Finger Lakes Wine Business Coalition co-founder and winemaker of Eagle Crest Vineyards and O-Neh-Da Vineyard Will Ouweleen, Waterloo Container Company andConcerned Citizens of Seneca County's attorney Douglas H. Zamelis, and Seneca Lake advocate and renowned author Sandra Steingraber testified at the Department of Sanitation public hearing in New York City on the morning of Thursday, October 15th. They voiced opposition to the proposed contract to transport and dump a large amount of NYC's solid waste in the Finger Lakes region to Progressive Waste Solutions' (IESI NY Corporation) Seneca Meadows Landfill in Waterloo, NY.

The twenty-year, $3.3 billion deal would transport NYC garbage by rail and trucks to Waterloo, New York. This is just 4 miles away from the famed birthplace of the women's suffragette movement in Seneca Falls, NY and in the heart of the over $4 billion a year Finger Lakes Wine Country.

"I left harvesting my grapes in the peak of our season to travel to New York City to tell Mayor de Blasio and the NYC Department of Sanitation not to trash the over $4 billion a year wine and tourism industry in the heart of upstate New York," said Will Ouweleen on behalf of the Finger Lakes Wine Business Coalition. "Mayor de Blasio needs to show some respect for the hardworking people of upstate New York. We don't want NYC trashing the world-class wine and tourism industry that we have built with our blood, sweat and tears. New York City and Mayor de Blasio would be foolish to proceed with this proposal because it would only worsen the upstate-downstate divide."

Mr. Ouweleen debuted a new wine label called "No Trash! de Blasio Blush" as part of the new awareness-raising 'Don't Trash the Finger Lakes!' campaign at the NYC Department of Sanitation public hearing. Mr. Ouweleen's O-Neh-Da Vineyard supplied the O-Neh-Da Authentic Sacramental Wine and premium Finger Lakes Vinifera wines for use by Pope Francis during his two-day visit to New York City on September 24th and 25th. O-Neh-Da Vineyard is America's oldest dedicated sacramental winery, founded by the first Bishop of Rochester, NY Bernard J. McQuaid in 1872.

Douglas H. Zamelis, Esq., environmental attorney, said on behalf of the Waterloo Container Company, that supplies many of the local wineries with their glass bottles and other supplies and services, and the Concerned Citizens of Seneca County, Inc., an environmental citizens group, "We testified today to put New York City and Mayor de Blasio on notice that the people of the Finger Lakes will aggressively fight this ill-conceived proposal. There are major flaws in this attempt to dump NYC's trash in upstate New York. First off, while the proposed contract is for twenty years, the NYS Department of Environmental Conservation records indicate that the companyonly has a permit through 2017 and according to Seneca Meadows they only have capacity to accept waste until 2023. Any permit renewal for the Seneca Meadows dump will have to get the approval of the NYS DEC. Secondly, Seneca Meadows doesn't currently have a way to get trash from a train to the dump in any significant quantities. In the past any attempt toexpand the dump has been met with aggressive local opposition and any future attempt will meet with a firestorm of public opposition."

Also in attendance was Sandra Steingraber, biologist, author, Distinguished Scholar in Residence at Ithaca College and Seneca Lake advocate. She noted the fact that there has been no scientific evaluation of how this landfill would impact the public health and safety of Finger Lakes residents. She stated how there needs to be a public hearing in the Finger Lakes region for this large scale 20 year proposal that will impact the lives of so many upstate New Yorkers. She also noted themobilization and 400 arrests of residents to defend Seneca Lake from gas storage and said that the spirit of resisting any project that will threaten the health, economy and environment will be met with public outcry and opposition, "The people of the Finger Lakes need an opportunity to voice their concerns about this proposal. We do not want New York City's garbage in a landfill in the watershed of Seneca Lake where we have not only a world-class wine tourism destination but 100,000 people who get their drinking water from this pristine lake."

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