Subway Reefs for NYC?

phpeqdxtiPM.jpgSubway cars that spent their lifespan serving New Yorkers often retire at the bottom of a watery grave in Delaware and New Jersey, creating artificial barrier reefs. Why not dump the old cars in our own rivers and waterways? Technically, it's not allowed under current environmental codes, but just because the fish in the Gowanus canal likely have gonohorrea, doesn't mean they don't deserve a little reef love as well! NY1 reports that "Congressman Anthony Weiner held a news conference yesterday to call on the state to revise environmental codes to allow the Metropolitan Transportation Authority to dump retired subway cars into city waters." Not only will it help our marine life, but the MTA will save money, you know, the opposite of what they've been doing. Wiener says "the agency has spent more than $6 million to ship more than 2,000 retired cars" out-of-state. Currently the State Department of Environmental Conservation is taking his suggestion under consideration.

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Hell we already got our artificial reef, courtesy of all the fine scrappers and chop shops in Willets Point.

I don't get it. Wouldn't it be more environmental if all of that metal gets recycled instead?

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My understanding is that the asbestos in the cars make recycling too expensive. Since the asbestos is only dangerous if airborne, putting them underwater is not harmful. Plus, they create artificial reefs for marine life --apparently, the eastern shelf is rather devoid of reefs.

Why don't the other states pay us for providing them with reefs for their waterways?

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