The Environmental Protection Agency a.k.a. The Bureau of Bloodthirsty Job-Killing Werewolves released an expansive report [pdf] last month that recommends a 10-year plan to dredge and replace layers of matter kindly referred to as "sediment" in the Gowanus canal, costing close to $500 million. Per CERCLA, polluters are required to pick up Superfund bills, and as expected, gas companies and other businesses who dumped chemicals and had unprotected sex with the Gowanus Canal are doing their damndest to limit their liability. Add the City of New York to that list: the Department of Environmental Protection says the Gowanus' troubles have little to do with the tons of poop that it pumps into the canal each year. more ›

Last month locals called bullshit on the new ban closing parts of Newtown Creek to kayakers and other brave folk willing to find fun in the Superfunded body of water. Now they've got some backup in high places, we're told that Assemblyman Joe Lentol and Councilman Stephen Levin blasted the new and unnecessary ban on recreational boating in Newtown Creek. They will allegedly both testify at tonight's hearing with the Department of Environmental Protection on the issue, encouraging the ban to be lifted. In a letter, they wrote: more ›

With Newtown Creek officially a Superfund site now, the Department of Environmental Protection has closed off the waterway to boats, kayaks, and the like. But the people have spoken, and they want their polluted waters to remain open for recreation! According to the Brooklyn Paper, the EPA claims its a "short-term ban" that will remain in place until the state can analyze the water quality. A DEP official said the decision was made out of “an abundance of caution” with regards to public health. more ›

Newtown Creek (dolphins love it) is following in the footsteps of the raw sewage spewing Gowanus Canal—yesterday the feds made the polluted body of water a Superfund site. It will now be subject to a massive Environmental Protection Agency cleanup, according to the Daily News... one that will likely take many, many years. The EPA's regional administrator declared "this waterway has been contaminated over the past 150 years," and the designation will have them going after those who had a hand in polluting it. more ›

One reason not everyone was supporting the EPA slapping a Superfund sticker on the Gowanus Canal was because of the stigma that comes along with that label. Bloomberg and certain developers were fearing the fallout of a decision to Superfund, and the Toll Brothers were even facing a multimillion dollar lawsuit after signing a $21.5 million contract with owner Joseph Phillips, which they refused to pay. more ›

We've all heard about the Gowanus Canal's polluted waters, but now that Team Superfund is on board, it's time to get an up close look at the goo that oozes within it. The folks who run Characters of Gowanus were brave enough to get exclusive footage of the most talked about sediment in town, and it ain't pretty. EPA regional Superfund director Walter Mugdan explains the Superfund process in the below video and (spoiler alert!) talks about that time that the mud found in the waterway "had eaten its way through this heavy duty plastic" that it had been captured in. It's alive, people—and carrying gonorrhea. more ›

Just hours after a coyote was spotted in Chelsea and a seal turned up on the shores of Staten Island, a teacher from the Urban Assembly New York Harbor School reportedly saw a dolphin swimming in the Newtown Creek. According to a press release issued by the environmental group Riverkeeper, the educator and a colleague alerted authorities after seeing a dolphin in the fetid body of water, which could soon be deemed a Superfund site like the Gowanus Canal. more ›

[UPDATE BELOW] This week the Gowanus Canal will be designated a Superfund site, according to Courier Life. An employee for the agency told them, “If you asked me to put money on it, I think they will announce on Thursday." However, the EPA is set to make an announcement to the press today at 10 a.m. Once the call is officially made, expect the Toll Brothers to toss aside any development plans they had for the area (the Superfund process takes 10-12 years), and for the mayor to have a big sad. A public meeting will be held this Thursday at 7 p.m. at PS 58 in Brooklyn. [via Curbed] more ›

Decontamination efforts are well underway for a toxic Gowanus site, slated to house Brooklyn's first Whole Foods. But though the hole should be contaminant-free by April, the upscale grocery purveyor won't confirm its move to the neighborhood. “Everything I know is that Whole Foods is committed to building on that site,” said John Bogdanski, an environmental consultant for the store. “Still, there is always the option to sell the property.” more ›

What's to be done about the Gowanus Canal? Any ideas? If so, the Department of Environmental Protection wants to hear them. The DEP sent out a notice indicating it is seeking proposals for how best to remove storm water from the sewer system and how best to treat it before it is discharged back into the Gowanus Canal watershed and Flushing Bay. The agency plans to award grants totaling $2.9 million to the potential projects, equally divided between the two areas. You better hurry though, because a retired engineer, Bart Chezar from Park Slope, thinks he has a plan that "will not only prevent raw sewage from continuing to foul the already polluted waterway, but also modify the behavior of local residents so that they do their part to keep the waterway clean." more ›

Superfund is finally coming to Brooklyn, but not where you might expect it. On December 23rd the Bloomberg Administration announced that it will support the designation of Newtown Creek, which runs through North Brooklyn and parts of Queens, as a Superfund site. Newtown Creek was recommended for the Superfund by the EPA last year. But don't go getting any ideas, Gowanus; the city still has no intentions to extend this designation to your infamous canal. more ›

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! more ›

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. more ›

As previously mentioned, Mayor Bloomberg is now facing two NYC waterways becoming potential Superfund sites; the Gowanus Canal and more recently Newtown Creek. While supporters of the Superfund status say that Bloomberg is making a political decision where he should be making a scientific one, the mayor recently tried to explain his motive$, saying: "Better we can find developers that can put the money in and pay for the cleanup right now because they will get a benefit of being able to develop the land around there." more ›

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.” more ›

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. more ›

As Whole Foods confirms there will be no ribbon cutting for a store on the Gowanus, this Sunday there will be a ribbon cutting for the Great Trans-Gowanus Cable (flyer here). The organizers explain:

"We will be building a telegraph along and across the Gowanus Canal, from the corner of Second St. and Second Ave. to the corner of Third St. and Third Ave. At either end of the telegraph wire will be stations outfitted with vintage telegraph keys and a guide to Morse Code. Posted will be Morse's famous transmission: 'What Hath God Wrought.' Passerby will be able transmit their answers to this question (with brevity), as well as receive responses. All sent messages will also be transmitted to us, off-site."

As the battle for the Gowanus Canal continues, and Superfund supporters bring their campaign from doorsteps to YouTube, the NY Times looks at the canal as one man's artistic muse (and it's not the first time). more ›

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. more ›

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." more ›

While city and state battle it out over who gets to clean up the Gowanus Canal, one residential developer says they're "confident the city's work" will be good enough. The Toll Brothers plan to build 460 condos along the waterway, a plan that would go down the drain if it were granted Superfund status. The NY Times explains the stigma, saying "city officials and many residents fear the Superfund label, reserved for the worst contamination in the country and evoking health emergencies." In other words, it would be difficult to fund a project with this scarlet letter attached. However, the developer's consultants found levels of hydrogen sulfide in the water that they said would create a "significant odor impact," the Daily News reports. So chances those duped into signing leases would rather have the stigma than the overwhelming stench floating into their brand dream home and sinking in to their brand new IKEA furnishings. more ›

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). more ›

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. more ›

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. more ›

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. more ›

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. more ›

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. more ›