I was notified recently that the US Supreme Court rejected the appeal I made alleging the New York State courts denied due process in general and in my Air Stripper case in Christopher Morley Park specifically by a systemic hostility to environmental defense cases.
I am disappointed but not shocked. I needed a lot more firepower from environmental groups some of which expressed support but declined to help, at least at the state appeals level.
The fact remains there are tremendous and proven injustices in the way environmental litigation is disposed of in New York. New York has a crony politicized corrupt judiciary that accommodates highly-destructive real estate development even in the face of blatant violations of environmental laws designed to create accountability by government agencies in environmental decisions. Generally that means SEQRA issues where I have pioneered some tactical techniques like demanding a numerical accounting of animals to be affected, not just a list of their species as is currently accepted practice in all environmental impact statements.
I have moved to New Jersey, a far more environmentally progressive state in terms of open space preservation from what I have seen as well as in legal policy regarding environmental litigation, but I have not gone away. I continue to be involved in East Hills and elsewhere, and some of my cases continue to proceed at the appellate level.
—Richard Brummel
