State Thruway in Airmont, and along Mountainview Avenue in Blauvelt on the site of a former church property.
A bill introduced in the New York State Assembly in the 2023-2024 legislative session would have required heavy distribution warehouses, including fulfillment centers and parcel hubs, which regularly run trucks in and out of their facilities 24/7, to have emission reduction and mitigation plans. The bill also required enhanced mitigation measures for warehouses located near sensitive receptors including schools, daycare centers, playgrounds, parks, hospitals, senior centers, and nursing homes. The legislation, which never advanced, would have also required ongoing air quality monitoring and reporting. California passed similar legislation in 2022.
Rockland County’s only air-quality monitoring station is located near Concklin’s Orchards, far from any highway, shopping area, industrial area, or population density. None of the approved warehouses are required to have on-site air-quality monitoring stations. None have a pre-construction baseline for NO2 or fine particular matter, and none have an ongoing obligation to monitor and report the air quality in and around their facilities.
Warehouses are a reality, and new facilities will continue to be proposed and constructed in and around the county. The study strongly suggests that observations about NO2 near warehouses greatly underscores the need for indirect source rules, incentives for replacing old trucks, and corporate commitments away from diesel and towards electrification. The study also suggests that future ground-based monitoring campaigns at or near these facilities may help track the impacts of individual or small clusters of facilities on the local and regional environment.
