River Keeper Action Alert: Superfund Designation For Gowanus Canal, Now!

River Keeper, New York’s #1 clean water advocate, has sent the following action alert regarding the Gowanus Canal to its New York email list. River Keeper's support for the listing of the polluted waterway as an EPA Superfund site has been invaluable. The organization has been a real ally in the effort of getting the best and the most thorough clean-up for Gowanus.

I would like to encourage everyone to join River Keeper in contacting our local officials to voice support for the Superfund designation. Just follow the link at the bottom. And if you can, forward this information to all your neighbors.

Many thanks!

River Keeper Action Alert:

In April, the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced that it had proposed the Gowanus Canal, one of the most heavily contaminated water bodies in the nation, for the Federal Superfund National Priorities List (NPL). Once the Gowanus Canal is on the NPL, the EPA can begin a comprehensive effort to study the extent of its contamination and draft plans to conduct a coordinated cleanup.

Located in Brooklyn, NY, this 1.8 mile canal housed manufactured gas plants, cement factories, oil refineries, tanneries, and chemical plants for more than a century. Today, it contains dangerous levels of PCBs, heavy metals, pesticides, volatile organic compounds, sewage solids from combined sewer overflows, and coal tar.

As part of the Superfund listing process, the EPA is required to consider written comments from interested parties and members of the public and respond to them when making a decision whether to list the canal. Soon after the EPA’s announcement New York City and others announced their opposition to listing the canal and the City presented an alternative cleanup plan.

Riverkeeper believes that the City’s alternative plan is inadequate and submitted legal comments to the EPA fully supporting Superfund listing for the canal.

With the deadline to submit comments on the listing to the EPA having passed in July the EPA is still under political pressure from developers and the City to not add the canal to the Superfund list. In fact Mayor Bloomberg has publicly stated that he has personally called EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson to plead his case.

Now is the time to ask your elected officials to publicly state their support for Superfund designation for the Gowanus Canal!

Representatives who have already publicly supported Superfund are not included.

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Velázquez Urges Superfund Designation for Gowanus Canal And Newtown Creek

****News Flash****

“Securing a healthy environment for New York City families is the single most important factor in choosing a course of action for cleaning both the Gowanus Canal and Newtown Creek."

Nydia Velázquez

Congresswoman Nydia Velázquez is the latest elected official to release a pro-EPA Superfund statement for the Gowanus Canal. By doing so, she joins fellow politicians

NYS Senators Daniel Squadron and Velmanette Montgomery, as well as Assemblywoman Joan Millman, who already openly support the Superfund listing of the dangerously polluted waterway.

My thanks goes out to Representative Velázquez, Squadron, Montgomery and Millman for putting the health of their constituents above all.

Lets hope that Congresswoman Yvette Clarke, still-Councilman Bill DeBlasio, Senators Schumer and Gillibrand will follow suite.

Read Velázquez's statement below:

Velázquez Urges Superfund Designation for Gowanus, Newtown

Says EPA Has Resources, Expertise to Clean Up Polluted Waterways

Washington, DC – Rep. Nydia M. Velázquez (D-N.Y.) issued the following
statement today urging the Environmental Protection Agency to complete
its review and designate the Gowanus Canal and Newtown Creek as federal
Superfund sites:

“Securing a healthy environment for New York City families is the single
most important factor in choosing a course of action for cleaning both
the Gowanus Canal and Newtown Creek. Superfund designation will
thoroughly remove hazards and transform these waterways into a source of
pride for our community.

“Among the most contaminated sites in the country, the Gowanus Canal and
Newtown Creek have threatened the health of New Yorkers for long enough
and kept these neighborhoods from realizing their full potential. With
nearly three decades of experience, the EPA has the expertise and
resources to carry out a comprehensive remediation of these sites,
creating a safe place for New Yorkers to live and work. Through the
EPA’s help, these local treasures will become a revitalized waterfront
for the people of Brooklyn.

