....June 11, 2:57 PM
	Sanitation Commish Defending Trash Plan By Joseph Orovic The Department of Sanitation maintains that its proposed Marine Transfer Station poses no threat to air traffic around LaGuardia Airport. The agency’s commissioner John Doherty defended the MTS in response to growing discussion of the project, as well as pressure from U.S. Reps. Gary Ackerman (D-Bayside) and Joe Crowley (D-Jackson Heights). “Opponents of the project would have the public believe the project is unsafe, when in fact it has been designed not to attract birds and has completed an exhaustive review process,” Doherty said in a statement. He also asserted both the Federal Aviation Authority and United States Department of Agriculture have no objections to the facility, and that it would not fall within the Runway Protection Zone at its proposed location 2,200 feet from the airport east runway. The $125 million facility would be located at 31st Avenue and 122nd Street. Closed Sanitation trucks filled with garbage would line up as much as 17 deep to enter the facility. Once inside, the trucks would tip their load into chutes where compactors would then press the waste into containers. The containers, each holding about 22 tons of waste, would then be loaded onto barges capable of carrying as many as 48 containers – or more than a million pounds of containerized garbage.