Results tagged “oilspill”

Toxic vapors are intruding into Greenpoint homes, and the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation is having difficulty assessing the problem because many residents will not allow their homes to be tested, according to a scary report in the Times today. The vapors in question are not wafting from the famous oil plume in Greenpoint's groundwater that went undetected until 1978, but are believed to be left over from other businesses that no longer operate in the neighborhood.

Responding to pressure from Representatives Anthony Weiner and Nydia Velazquez, the E.P.A. has agreed to conduct “preliminary tests” that could lead to Newtown Creek being named a federal Superfund site, City Room reports. In 1978, the Coast Guard realized that a toxic oil plume in Greenpoint's groundwater had been seeping into the creek. A study the following year estimated the contamination at 17 million gallons and 55 acres wide, but it may actually be closer to 30 million gallons, according to a study released last year. If the E.P.A. tests qualify the site for Superfund status, the cleanup will be aided by millions in federal money, and the E.P.A. could sue Exxon Mobil and other companies for polluting the area. And last year attorney general Andrew Cuomo filed his own lawsuit.

Yesterday, Representatives Anthony Weiner and Nydia Velazquez held a press conference to ask the EPA to name Newtown Creek a Superfund site. The lawmakers want federal funding to speed up the slow progress on the cleanup of millions of gallons of oil that began in the 1940s and 1950s. Weiner said in his press conference that if the current rate of cleanup were to continue, it might not be done until 2026.

     

The presence of oil in parts of Greenpoint is well documented, but it looks like someone wants the oil to be cleaned up. This morning there was artwork in the Queens-bound Nassau Avenue G stop asking for a stop to the oil spills. The artwork shows drops of oil on the walls of the station, pools of oil collected on the floors, and paper towels for straphangers to clean up the spill. Reader Shannan tells us that the paper towels said something to the effect of "no more oil spills."

Crews are working to remove oil from Long Island shoreline that spilled into the ocean sometime on Thanksgiving Day and started washing ashore. Surfers called the Coast Guard to report "tar-like balls of oil." A number of agencies, including the Coast Guard and NY State DEP, are working on the cleanup. The spill seems to be about 500 gallons of no. 6 oil, an unrefined bunker oil, and Newsday reports the samples from the spill...

Yesterday morning, surfers contacted the Coast Guard about "tar-like balls of oil washing up" on the shoreline of Lido Beach, near Jones Beach on Long Island. The surfers said they also had oil on their wet suits. The spill seems to be about 3000 feet wide and 1500 feet long. Now the Coast Guard, working with other local, state and federal agencies, are trying to figure out where the spill is coming from as they...

SFist witnessed a new apartment building tszuj the skyline with spectacular, gaudy turquoise aplomb, the (informal) renaming of the Mission/SOMA neighborhood border, the return of the Maltese Falcon, the Mayor Gavin Newsom mea culpa-ing over his Hawaiian getaway during the oil spill, and double-decker buses hitting the streets of San Francisco. Oh, and some baseball player named Barry Bonds is a liar whose pants, it seems, are totally on fire.

• Today on the Gothamist Newsmap: falling debris on W 47th St. and 8th Ave. in Manhattan, a shooting on Broadway on Staten Island, and a suspicious boat at the Verrazano Bridge near Brooklyn.
• For a reason unrelated to terrorism, the U.S. Parks Dept. is going to keep the crown of the Statue of Liberty closed because it's a fire death-trap.
• Iranian President Mahmoud Amahdinejad's wish to visit Ground Zero was blocked due to security concerns.
• Leaping Labradors! Dogs competing for top dog dock jumping honors were jumping into a pool at Bryant Park.
• Money should start flowing quicker than spilled oil now that Julia Roberts stand-in Erin Brockovich has jumped into the Greenpoint oil spill pool.
• Despite objections from transit groups and the state comptroller, the MTA is prepared to propose a fare increase for commuters.
• Are New Yorkers in store for a second taxi strike?
• Filmmaker brothers Ethan and Joel Coen are attempting to pass off Brooklyn as the Georgetown neighborhood in Washington, DC. Mutual outrage will likely ensue.
• The vigil for recently deceased carriage horse Smoothie has been moved to the southeast corner of Central Park at the northeast section of Grand Army Plaza. It'll take place Thursday from 5:30-7:30 p.m.

This week ended with the launch of the seventh and final Harry Potter installation. But while the world was consumed with Pottermania, it's important to remember that there were more serious things going on in the world, too - two of them in -Ist cities.

