The cumulative list of current warehouse projects in Orange County demonstrates several important facts that officials and residents should attend to.
First, the practice of reviewing individual applications for approval can overlook the cumulative dynamic within a community, as we see in Wawayanda.
Second, because each of these projects uses highways, airsheds and watersheds shared by many communities, municipalities need to take an interest in what is happening next door.
Third, the cumulative impacts of these projects in terms of air pollution, traffic impacts, climate impacts, watershed impacts, and loss of habitat needs to be considered.
Fourth, the county should take the lead on cumulative review given the size of the dynamic, but each reviewing agency also has a responsibility to consider cumulative impacts as part of their State Environmental Quality Act (SQRA) review.
Fifth, when we look at the reviews done for different projects and in different municipalities, we see that such cumulative impacts are not considered. Even worse, in many cases the lead agency has determined that no environmental impact statement was required at all.
Sixth, the effort to make Rt. 17 a federal highway and increase lanes has helped induce this explosion of warehouse projects in Orange County. A Rt. 86 designation would only pull more trucks through the county. And three lanes are not needed to address current traffic. The project as conceived will not address the problems of trucks on secondary roads, the air pollution, etc.
Seventh, there already many huge warehouses in Orange County; this is not a form of economic development that helps the local economy and the problems generated detract from the quality of communities, health and environment and thus the ability to attract desirable ratables. No subsidies should be spent on warehousing.
Eighth, since many warehouses are built on spec, the potential for warehouse blight arises. Might empty warehouses invite server farms feeding a crypto/AI surge, bringing massive energy demand and other problems to the region.
Ninth, we are just beginning to understand the effects of diesel and other air pollutants, noise and other issues along the Rt. 17 corridor and on our secondary roads. Even without further traffic or highway expansion, Goshen residents, for example, are currently receiving higher diesel exposure than state or national averages. The time to investigate such impacts is now before problems are further compounded.
Finally, some of these projects are already approved and potentially beyond challenge. Others are just working their way through local review. As local residents have been discovering, their voices are heard at appropriate points in the process. Local activism can help to assure that a proper environmental review is done, that a hard look is taken at projects before approval and that adverse impacts identified are truly mitigated. Crucially, an involved public can influence boards to reject projects where significant adverse impacts cannot be overcome. Orange Environment, Inc. is a 42-year-old countywide environmental membership organization dedicated to preserving the environmental integrity of Orange County and its region and promoting the sustainability of its communities. Volunteers are welcome.
