The New York Racing Association, Inc. Clean Water Act Violations, New York 2023

Robert L. Capers, United States Attorney for the Eastern District of New York, and Judith A. Enck, Regional Administrator, United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Region 2, announced today the filing of a complaint against The New York Racing Association, Inc. (NYRA) as well as the lodging of a consent decree to resolve the allegations in the complaint.

The complaint alleges that NYRA, which operates the Aqueduct Racetrack where horse racing, training, and boarding of horses occur, and where up to 450 horses are housed on site during the horse racing season, violated the Clean Water Act as a result of discharging polluted wastewater, containing animal wash water and detergent, and feed waste, from Aqueduct Racetrack into New York City’s and New York State’s storm sewer systems.

In 2013 and 2014 alone, NYRA generated and discharged an estimated 1.26 million gallons per year of polluted wastewater to storm sewer systems. The discharges from Aqueduct ultimately flowed to the Hawtree and Bergen Basins, tributaries located within the eastern portion of Jamaica Bay, a navigable water of the United States.

Aqueduct Racetrack is a concentrated animal feeding operation (CAFO). EPA defines a CAFO as a facility where animals are kept and raised in confined situations for a total of 45 days or more in any 12-month period and feed is brought to the animals rather than the animals grazing or otherwise feeding in pastures, fields, or on range land.

Under the consent decree, NYRA will implement measures to eliminate discharges to the storm sewers and ensure that all polluted wastewater from Aqueduct Racetrack flows to sanitary sewers.

The settlement also requires NYRA to pay $150,000 as a civil penalty, and to implement a Supplemental Environmental Project to reduce storm water runoff impacts.

NYRA will plant 62 trees at the nearby NYRA Belmont Racetrack which will capture storm water, mitigate the effect of heavy storm events, break up the soil to allow the soil to become more permeable, and abate soil erosion.

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