Testing for Contamination in Vinegar Hill
According to Dumbo NYC, Vinegar Hill residents were informed that site tests at a former manufactured gas holder station on Front Street will begin this fall. The site, bordered by Front, York, Bridge and Gold, was a gas storage and distribution center from the 1800s to 1930s. National Grid will test for contamination in the…
According to Dumbo NYC, Vinegar Hill residents were informed that site tests at a former manufactured gas holder station on Front Street will begin this fall. The site, bordered by Front, York, Bridge and Gold, was a gas storage and distribution center from the 1800s to 1930s. National Grid will test for contamination in the soil or groundwater caused by coal tar, a byproduct of the site. You can read up on these types of gas plants here.
IMBY, that aerial photo-map is fascinating.
In this photo from 1924 you can see the two holding tanks (gasometers) on the site in question. You can see there were three additional tanks in the neighborhood as well.
Before the discovery of natural gas, local manufacturing plants “cracked coal” producing a flammable gas called Town Gas. Many of these plants operated in Brooklyn up until the fifties. After extracting the gas, the byproducts, one of which is coal tar, were stored in open pits or tanks that leaked into the surrounding soil. Coal tar does not break down over time. Would be interesting to know if anyone has ever looked into the health histories of those long term residents living across the street in the public housing complex?
—-The Gowanus Canal had three of these same manufacturing plants.
Here is the link to the 1924 photo:
http://gis.nyc.gov/doitt/nycitymap/?z=9&p=988695,194956&c=GIS1924