Results tagged “epa”

Even though there's a stall in the Superfund debate, the EPA is moving forward with their work surrounding the Gowanus Canal. The Daily News now reports that they're pointing fingers at four more alleged polluters, all of whom could eventually have to help pay for the cleanup of the Canal. And they are (drumroll please): the U.S. Navy, Con Edison, chemical maker Chemtura, and... the city of New York!

Mayor Bloomberg will prove he's not scared of no stinkin' canal when he visits Gowanus later today to announce the “start” of his $150-million effort to improve water quality there. Currently he's up against the fed's push to turn the Gowanus Canal into a Superfund site; something he believes will be too expensive, take too long and ruin the future re$idential area with a toxic stigma.

As the EPA fights for the rights to clean up the Gowanus Canal, they've just recommended another one of New York's most contaminated waterways get Superfund status. Acting Regional Administrator George Pavlou told the NY Post, “Newtown Creek is one of the most grossly-contaminated waterways in the country. By listing the Creek, EPA can focus on doing the extensive sampling needed to figure out the best way to address the contamination and see the work through.”

While Mayoral Candidate Monty Burns would never want to clean up the Gowanus Canal (what's a little gonorrhea bacteria?), Mayor Bloomberg wants it spic n' span for developers and investors. And he doesn't want help from no stinkin' EPA either. The director of the Center for Urban Innovation now agrees that Superfunding the site would be setback; in his editorial for the Post he says that while someone may benefit (Mother Nature?) the neighborhoods around the canal will not.

Summer is here, time for some scaremongering! Newsday delivers the first dose in what is likely a season full of over-the-top warnings. The latest casts a dark shadow on sand, following a study by the Environmental Protection Agency who "found those who dig in the sand have an increased chance of gastrointestinal problems, such as diarrhea, due to fecal matter in the sand." Sand castle builders and those who enjoy getting buried in the sand are at a greater risk (seriously, it says that). Eh, a little gastrointestinal illness isn't a bad trade off for sculpting a sweet sand castle... but don't be fooled, that's not all you'll catch, you can also come down with upper respiratory illnesses, rash, eye ailments, earaches and infected cuts. The paper also injects this floating fact into the article for us locals, "Long Island has several outfall pipes that discharge to water near bathing beaches." Yeah, that's sewage overflow. So enjoy the beach this weekend everyone, and don't forget this year's hottest accessory (pictured).

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."

Brooklyn artist Anthony Clune says from his Gowanus studio he "can smell the overflow sewage that cascades into the canal after heavy rains, inhale the concrete dust billowing from mixing facilities, and meditate on the prismatic oil-slick rainbow floating out to sea." So he gave what he calls his Gowanus Canal Tonky Octopus some text in hopes of hurrying the cleanup process, which is currently being debated about as city and state debate the pros and cons of a Superfund status. Clune says, "The Gowanus Canal area is an unhealthy place for New Yorkers to live and work and I hope it gets cleaned up soon. It seems that adding the area to EPA’s Superfund list is the most expeditious way to do so." However, the Bloomberg administration has said it would take two decades for the EPA to finish their cleanup, and would stall the city's cleanup (and development).

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.

The Gowanus Canal, which has long been festering with gonohorrea, may be on the road to getting cleaned up. OTBKB reports that the EPA is likely adding the 1.8 mile long waterway to their Superfund National Priorities List (NPL), meaning the agency would take a look at the contaminated site and work towards bettering it. In their press release, the EPA begins at the beginning, saying, "The canal was built in the 19th century to allow industrial access into Gowanus Bay. After its completion in the 1860s, the canal became a busy industrial waterway, acting as the home to heavy industries, including manufactured gas plants, coal yards, concrete-mixing facilities, tanneries, chemical plants, and oil refineries. It was also the repository of untreated industrial wastes, raw sewage and runoff." All that history, and it still has heavy kayak activity.

The 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals found former EPA head Christie Todd Whitman not liable for saying Ground Zero air was safe after the September 11, 2001 attacks.

Hold onto your chopsticks; the Times recently commissioned a toxicology report on sushi from 13 local establishments and got back some rather unappetizing results:

More than half of the restaurants and stores surveyed sold sushi with so much mercury that eating just six pieces a week would exceed the amount the EPA says can be safely consumed by an adult of average weight, which the agency defines as 154 pounds, 70 kilograms. People weighing less are advised to consume even less mercury.

Continue reading "Mercury Rising Higher in Tuna"