The Village of Hastings-on-Hudson Sued By Grocer's Industry Group Over Bag Ban, Court Opinion Expected Soon

The Village of Hastings-on-Hudson was sued in October 2014 over the plastic bag ban that they had adopted in June of that year. The main claim in the lawsuit relates to the Village banning plastic bags but not addressing paper bags, which the Food Industry Alliance of New York State, Inc. (FIA) claims requires full EIS review under New York's State Environmental Quality Review Act (SEQR) because they claim that an increase in the use of paper bags could have a greater negative impact on the environment. All lawsuit documents have been filed and no hearing is scheduled. The Judge is expected to make a ruling based solely on the papers filed soon. Click here to view the The Village of Hastings-on-Hudson official lawsuit documents.

This lawsuit was expected and is very similar to tactics used by plastics industry and grocer groups in California (click here for a short history of what happened in California).

For a more detailed history of similar tactics used all over the US and how ordinance structures have evolved, see this law journal article.