Largest Coalition Of South Brooklyn Civic Groups From Both Sides Of The Gowanus Visit Senator Schumer's Office

Photo Credit: Drew Grant

Mayor Bloomberg's political wrangling against the Environmental Protection Agency's Superfund listing of the Gowanus Canal continues to muddy the waters of what should be a scientific process.

Rather than ruffle the mayor's feathers, some of our elected officials have been standing by, letting him get away with his bullying. Why a republican mayor, under a mostly democratic state leadership and a democratic presidency, should get away with shamelessly lobbying the EPA, the one federal agency that should be free of interference, is unprecedented and quite frankly, bizarre.

One elected official who could easily stop all of Mayor Bloomberg's political manoeuvering is New York Senator Chuck Schumer, who has not yet issued a position statement on the EPA's proposed listing of the Gowanus Canal as a Superfund site. By not doing so, he is either indicating that he is unwilling to ruffle Bloomberg's feathers, or that the clean-up of the Gowanus Canal is not a big enough issue for this senator.

Yesterday, the largest coalition of South Brooklyn civic groups from both sides of the canal ever assembled met with Phillip Goldfeder of Senator Schumer's office. I was part of that group.
The common mission of all those in attendance was to demonstrate that our community stands united and stands firmly behind the Superfund designation for the canal.
We conveyed that we strongly support the EPA clean-up because only the federal government has the science, know-how and the best array of tools at their disposal to clean the canal to the highest level. Nothing else will do.

It is time that Senator Schumer issue a statement for the designation of the heavily polluted canal as a Superfund. Keeping quiet would make him complicit with Mayor Bloomberg.
Sitting on a fence, waiting to see how this will all unfold is not an option.
And for an elected official who claims to be for the environment, there is only one choice and that is to let the EPA do its job.

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