Brookhaven Rail has dropped plans to build a waste transfer station next to the Town of Brookhaven landfill in Yaphank, citing opposition and the state legislature’s repeated inaction on legislation needed for the project.

Rather than seek approval for the facility, Brookhaven Rail is selling the 228-acre property to NorthPoint Development, a Kansas City-based warehouse developer, said Will Flower, vice president of corporate and public affairs for Winters Bros., which owns Brookhaven Rail.

“Brookhaven Rail wholeheartedly believes that its plan was the best solution to tackle the current waste crisis, but with the persistent delays and obstacles that have presented throughout the past several years, we could not see a path to a sufficient return on investment,” Flower said in an email.

The decision also comes after Houston-based WM announced in July it was acquiring Winters Bros.

Winters Bros. and other supporters of the project, including Town of Brookhaven officials, have said the waste transfer station is needed to help Long Island deal with solid-waste disposal after the landfill stops accepting construction debris later this year and closes in 2028. Transporting solid waste off Long Island by rail is a better alternative than doing so by truck, they say.

“Brookhaven Rail has always strived to provide the best possible solutions to managing society’s waste at the lowest cost possible,” Flower said. “The Yaphank facility would have provided the greatest opportunity to do both.” 

But the NAACP and Citizens Campaign for the Environment, which sued to block the waste transfer station, hailed Brookhaven Rail’s decision to drop the project as a victory for the environment and the people of North Bellport, whose neighborhoods would be impacted, they said.

“Our job is to protect our natural resources and public health.,” Citizens Campaign for the Environment executive director Adrienne Esposito said in a press release. “This massive transfer station would have bifurcated the conservation area, burdened the local neighborhoods with a massive increase in truck traffic and noise, and added air pollution to an already overburdened community. We are delighted with this community victory and look forward to working collaboratively with Winters Bros. and Brookhaven Town to find more appropriate ways to manage our solid waste.”

Brookhaven NAACP president Dr. Georgette Grier-Key said in the press release, the outcome was just part of the group’s efforts to help area residents.

“We had many partners in the community that stood with us, and we thank every one of them,” Grier-Key said. “This victory is sweet, but the fight for environmental justice, for good jobs for our community, for our fair share of state funding for our schools and more, continues.”

The state legislature, in its most recent term, again failed to take up legislation sought by the Town of Brookhaven that would have allowed the town to change the boundaries of a 62-acre conservation easement so Winters Bros. could use three acres to build a rail spur that would serve the waste transfer station.

In exchange, Winters Bros. would have contributed six acres, which would have expanded the conservation easement to 65 acres.