Results tagged “superfund”

Mayor Bloomberg will prove he's not scared of no stinkin' canal when he visits Gowanus later today to announce the “start” of his $150-million effort to improve water quality there. Currently he's up against the fed's push to turn the Gowanus Canal into a Superfund site; something he believes will be too expensive, take too long and ruin the future re$idential area with a toxic stigma.

As previously mentioned, Mayor Bloomberg is now facing two NYC waterways becoming potential Superfund sites; the Gowanus Canal and more recently Newtown Creek. While supporters of the Superfund status say that Bloomberg is making a political decision where he should be making a scientific one, the mayor recently tried to explain his motive$, saying: "Better we can find developers that can put the money in and pay for the cleanup right now because they will get a benefit of being able to develop the land around there."

As the EPA fights for the rights to clean up the Gowanus Canal, they've just recommended another one of New York's most contaminated waterways get Superfund status. Acting Regional Administrator George Pavlou told the NY Post, “Newtown Creek is one of the most grossly-contaminated waterways in the country. By listing the Creek, EPA can focus on doing the extensive sampling needed to figure out the best way to address the contamination and see the work through.”

While Mayoral Candidate Monty Burns would never want to clean up the Gowanus Canal (what's a little gonorrhea bacteria?), Mayor Bloomberg wants it spic n' span for developers and investors. And he doesn't want help from no stinkin' EPA either. The director of the Center for Urban Innovation now agrees that Superfunding the site would be setback; in his editorial for the Post he says that while someone may benefit (Mother Nature?) the neighborhoods around the canal will not.

As Whole Foods confirms there will be no ribbon cutting for a store on the Gowanus, this Sunday there will be a ribbon cutting for the Great Trans-Gowanus Cable (flyer here). The organizers explain:

"We will be building a telegraph along and across the Gowanus Canal, from the corner of Second St. and Second Ave. to the corner of Third St. and Third Ave. At either end of the telegraph wire will be stations outfitted with vintage telegraph keys and a guide to Morse Code. Posted will be Morse's famous transmission: 'What Hath God Wrought.' Passerby will be able transmit their answers to this question (with brevity), as well as receive responses. All sent messages will also be transmitted to us, off-site."

Just like Twitter! Sort of. You can learn more about the project, and the big day, here. Meanwhile, now that Whole Foods is officially gone, the Brooklyn Paper officially declares that, just like the octopus, they support Superfunding the Gowanus. They also note that "there will be plenty of other developers eager to get to work in a safe and clean Gowanus Canal zone" once the 10-year clean-up is complete.

As the battle for the Gowanus Canal continues, and Superfund supporters bring their campaign from doorsteps to YouTube, the NY Times looks at the canal as one man's artistic muse (and it's not the first time).

Alright Gowanus Canal, where were we? The NY Times reports on the latest developments surrounding the clean-up debate, which is split between those who want it to be labeled a Superfund site and those who are afraid of that label's stigma (real estate developers). City officials are sided with the latter group, and have proposed an alternative cleanup plan that would be overseen by the EPA, would take less time, and wouldn't have such a scary word attached to it.

Last we heard in the great Gowanus Canal Clean-up debate, developers in the area were concerned with the Superfund stigma, and would choose the city cleanup efforts over the EPA's even though their consultants found levels of hydrogen sulfide in the water that they said would create a "significant odor impact."

While city and state battle it out over who gets to clean up the Gowanus Canal, one residential developer says they're "confident the city's work" will be good enough. The Toll Brothers plan to build 460 condos along the waterway, a plan that would go down the drain if it were granted Superfund status. The NY Times explains the stigma, saying "city officials and many residents fear the Superfund label, reserved for the worst contamination in the country and evoking health emergencies." In other words, it would be difficult to fund a project with this scarlet letter attached. However, the developer's consultants found levels of hydrogen sulfide in the water that they said would create a "significant odor impact," the Daily News reports. So chances those duped into signing leases would rather have the stigma than the overwhelming stench floating into their brand dream home and sinking in to their brand new IKEA furnishings.