State attorney general Andrew Cuomo filed suit against oil giant Exxon Mobil to clean up an oil spill along Newtown Creek that is estimated to be twice as large as the 1989 Exxon Valdez spill in Alaska. The suit also names BP, Chevron, KeySpan and Phelps Dodge and is seeking action and fines against the companies that spilled approximately 20 million gallons of fuel into the ground and water of industrial Greenpoint, Brooklyn. The New York Times reports that environmental group Riverkeeper filed its own suit against Exxon Mobil in 2004 after it found the ground in Greenpoint heavily contaminated and benzene fumes were even emanating into the air.

A look at some noteworthy television this week:

A look at some noteworthy television this week:

Untitled, by Raymond. Tag yours "gothamist" on Flickr if you want us to use them.

Yesterday, Attorney General Andrew Cuomo announced that the State will sue ExxonMobil, BP, Chevron, Keyspan and Phelps Dodge over a 17-million-gallon oil spill in Newtown Creek that has spread underneath Greenpoint over 100 acres. The spill was detected in 1978, when a Coast Guard pilot noticed an oil plume; oil seeped underground from ExxonMobil refinery and storage operations since the 1950s. Attorney General Cuomo said:

This is one of the worst environmental disasters in the nation, larger than the Exxon Valdez and slower in the cleanup. ExxonMobil must and will be held accountable. The toxic footprint of ExxonMobil is found all over this area. It is ExxonMobil’s oil that remains under the homes and businesses. And it is ExxonMobil that has dragged its feet and done as little as possible to address the dangers that it created.”

One part of last week's NY State Department of Environmental Conservation press release about the Greenpoint oil spill was "information on planned vapor and indoor air sampling will be discussed" during next Wednesday's meeting. And it looks like it means sampling in homes, as the Daily News reports that Greenpoint homeowners are being urged to sign up for emergency gas testing. The fear is that toxic gases have been affecting people's health. While ExxonMobil says, "there is no indication of any methane or benzene impacts to local residences," residents are concerned and one woman even has a pipe in her backyard so toxic vapors can be released!

Earlier this year, State Comptroller Alan Hevesi asked that the Department of Environmental Conservation not negotiate a settlement agreement with ExxonMobil about a 1978 oil spill of 17 million gallons (bigger than the Valdez spill) off Newtown Creek. And now, tests that the DEC performed show there are "elevated levels of the carcinogen benzene and the potentially combustible gas methane in the soil". Oh, dear.

State Comptroller Hevesi's foot, meet State Comptroller Hevesi's mouth! At the crossroads of bad introductions and bad commencement speeches, Alan Hevesi was number one - with a bullet - when he lamely tried to fete Queens College honoree Senator Charles Schumer by saying, "We really feel bad for poor Chuck, the U.S. Senator, the man who, uh, uh, how do I phrase this diplomatically, who will put a bullet between the president's eyes if he could get away with it. The toughest senator, the best representative. A great, great member of the Congress of the United States.'' You can believe if with your own ears by watching this video. And then when Hevesi realized he essentially called for the death of the President by way of NY State's senior Senator, he had to apologize to President Bush, Senator Schumer and Queens College students and called his speech "stupid" and "moronic," and adding, "What I intended to say is that Chuck Schumer is incredibly smart, courageous, willing even to stand up to the president of the United States on issues of public policy. What came out of my mouth is that Chuck Schumer is smart and brave and capable of putting a bullet between the president's eyes."

That's what State Comptroller Alan Hevesi is asking. He advised the Department of Environmental Conservation not to negotiate an agreement with Exxon over the Greenpoint oil spill clean up because the spill needs to be thoroughly examined. Back in 1978, a Coast Guard pilot noticed an oil plume off Newtown Creek: It turned out that 17 million gallons (more than the 11 million from the Exxon Valdez spill) of oil had been spilling since the 1940s and 1950s, and in 1978, the spill covered 55 acres. We've found it odd that the Greenpoint oil spill hasn't been a bigger deal - maybe that's because there aren't any photographs of Alaskan animals in an oil slick - but it's possibly scarier, as it the oil has been seeping into the soil and exposed in an urban area.

When most of us think of oil spills, we think of cute seal pups that end up coated with the stuff, with scruffy Greenpeacers on bended knee trying to scrub them clean. But some Brooklynites have had only one thing on their mind thanks to a 55 acre oil spill that took place over 50 years ago: cancer. A 1950 tanker explosion that leaked almost 17 million gallons of oil and gas into the ground has given Greenpoint, Brooklyn a lingering smell that many longtime residents say lets them know that they're close to home on the BQE. But according to the NY Times, a lawsuit was filed in October against 3 oil companies on the behalf of several residents who claim the accident has caused increased cancer rates in the neighborhood immediately above the contaminated ground. And as none other than Erin Brockovich is consulting on the case, a little surrounding media circus is to be forgiven.