While the large-scale use of greenheart for the fendering and bumper piling for the North Shore Marine Transfer Station being built by the NYC Department of Sanitation (DSNY) came as no surprise, the specification of apitong for the flooring of transfer trailers did. Apitong, logged from the rainforests of Malaysia is on the list of woods banned by the state's 1991 Tropical Timber Purchasing Law, §165, for use by the New York State government and all government entities within the state. The specification came in Addendum Two of the North Shore Marine Transfer Station bid. The bid was published in October, 2008 and the Addendum was published today.

If apitong is delivered to the city for use in trailers in the MTS, not only will DSNY and NYC be in violation of state law but, given the recent amendments to the US Lacey Act, the city will be committing a federal crime as well. The Lacey Act now makes it a crime to import, sell, purchase or trade in wood logged illegally in the country of origin or the trade of which is in violation of any US state or municipal law.

While the specification for apitong is not on a large scale, Addendum Two reveals the lack of awareness and enforcement of the law around tropical hardwood use by the city. The lack of concern for the fate of tropical forests and thus the plunge towards climate instability was apparent in the original bid. But the use of apitong takes this a great deal further, into the realm of illegality.