Fed's Gowanus Canal Study Underlines Severity of Pollution

The agency has scheduled a public meeting to discuss the findings on Feb. 23 from 6:30 to 9 p.m. at Public School 32 in Brooklyn. A draft report of the results of the investigation is at epa.gov/region02.

Officials at the federal Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) on Wednesday released results a year-long study of the Gowanus Canal. Tests of water, sediment and tissue from fish like striped bass and white perch showed heavy contamination from a combination of industrial and sewage discharges, some of which continue. The EPA named it a Superfund site last March over the objections of the Bloomberg administration. The cleanup, which officials at the agency said would surely involve major dredging, is expected to start by 2015 and last 10 to 11 years, at an estimated cost of $300 million to $500 million, to be paid for by polluters. (Photo: Damon Winter/The New York Times)

Brooklyn

A yearlong investigation of the Gowanus Canal in preparation for its cleanup under the federal Superfund program has confirmed the severe extent of its contamination and the threat it poses to public health, particularly for people who eat fish from it or have repeated contact with its water or sediment, according to the New York Times.

Officials at the federal Environmental Protection Agency on Wednesday released the results of its study of the canal, which was named a Superfund site last March over the objections of the Bloomberg administration.

The cleanup, which officials at the agency said would surely involve major dredging, is expected to start by 2015 and last 10 to 11 years, at an estimated cost of $300 million to $500 million, to be paid for by polluters.

Tests of water, sediment and tissue from fish like striped bass and white perch showed heavy contamination from a combination of industrial and sewage discharges, some of which continue, federal officials said. The canal, in Brooklyn, is polluted with more than a dozen contaminants, including suspected carcinogens like polychlorinated biphenyls, or PCBs; metals like mercury, lead and copper; and debris, including sunken vessels.

For more than a century after it was carved out of tidal wetlands and streams in the 1860s, the Gowanus served as a teeming route for oil refineries, chemical plants, tanneries, manufactured-gas plants and other heavy industry along its banks.

Most of the industrial traffic has faded since the 1960s, although waste still flows into the canal, and it is used by some businesses and recreational boaters from neighborhoods near it, including Park Slope, Cobble Hill, Carroll Gardens and Red Hook.

The most prevalent pollutant in the canal, officials said Wednesday, is a group of chemicals known as P.A.H.’s, for polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, another suspected carcinogen. They are formed during the incomplete burning of coal, oil, gas, wood, garbage and other organic substances, and were found mostly near former manufactured-gas plants along the canal.

In a telephone conference call with reporters, the environmental agency’s regional administrator in New York, Judith A. Enck, repeated warnings that people should not swim in the canal or eat fish from it. While boating should not be restricted, Ms. Enck said, recreational users should avoid coming in contact with the water.

“What we found is no surprise,” she said. “The report paints a pretty serious picture of the level of contamination.”

Ms. Enck said the contamination was so severe that she was not ready to say whether the Gowanus would ever be “swimmable and fishable.” On a positive note, she said air samples from around the canal did not reveal contamination above “acceptable” safety standards.

In opposing the designation of the Gowanus as a Superfund site, the Bloomberg administration had argued that the label could set off legal battles with polluters, prolong the dredging operation and scare off developers. It proposed its own cleanup plan.

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Gowanus Canal Inquiry Underlines Severity of Pollution

New York Times - February 2, 2011 - By Mireya Navarro

Feds Identify Gowanus Canal “Hot Spots” Of Intense Contamination

A Walk In The Park - November 10, 2010

Feds Identify Gowanus Canal “Hot Spots” Of Intense Contamination

The Gowanus Canal remains a mess — and three former gas plants are the main villain. Coal tar continues to migrate into the waterway producing cancer-causing vapors. (Photo: Kate Emerson/ The Brooklyn Paper)

Brooklyn

Federal officials have identified three “hot spots” of intense contamination — and the source of cancer-causing toxic vapors — along the polluted Gowanus Canal, according to the Brooklyn Paper.

