Finger Lakes Vintners to NYC Mayor: "Send us your tourists, not your trash”

The winemaker who supplied the sacramental spirits for Pope Francis' visit to Manhattan has a new label named for New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio. It's called "No Trash! de Blasio Blush." Moreover, some Finger Lakes vintners and activists also have shared a mutual opposition with NYC Mayor Bill de Blasio, making Seneca dumping site of NYC garbage.

The wine from Eagle Crest Vineyards is part of a movement against a proposed 20-year, $3.3 billion contract to ship trainloads of New York City garbage to Seneca Meadows. And this extents for 400 acres in central New York's Finger Lakes region. "The Finger Lakes shouldn't be the garbage dump for New York City," told Eagle Crest owner Will Ouweleen via News Bug, whose winery in Conesus is 40 miles west of the landfill. He added, "Send us your tourists, not your trash."

According to Finger Lake Times, the Department of Sanitation of the city already conducted a public hearing on a proposed contract between the city and landfill owner IESI NY Corp. of New Jersey. Containerized waste from the city's Hamilton Avenue and Southwest Brooklyn marine transfer stations would be allegedly transferred to Seneca Meadows by rail.

The 20-year contract can be renewed for 2 to 5 year option. In addition, the Seneca Meadows officials issued a statement after the hearing in Manhattan."The contract must still be awarded by the city and registered by the city comptroller," the statement stated. "If the city approves the contract and it is awarded to us, we look forward to providing more details of the contract at that time.

Moreover, the Wine Enthusiast Magazine named the Finger Lakes "2015 Wine Region of the Year" in recognition of the world-class quality of its wines and the economic impact of wine tourism. However, the Finger Lakes region also has four of the state's largest landfills, where half of all municipal solid waste in the state and some from out of state is buried.

This made the Finger Lakes vintners and activists to testify against the garbage shipping from New York City solid waste to a landfill near Seneca Falls. They were vocal about their opposition to the proposed contract to transport and dump a large amount of the waste to Finger Lakes region and to Progressive Waste Solutions' Seneca Meadows Landfill in Waterloo, New York, as reported by the Times Union.

Will Ouweleen, a representative of the Finger Lakes Wine Business Coalition, also supported the opposition of the solid trash being transported to Seneca Falls. He even launched a new wine label named "No Trash! de Blasio Blush" as part of the new awareness-campaign "Don't Trash the Finger Lakes!" at the NYC Department of Sanitation public hearing.

Meanwhile, a lot of activists advocating the Seneca Lake are speaking out their disagreement of the proposal. Also in attendance was Sandra Steingraber, biologist, author, Distinguished Scholar in Residence at Ithaca College and Seneca Lake advocate. For now, the activists against the 20-year, $3.3 billion contract to ship trainloads to Seneca remained strong in their movement to dismantle the proposal.