Bird strikes renew opposition to Queens...

Bird strikes renew opposition to Queens...

Craig Warga/New York Daily News

Ken Paskar, the head of Friends of LaGuardia Airport, seen here near a waste transfer station under construction on 31st Ave. in College Point, Queens. Paskar believes the station will increase the risk of bird strikes to planes using the airport.

A recent spate of high-profile bird strikes has added fuel to the cause of opponents of a waste transfer station being built near LaGuardia Airport.

Elected and community leaders said the North Shore Marine Transfer Station, in College Point, will attract birds which could be hazardous for planes flying in and out of nearby LaGuardia.

The stations existing state permit expires in September.

Putting a waste transfer station in a location that could cause additional bird strikes is negligent, said Assemblywoman Aravella Simotas (D-Astoria).

Simotas said she plans to draft a letter with local residents to the Mayors Office opposing the plan.

Once up and running, the station will haul about 3,000 tons of waste by barge to landfills every day, a city official said. The facility where the trash is handled within an enclosed building is set to open in the spring of 2013.

Rose Marie Poveromo, president of the United Community Civic Association, which represents more than 300 northwestern Queens residents, said shes also worried that garbage trucks driving to the station will attract birds.

Theyre going to follow the run-off from the garbage trucks, she said. Lets err on the side of caution and not build the waste facility so close to LaGuardia Airport.

US Airways Capt. Chesley (Sully) Sullenberger, who made an emergency landing on the Hudson River in 2009 after a bird strike, has also come out against the trash transfer station.

The Mayors Office dismissed the concerns, noting a waste station operated safely at the same site from 1954 until 2001.

Was there a bird strike epidemic then? No, mayoral spokesman Marc La Vorgna said in a statement. And the new station will be even safer: a fully enclosed, state-of-the-art facility.

The issue came to fore again when a Delta Air Lines flight to Los Angeles made an emergency landing on April 19 at Kennedy Airport after birds were sucked into the planes engine. Five days later, a JetBlue flight returned to the Westchester County Airport after two geese hit the aircrafts windshield.

Planes carrying Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Vice President Joe Biden were both struck by birds on April 19. No one was hurt.

Ken Paskar, president of Friends of LaGuardia Airport, a group formed to opposed the trash station, said the the rash of bird strikes proves that birds and airplanes dont mix.

ctrapasso@nydailynews.com