Brooklyn artist Anthony Clune says from his Gowanus studio he "can smell the overflow sewage that cascades into the canal after heavy rains, inhale the concrete dust billowing from mixing facilities, and meditate on the prismatic oil-slick rainbow floating out to sea." So he gave what he calls his Gowanus Canal Tonky Octopus some text in hopes of hurrying the cleanup process, which is currently being debated about as city and state debate the pros and cons of a Superfund status. Clune says, "The Gowanus Canal area is an unhealthy place for New Yorkers to live and work and I hope it gets cleaned up soon. It seems that adding the area to EPA’s Superfund list is the most expeditious way to do so." However, the Bloomberg administration has said it would take two decades for the EPA to finish their cleanup, and would stall the city's cleanup (and development).

City and State were at odds last night at a public forum held in Carroll Gardens regarding the cleanup of the Gowanus Canal. It's being reported that the Bloomberg Administration is "opposing a proposal by the federal Environmental Protection Agency to add Brooklyn’s Gowanus Canal to the agency’s list of Superfund sites, arguing that the designation could jeopardize planned development for the area and the city’s own cleanup efforts." Daniel Walsh, director of the Mayor's Office of Environmental Remediation, noted that "Of the 1,500 federal Superfund sites to date, no river cleanup has been successfully completed." Because the Superfund solution would require finding responsible parties for past contamination, the city fears that the effort would take up to 20 years, "putting at risk more than $400 million of private investment already committed to the area for housing and other development," as well as the city's own cleanup efforts. The E.P.A. officials will make a final decision following a 60-day public comment scheduled to end June 6th.

The Gowanus Canal, which has long been festering with gonohorrea, may be on the road to getting cleaned up. OTBKB reports that the EPA is likely adding the 1.8 mile long waterway to their Superfund National Priorities List (NPL), meaning the agency would take a look at the contaminated site and work towards bettering it. In their press release, the EPA begins at the beginning, saying, "The canal was built in the 19th century to allow industrial access into Gowanus Bay. After its completion in the 1860s, the canal became a busy industrial waterway, acting as the home to heavy industries, including manufactured gas plants, coal yards, concrete-mixing facilities, tanneries, chemical plants, and oil refineries. It was also the repository of untreated industrial wastes, raw sewage and runoff." All that history, and it still has heavy kayak activity.

Toxic vapors are intruding into Greenpoint homes, and the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation is having difficulty assessing the problem because many residents will not allow their homes to be tested, according to a scary report in the Times today. The vapors in question are not wafting from the famous oil plume in Greenpoint's groundwater that went undetected until 1978, but are believed to be left over from other businesses that no longer operate in the neighborhood.

Responding to pressure from Representatives Anthony Weiner and Nydia Velazquez, the E.P.A. has agreed to conduct “preliminary tests” that could lead to Newtown Creek being named a federal Superfund site, City Room reports. In 1978, the Coast Guard realized that a toxic oil plume in Greenpoint's groundwater had been seeping into the creek. A study the following year estimated the contamination at 17 million gallons and 55 acres wide, but it may actually be closer to 30 million gallons, according to a study released last year. If the E.P.A. tests qualify the site for Superfund status, the cleanup will be aided by millions in federal money, and the E.P.A. could sue Exxon Mobil and other companies for polluting the area. And last year attorney general Andrew Cuomo filed his own lawsuit.

Yesterday, Representatives Anthony Weiner and Nydia Velazquez held a press conference to ask the EPA to name Newtown Creek a Superfund site. The lawmakers want federal funding to speed up the slow progress on the cleanup of millions of gallons of oil that began in the 1940s and 1950s. Weiner said in his press conference that if the current rate of cleanup were to continue, it might not be done until 2026.