Results tagged “cleanup”

Some three decades after polychlorinated biphenyl [PCB] was banned, the stuff is still found in rivers, plants, and human bodies, where it can suppress the immune system, alter the reproductive system, cause asthma, cardiovascular disease, enhance the effects of other carcinogenic substances, and reduce IQ, according to City Limits. In April 2008, the Daily News found PCBs in window sills and door frames in dozens of city public schools, but city health officials determined that in most cases the PCBs in the caulking had not leaked into the air and weren't dangerous. State regulations permit the caulk to remain in place until renovations take place, though some experts warn that PCBs left undisturbed can still leach out. Now one Bronx mom, Naomi Gonzalez, is suing the city to force it to remove all the tainted caulk from Public School 178, where her 6-year-old daughter attends school. Last year former City Health Commissioner Dr. Thomas Frieden insisted the PCB caulk was perfectly harmless: "Do PCBs pose a health risk in the schools where they're present in intact caulk sample?... The findings clearly indicate they do not." Of course, this is the same guy who shrugged off reports that swine flu could kill 90,000 Americans nationwide.

       

Looking for an end of summer day trip? We suggest avoiding the Bronx Swamp, which Nate Kensinger described as a "flooded railroad line below the streets of Mott Haven" that is home to birds, rats, raccoons, mosquitos and maybe a dead body or two. Even though it's acknowledged as a health risk, and the Department of Health & Mental Hygiene sprays it regularly "with larvacide to curb the spread of mosquitos potentially infected with the West Nile Virus," the photographer still made a journey out there.

The litterbugs are speaking up. Following their annual Heatwave BBQ that left Prospect Park looking more like a landfill than a public oasis, hosts of the event, MIHventures has released the following "explanation":

Alright Gowanus Canal, where were we? The NY Times reports on the latest developments surrounding the clean-up debate, which is split between those who want it to be labeled a Superfund site and those who are afraid of that label's stigma (real estate developers). City officials are sided with the latter group, and have proposed an alternative cleanup plan that would be overseen by the EPA, would take less time, and wouldn't have such a scary word attached to it.

Last we heard in the great Gowanus Canal Clean-up debate, developers in the area were concerned with the Superfund stigma, and would choose the city cleanup efforts over the EPA's even though their consultants found levels of hydrogen sulfide in the water that they said would create a "significant odor impact."

City and State were at odds last night at a public forum held in Carroll Gardens regarding the cleanup of the Gowanus Canal. It's being reported that the Bloomberg Administration is "opposing a proposal by the federal Environmental Protection Agency to add Brooklyn’s Gowanus Canal to the agency’s list of Superfund sites, arguing that the designation could jeopardize planned development for the area and the city’s own cleanup efforts." Daniel Walsh, director of the Mayor's Office of Environmental Remediation, noted that "Of the 1,500 federal Superfund sites to date, no river cleanup has been successfully completed." Because the Superfund solution would require finding responsible parties for past contamination, the city fears that the effort would take up to 20 years, "putting at risk more than $400 million of private investment already committed to the area for housing and other development," as well as the city's own cleanup efforts. The E.P.A. officials will make a final decision following a 60-day public comment scheduled to end June 6th.

As part of a $300-million cleanup, for the next two years the city will shut down the flushing tunnel that pumps water from the Buttermilk Channel through a sewage-filled sluice into the Gowanus canal. The tunnel has to be deactivated so the underwater propeller, located at the head of the canal, can be replaced by three smaller pumps. Now there's concern the next couple years will be very noxious for Gowanus residents, as untreated waste that floods the canal during heavy storms lingers undiluted. The Brooklyn Paper, evoking that Reagen-era Massengill disposable douche commercial, worries "the dirty duct" won't have "that just flushed feeling." So in the meantime, locals may want to stick to mouth-breathing and focus on 2013, when the DEP promises a Gowanus utopia of kayaking, condos, and 34 percent less raw effluence poured into canal per year!

Incase the news managed to escape you, Jon Bon Jovi came, sang and conquered Central Park over the weekend. Of the over 60K tickets given away to fans, around 50K showed up to the Great Lawn...leaving a reported 150K plastic bottles and aluminum cans. The AP reports, "Major League Baseball, which sponsored the event, said that more than 100 volunteers worked into the next day collecting the recyclables," an effort made in collaboration with the Natural Resources Defense Council -- there's no word yet on how the 13 acres of Kentucky bluegrass fared during the show. And if you weren't rocking, rolling and littering in the crowd on Saturday, some of the show has landed on YouTube.

Over the weekend, Natalie Ciappa's parents became worried when their daughter hadn't returned home. After calls to her friends, they found her unconscious in a converted garage-rec room in Seaford, Long Island. The 18-year-old who was days away from graduation was later pronounced dead at a hospital. Now, the party's host, a 19-year-old, was arrested for evidence tampering.