“The Superfund program establishes an equitable process for restoring
accountability and invigorating the Gowanus Canal and Newtown Creek.
What we have before us is a means to fully protect the well being of New
Yorkers, as well as ensure future growth and responsible development in
our neighborhoods.

“Efforts to transform Brooklyn’s waterfront have brought the community
together and have resulted in the many innovative projects underway.
Superfund designation will complement these efforts. By working together
we will fully restore both the functionality and beauty of these sites.”

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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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Another Day, Another Resident Letter To EPA Head Lisa Jackson: "Lets Look Back In Pride"

The waters of the Gowanus Canal

Active Gowanus/ Carroll Gardens residents continue to write letters to the Environmental Protection Agency's Administrator Lisa Jackson in Washington, respectfully reminding her that the agency's role is to, well...protect the environment and not the interests of Mayor Bloomberg and his cronies.

Below is a letter by Carroll Gardener Jeff Miles, who so eloquently states what many of us here in the neighborhood feel. Thanks, Jeff, for allowing me to post it on PMFA.

Dear Administrator Jackson:

As residents of Carroll Gardens, Brooklyn, we took great pride in working for, supporting, and voting for President Obama, shared the joy in his election, and looked forward to an administration that re-asserted the notion of open and transparent government. Moreover, it gave us hope that there would be a return of reason in the decisions taken regarding such critical issues as the environment, in contrast to the backroom dealings that seemed the hallmark of recent years past.

As a scientist, I was impressed by earlier assertions that the EPA, in its consideration of the Gowanus Canal as a superfund-designated site, would rely upon the guidance of the scientific evidence in making decisions about the appropriateness of the site for remediation, the identification of specific sources of contamination, and their causality. I have faith in the collective experience in the scientific community in these areas, have read a number of very insightful publications studying the complex systems involving the canal, and felt confident that the expertise of the EPA and its many contributors, in the context of the legal standing uniquely afforded your Federal agency, were well poised to carry out the necessary steps to make significant progress toward reversing the decades-long abuses of this area, and would establish a basis for immediate and continued remediation.

In that context, I was disheartened to hear rumors suggesting that a deal may be made to allow local, commercial interests to prevail where science and reason would strongly suggest otherwise.

As a parent and grandparent, as a resident and neighbor to those that I know share our concerns, I can only hope that these rumors prove false, and that the EPA, under your leadership, will withstand the pressures brought by those with narrow interests who would seek expedient alternatives that do little other than make a few much richer.

Watching the recent documentaries of the National Parks should remind us all that many of the great resources that we have today result from the courageous and far-sighted actions of a few. I am hoping we can all look back at the decisions taken, in this regard, with similar pride.

Jeffrey M. Miles

***Please send your own email or phone to the following:

*Lisa Jackson, Administrator, US Environmental Protection Agency

202-564-4700 email: jackson.lisap@epa.gov

*President Obama, The White House

email: http://www.whitehouse.gov/contact
Comments: 202-456-1111
Switchboard: 202-456-1414
FAX: 202-456-2461

*Governor David A. Paterson

State Capitol
Albany, NY 12224
518-474-8390
to email, click here

*NY Senator Charles Schumer: 914-734-1532

*NY Senator Kristin Gillibrand: 212-688-6262

*Representative Nydia Velazquez: 718-599-3658

*Representative Yvette Clarke: 718-287-1142


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We Are The People....A Letter To Senators Schumer And Gillibrand Regarding The Gowanus Canal Clean-Up

credit: guest photographer Max Kelly

Sometimes, the voices of the people get drowned out in the storm of greed and politics. But when these voices join together to speak as one, they just might make a loud enough roar to create a wave of change.

Politics, seems to have crept into the decision-making process by the Environmental Protection Agency's Washington Office on whether to list the Gowanus Canal as a Superfund site. However, only science and the health of the residents living in this community should be considered.

Please join members of your community and of the The Coalition For Respectful Development (CORD) in reminding our Senators Kirsten Gillibrand and Chuck Schumer that we want the Gowanus Canal added to the National Priorities List.

