Guardians of Flushing Bay v. New York City Department of Environmental Protection

In their memorandum of law, the petitioner organizations claimed that the negative declaration failed to take a hard look at the project’s potential significant adverse impacts, including the project’s “ability to function safely and effectively in the face of the impacts of climate change, particularly more frequent and intense precipitation events” and storms exacerbated by the effects of sea level rise.

Three environmental organizations filed a lawsuit in New York State Supreme Court challenging the New York City Department of Environmental Protection’s issuance of a negative declaration under the State Environmental Quality Review Act for a project involving construction of chlorination and dichlorination facilities to treat combined sewer overflow (CSO) discharges to Flushing Creek at two outfalls.