Congress is moving against Mayor Bloomberg’s plan to build a trash transfer station in Queens that critics say would draw a dangerous number of birds to La Guardia Airport.
The transfer station planned for College Point would go up about 2,000 feet from La Guardia Runway 13-31. Federal Aviation Administration guidelines usually require trash transfer stations to be at least 10,000 feet from airport runways.
Despite the guidelines, the FAA last year OK’d the station, saying it poses no hazard to planes.
House members voted Thursday night to apply the FAA’s usual guidelines to the station. The measure, tacked onto another FAA-related bill, now heads to the Senate.
“This amendment is about public safety trumping garbage,” said Rep. Gary Ackerman (D-Queens), who sponsored the proposal with Rep. Joseph Crowley (D-Queens).
The city Department of Sanitation promises the station will be sealed up so tightly that birds won’t be interested.