Won't you please cut, paste and send the letter below to our senators? ( **see instructions below**)

Dear Senators Gillibrand and Schumer, 
 


We are residents of the Gowanus area. 
 
Our neighborhoods may have different names such as Carroll Gardens or Park Slope, but we are the people whose lives are touched every single day by the deplorable condition of the Gowanus Canal. 
 


We are the people who applauded Commissioner Grannis's request to nominate this open sewer to the National Priorities List. 
 


We are the people who signed a petition in support of that nomination. 
 


We are the people who attended the multiple meetings held in our community. 
 


We are the people who obediently sent in our comments to the Environmental Protection Agency in the prescribed, timely manner and we are the people who have been waiting patiently for science and common sense to lead our Canal into the healthier life the Superfund designation would offer us all. 
 


We are the people who are beginning to strongly feel that what residents want is of no importance; that the desires of those who stand to benefit financially somehow trumps the health of those who inhabit the area. 



We are your constituents. Our pro designation comments represent the majority and we ask that you speak on our behalf. 
 


The Gowanus Canal must be added to the National Priorities List. It must be designated a Superfund site. 
 


Work must begin with the sole motivation of improving public health and the environment. 
 
No other plan, no other dream, no other ambition is more important.

No other course of action should be permitted to take precedence over the health of Gowanus area residents and our children. 
 
The EPA indicated in those community meetings that they are ready, willing and able to proceed. 
 


We are the people. Represent us, please. Call E.P.A. Administrator Lisa Jackson.

***Please copy, paste and sign the letter above and email to both senators.***

For Senator Schumer, click here

For Senator Gillibrand, click here

Thank you!

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Please Help Get Bloomberg Politics Out Of The Gowanus Canal Clean-Up!

In the last week, Gowanus/ Carroll Gardens area residents have written letters to the Environmental Protection Agency's Administrator, Lisa Jackson, urging her to uphold her agency's integrity by keeping politics out of the decision-making process. The letters were sent in response to reports that New York Mayor Bloomberg has phoned Lisa Jackson directly to push the city's alternative plan to the EPA's listing of the Gowanus Canal as a Superfund Site.

The EPA had reassured the community repeatedly that the decision would be based purely on science, not politics.

The letter bellow is by a twenty-year resident of the Gowanus area.

As an engaged community member I have attended many meetings over
the year that were held by various agencies such as USACE and DEC.
We were offered a glimmer of hope that something would happen with
the canal but these plans went nowhere. Myself and others do not
have faith that the city will be able, or even want to, complete the
job. The City and Cas Holloway have made no secret that the canal
will remain on NPL and could be designated as a Superfund site at a
later date if the City can not perform. The EPA has the expertise,
knowledge, and resources to get the job done and in a manner that is
safe for the many residents who live in close proximity to the
canal. I do not believe that the City and possibly developers will
be as conscientious . My sense however is that the City won't begin
any actual clean up. Rather, they will ram through their rezoning
plan and use three or four years to complete "studies" while luxury
housing is being built and then request that the canal be designated
a Superfund and thereby leaving new condo owners holding the bag.
Additionally, I am not even sure that the lots located along the
canal's banks are suitable for large scale development due to sub
soil conditions and the water table. I do know, however, that the
canal must be cleaned and this should be completed before any
residential development is contemplated. It also stands to reason
that the potential for a future designation would also scare off
developers/private investment.

I also want to address the Toll Brothers project as I am sure they
have also been heavily lobbying your agency. Toll Brothers has been
in contract for several years to purchase the site. The contract was
contingent on their obtaining a rezoning which the did in early
March. They could have closed on the property then but for whatever
chose not to.

Rumors are circulating throughout the neighborhood that the City
Administration is continuing to lobby your agency even though the
comment period has ended and that is my reason for writing to you.
Please do not let the political pressure exerted by the Bloomberg
Administration interfere with your decision making process and
designate the canal a Superfund site.

Again, I wish to thank you and your team. The neighborhood views
Walter Mugden, George Pavlou, and Natalie Loney as rock stars.
Myself and many others have confidence that they will get the job
done properly and safely for both current and future residents.

