EPA: Gowanus Sites Deeply Polluted
The Post and Daily News have stories about how the Environmental Protection Agency has sounded an alarm about the levels of pollution at a few properties in Gowanus, including the site off Smith and 5th where a development involving more than 750 units of housing is planned. According to the article in the Post, the…
The Post and Daily News have stories about how the Environmental Protection Agency has sounded an alarm about the levels of pollution at a few properties in Gowanus, including the site off Smith and 5th where a development involving more than 750 units of housing is planned. According to the article in the Post, the cleanup plan for the land that’s supposed to one day be home to the Gowanus Green project (old rendering above), with 774 residential units, is “superficial.” The cleanup, which is being undertaken by National Grid, involves digging eight feet into the soil in most spots to remove coal tar, but a rep for the EPA says the gas company should be going down at least 30 feet “to remove contaminated soil and guarantee the tar doesn’t continue seeping into the canal and nearby properties.” However, the Department of Environmental Conservation, which is monitoring the cleanup, says it’s satisfied with National Grid’s plan. Meanwhile, the Daily News reports that the EPA has also found that “site of a Lowe’s home improvement store is still leaking pollution into the canal even though a state-monitored cleanup was supposedly finished before the store opened seven years ago” and the property where Toll Brothers intended to build a big project was more contaminated than the developer’s investigation showed.
Feds Slam City ‘Glowanus’ Dig [NY Post]
Failed Projects Scar Brooklyn’s Gowanus Canal Even After ‘Cleanup’ [NY Daily News]
It was lax rules to start with. Local government made it easy for them to build without really cleaning up. This is exactly why Bloomberg and developers didn’t want the EPA involved. They wanted to do their half-assed “clean up” and they knew the EPA would show how bad the pollution was and how any cleanup effort would need more than just a few feet of top soil removed. If Bloomberg had gotten his way and condos were going up it’d be the new Love Canal.
> The problems do not originate in the water.
Yep. One notable example is the site of the old manufactured gas plant. Actually THREE plants as I just learned:
– http://imby.blogspot.com/2010/03/1924-aerial-photo-tour-of-gowanus-canal.html
Enjoy that coal tar.
Although so long as raw sewage is discharged into the Gowanus every time the storm drains overflow, that body of water ain’t exactly without its problems.
whether you fill the canal in our not, the subsoil conditions are what they are. The problems do not originate in the water.
Sing it, STARGAZER.
Why are we working to hard to preserve this canal? Can anyone explain this? Why not just fill it in?
I am shocked, shocked, that a fine, up-right private developer like Toll Brothers would have commissioned an EIS that didn’t reveal the full extent of pollution at this site. When was the last time this happened? Oh, right, FCR and Atlantic Yards. How could I have forgotten?
Nokilissa +2
And DIBS, I fail to see how the “various branches of government” has anything whatsoever to do with the initial and ACTUAL problem here. That being contamination beyond belief and the capitalist desire to build right on top of it, making tons of money, while brushing the deep safety and health concerns under the rug.
Thank you Putnam. Jesus. As usual my disagreement with most of what spews forth from Minard’s keyboard is strong. And of course when challenged, you get nothing but defensive and sarcastic posturing.