City Closes Four Baseball Fields In Brooklyn Due To Elevated Lead Soil Levels

Extremely high levels of lead forced the city to close four ball fields in Brooklyn's Red Hook Park. Lead levels of between 64 to 2,080 parts per million we detected. Federal regulations set a 400 parts-per-million ceiling for lead levels in bare soil in children’s play areas.

The Parks Department says it is covering bare soil, reseeding parts of the outfield and adding clay to the infield. They have closed four , ball fields - 5, 6, 7 and 8 - for at least six weeks.

Brooklyn

Two weeks before the start of the Little League season, four baseball fields in Brooklyn have been temporarily closed because of elevated lead levels in the soil.

The New York City Department of Parks and Recreation said Friday that the four fields at Red Hook Park will be closed for six to eight weeks.

A department spokesman says 13 organizations including youth and adult leagues had permits to use the fields. She says the department will find other places for them to play.

The Parks Department says it will reseed parts of the outfields and add clay to the infields. The fields are near the site of a lead smelting plant that closed decades ago.

The city Health Department says the risk of lead exposure from the fields is small.

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The Associated Press - March 23, 2012

Teen Soccer Player Shot In Red Hook Park

BROOKLYN

A teenage boy's soccer career was put on hold Sunday after he was shot twice in the buttocks following an argument a soccer game in Red Hook Park, according to the New York Post. 

The 18-year-old soccer player got into an argument with at least one other man at a park on Clinton and Bay Streets, about 4 p.m. on Sunday, sources said. The man pulled out a gun and opened fire, hitting the soccer player twice in the buttocks, said sources. The shooter escaped in a minivan, said police. The victim was taken to an area hospital and he was expected to recover.

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Thugs shoot teen soccer player in rear at popular Brooklyn park

New York Daily News - August 2, 2010 -  By Erin Durkin, Oren Yaniv And Wil Cruz

NYPD Daily Blotter

New York Post -  August 3,  2010 - By Lorena Mongelli and Jessica Simone 

City to Test Red Hook Park For PCB's

"The city said it learned of the alleged contamination on Wednesday despite a report that appeared in last Saturday's Post."

BROOKLYN

The city will analyze soil samples at a popular Brooklyn park to see whether it is contaminated with high levels of PCBs.

Red Hook Park is located near the Chemtura Corp. plant, a plastics-additive manufacturer that closed in 1999.

PCBs, or polychlorinated biphenyls, were banned by the Environmental Protection Agency in 1979. They have been linked to a range of health problems.

The city said it learned of the alleged contamination on Wednesday despite a report that appeared in last Saturday's Post.

The company ceased to clean up the site after filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy last year.

Read More:  

Red Hook Park 'toxic-soil' test

AP Via New York Post -  May 14, 2010 

"Deadly" PCB's Found in Red Hook Park Fields

A Walk in the Park - May 8th, 2010

"Deadly" PCB's Found in Red Hook Park Fields

(photo)ZANDY MANGOLD

PLAYING WITH FIRE: Residents and visitors continue to use the Red Hook Park fields, despite a lawsuit against nearby Chemtura Corp. claiming the 58-acre park is chock-full of deadly PCBs.

BROOKLYN

The grassy fields of a park in the Red Hook section of Brooklyn are contaminated with PCBs at a level 110 times what New York environmental agencies consider safe, according to court records filed in a lawsuit by New York and six other states against bankrupt Chemtura Corp, according to Bloomberg.

Linked to liver cancer, low birth weight and loss of motor skills, PCBs pose a threat to park visitors and nearby residents, said Judith Schreiber, chief scientist in the State Attorney General's Environmental Bureau.

State and city health and environmental agencies declined to comment or said they weren't aware of the risks at the 58-acre park, a popular spot for soccer games and family picnics.

Chemtura has resisted demands by the state environmental bureau that it clean up contamination from a leak at its plant, which abuts the park.

"Contamination at the site and in or near the recreation area is at unacceptable levels from a human-exposure perspective," Schreiber wrote in an April 22 affidavit in Manhattan federal court.

Seven states, including New York, have sought to force the Middlebury, Conn.-based company, the country's largest maker of plastic additives, to clean up nine polluted sites, including the Red Hook facility.

Read More: 

'Killing' fields of Red Hook Park

Bloomberg  via NY Post - May 8, 2010 -  By Tiffany Kary