***Please send your own email or phone to the following:

*Lisa Jackson, Administrator, US Environmental Protection Agency

202-564-4700 email: jackson.lisap@epa.gov

*President Obama, The White House

email: http://www.whitehouse.gov/contact
Comments: 202-456-1111
Switchboard: 202-456-1414
FAX: 202-456-2461

*Governor David A. Paterson

State Capitol
Albany, NY 12224
518-474-8390
to email, click here

*NY Senator Charles Schumer: 914-734-1532

*NY Senator Kristin Gillibrand: 212-688-6262

*Representative Nydia Velazquez: 718-599-3658

*Representative Yvette Clarke: 718-287-1142


Related Reading:

Please Help Get Bloomberg Politics Out Of The Gowanus Canal Clean-Up!

Bloomberg Still Pushing His Gowanus Greenwashing Plan Over EPA Environmental Science

Mayor Bloomberg, Your Band-Aid Approach To Gowanus Clean-Up No Solution

Gowanus Superfund: City And Elected Officials Spinning As Fast As They Can

Last Night's CB6 Gowanus Superfund Meeting: The Pros Vs. The Amateurs

Regarding Gowanus Superfund Designation, Our Local Pols Are Showing Incredible Lack Of Leadership

'Why The Gowanus Should Be A Superfund Site' By Tom Angotti, PHD



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According To 'Crain's Insider', Patterson Is Last Hope For Gowanus Superfund Naysayers

Time To Send Letters To Governor Patterson???

Crain's New York published a very interesting article on the Gowanus Canal proposed Superfunding. It's entitled: "Gov Is Last Hope For Gowanus Builders."
(If link does not work, access article here)

It's a worthwhile read.

It describes Mayor Bloomberg's opposition to the listing of the waterway as a Superfund site and his political wrangling to convince the EPA that the city's questionable, more developer-friendly alternative plan is viable. So far, he has not been successful, though he personally called and lobbied Administrator Jackson, the head of the EPA in Washington.

The article also described the hesitation of some of our elected officials, namely Representative Nydia Velázquez, who has yet to issue a statement for the Superfund listing, though she seemed to be leaning for the designation.
Representative Yvette Clarke has been mostly absent from the debate.
Senator Schumer seems to be among the fence-sitters, while Bill de Blasio has been against it from the start. (I hope you will remember that when you go to the polls for the run-off election today)
Only Daniel Squadron, our State Senator has clearly expressed his preference for letting the EPA handle the clean-up.

Which leaves Governor David Paterson, who is, according to the article: "the last hope for Superfund opponents—led by developers who say banks won't finance their projects if the canal area gets Superfund status, which can linger for decades."

None of the political maneuvering by our elected officials has anything to do with environmental science, which should be the only criteria on whether the polluted canal is worthy of being placed on the list reserved for the most polluted sites in the nation.

To access the Crain's article, click here:

To contact Governor Paterson to ask that he support the community rather than to listen to Mayor Bloomberg and developers, write, phone or email :

David A. Paterson
State Capitol
Albany, NY 12224

518-474-8390

to email, click here

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EPA Regional Administrator Writes Rebuttle To Ill-Informed Editorial On Gowanus In NY Post

The New York Post has published a number of editorials and anonymous opinion pieces on the Gowanus Canal that are as factually murky as the waters of the polluted waterway. The latest appeared on September 21st.

On Sunday, the Post published a rebuttle by George Pavlou, Acting Regional Administrator of the US EPA in Manhattan, which correct some of the "inaccuracies" in the piece.

Good for him. His office should be commended for its incredible professionalism. His staff has worked hard to involve and inform the community about the Superfund designation process. I for one thank him and his crew for their hard work, and hope that they get the support from Administrator Jackson, the head of the EPA in Washington to get the Canal listed as soon as possible.

This community has waited long enough.

