Historic Environmental Movements of Warwick

The New York Metro area was experiencing terrible congestion at its airports.  New Jersey was vehemently opposed to siting another one in their state. Several other options had been examined, and , the large, open expanse of land at the edge of the New York Metro area, the Black Dirt Region, looked like it could work.  Acre upon acre of flat, cleared land just waiting to be black topped for runways to relieve the congestion at New York area airports.

It was an unworkable idea, but apparently persisted. What regional officials did not count on is that the farmers of the black dirt and other area citizens valued the heritage of their land-- cleared and drained with countless hours of their families' labor over many decades-- and they would make the case that keeping the area a "food basket" was equally essential, providing food security and adding to the economy of the region.

Vigorous protests were mounted to forestall any more thought in this direction.  According to the "official" Congressional timeline published in 1968, Governor Rockefeller of New York was still pushing for the jetport on the Black Dirt in 1964 and 1965, but the long discussions involving creation of a new airport eventually diminished as existing facilities found ways to become more manageable.