The officials remained mum last week about what risks the gunk poses to humans and animals — but they did reveal that an astonishing 90 percent of pollutants in the canal originate from just three sites along the 1.8-mile waterway.

he terrible trio mirrors locations where gas plants once stood: Metropolitan Works, at 12th Street and the canal; Fulton Municipal Works, at Degraw Street and Third Avenue; and Citizens Gas Company, at Smith and Fifth streets.

From the 1860s to the late 1950s, the companies literally helped fuel the Industrial Revolution — but in the process, generated a by-product called coal tar, a substance containing an array of hazardous compounds.

The foul tar has since seeped deep underground, where it continues to migrate into the fetid waterway, its presence confirmed by an oily surface sheen. The tar can also be gasified, producing cancer-causing vapors.

The agency is sifting through a mountain of data it collected since the canal was named a Superfund site last March, a recognition of its status as one of the nation’s most polluted waterways. Once that work is completed, said Walter Mugdan, a regional director with the Environmental Protection Agency, officials will “determine what to do to clean it” — a process that will take 10 to 12 years, and cost $500 million.

Read More:

Feds: We know where Gowanus Canal filth is

The Brooklyn Paper - November 8, 2010 - By Gary Buiso

Gowanus Canal Receives EPA Superfund Designation - Blow To Bloomberg Administration

A Walk In The Park - March 2, 2010

Newtown Creek Designated Superfund Site

An area of industrial buildings along Newtown Creek.  The Environmental Protection Agency announced on Monday it had designated Newtown Creek a Superfund site, promising a thorough environmental cleanup and a comprehensive evaluation to identify continuing sources of pollution.  (Photo: Fred R. Conrad/The New York Times

Brooklyn - Queens

The Environmental Protection Agency has designated Newtown Creek, between Brooklyn and Queens, a Superfund site, promising a thorough environmental cleanup of a long-neglected waterway that was once one of the busiest hubs of industrial activity in the city, according to the New York Times.

The Superfund designation, which was announced on Monday by the agency’s regional administrator in New York, Judith Enck, means that the E.P.A. will conduct a comprehensive evaluation of the severely polluted creek to determine what kind of cleanup is needed and to identify continuing sources of pollution. Community advocates, environmental groups and members of Congress had long sought the designation out of concern about the extent of contamination and its possible danger to residents.

The creek, about four miles long, is now the second active Superfund site in the city. The Gowanus Canal in Brooklyn, another waterway suffering the consequences of its industrial past, was placed in March on the Superfund’s National Priorities List, a designation reserved for the worst-contaminated sites in the nation.

Six other Superfund sites across the country were also chosen on Monday, including a section of the Black River in Jefferson County, N.Y., that was contaminated with P.C.B.’s and other chemicals. P.C.B.’s, or polychlorinated biphenyls, can cause cancer and affect the immune, reproductive, nervous and endocrine systems, according to the E.P.A.

“Newtown Creek is a key urban waterway, which provides recreational and economic resources to many communities,” Ms. Enck said in a written statement. “Throughout the investigation and cleanup, we will work closely with the communities along the creek to achieve a revitalization of this heavily contaminated urban waterway.”

Water samples from Newtown Creek, a branch of the East River and part of the New York-New Jersey Harbor Estuary, have revealed the presence of pesticides, heavy metals, P.C.B.’s, volatile organic compounds and other contaminants. Despite the continuing pollution problems, the agency noted, residents use the creek for recreation like kayaking and fishing, and some eat the fish they catch.

The creek’s polluted condition also reflects countless oil spills from the dozens of refineries and fuel storage centers that have operated along its banks since the 19th century.

Read More:

U.S. Cleanup Is Set for Newtown Creek, Long Polluted by Industry

New York Times - September 27, 2010 - By Mireya Navarro