A plan, a canal

Last Updated: 4:30 AM, September 27, 2009

Posted: 12:17 AM, September 27, 2009

Your editorial, “ ‘Help’ the Gowanus Doesn’t Need” (Sept. 21) has several inaccuracies, the most troubling being the assertion that the Superfund relies solely on litigation to get a cleanup done.

The EPA’s Superfund program receives appropriations from Congress every year to fund work, and litigation almost never hinders progress at a site. The Superfund law gives the EPA the authority to pay for the cleanup and recoup costs from polluters later.

Moreover, Superfund cleanups often spur development. Superfund designation gives us teeth to hold polluters responsible and to ensure the health and safety of the surrounding communities and the environment.

The EPA is considering all approaches to cleaning up the canal, and our main goal is simple: a cleaner Gowanus that will better serve this vibrant community.

George Pavlou

Acting Regional Administrator, US EPA, Manhattan

http://www.nypost.com/p/news/opinion/letters/plan_canal_mWM3NNGWX4HrXY0ptmtVnM

Related Posts:

Bloomberg Still Pushing His Gowanus Greenwashing Plan Over EPA Environmental Science

Please Help Get Bloomberg Politics Out Of The Gowanus Canal Clean-Up!


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Please Help Get Bloomberg Politics Out Of The Gowanus Canal Clean-Up!

If you read my post yesterday, about Michael Bloomberg's efforts to lobby against the EPA Superfund designation for the Gowanus Canal , you know how peeved I am at the mayor. Though most Carroll Gardens/Gowanus Waterfront residents testified in favor of the designation during the public comment period, Bloomberg is going against the community's wishes and calling EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson to tout an alternative plan. I urge everyone in the community to write an email or to call Administrator Jackson in Washington, urging her to keep Bloomberg politics out of the decision making process. I also think it is important to contact our State Senators and Representatives to tell them the same. Additionally, I think residents need to reach out to President Obama. Please find the contact information below. I just sent off my own email to Administrator Jackson and CC'ed it to the White House. Here is what I wrote:

Dear Administrator Jackson,

In April 2009, for the very first time in decades, there was hopeful news about the heavily polluted Gowanus Canal. Residents of the Carroll Gardens/ Gowanus Waterfront community were informed that the Environmental Protection Agency was considering placing the canal on its list of the nation's priority cleanup sites.

There was true excitement at the possibility of the EPA stepping in to oversee the comprehensive environmental clean-up that so many had hoped for, but had long given up on. Generation after generation had heard false promises from our elected officials. If the city had wanted us to have a clean Gowanus Canal, we realized, it would have addressed the pollution long ago. Though we dreamed of clean water, we learned how to cope with the smell and the toxins.

Until that day in April, when Walter Mugden US EPA Director of the Emergency and Remedial Response Division, confidently told this community that a clean-up was possible and that his agency was proposing the waterway as a Superfund site. I am writing to you today, to urge you to listen to the overwhelming number of community members who are supportive of the Superfund listing and of your agency.

However, it has come to my attention, that Mayor Bloomberg has been calling you personally to lobby against the nomination. I have also learned, that Caswell Holloway, Chief of Staff for Deputy Mayor Schyler, has visited your office personally to push the City's alternative plan.

As an active community member and a neighborhood blogger, I can assure you that Mayor Bloomberg speaks for a very few and mostly for himself. The majority of residents are firmly behind your agency and Superfund listing. I was told that your agency only takes science into account, when making its final decision. Mayor Bloomberg has introduced politics into the process. Please do not let him compromise your agency's principles. Respectfully,

Katia Kelly

CC: President Obama

***Please send your own email or phone to the following:

*Lisa Jackson, Administrator, US Environmental Protection Agency

202-564-4700 email: jackson.lisap@epa.gov

*President Obama, The White House

email: http://www.whitehouse.gov/contact
Comments: 202-456-1111
Switchboard: 202-456-1414
FAX: 202-456-2461

*NY Senator Charles Schumer: 914-734-1532

*NY Senator Kristin Gillibrand: 212-688-6262

*Representative Nydia Velazquez: 718-599-3658

*Representative Yvette Clarke: 718-287-1142



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