ED IT TO PRESIDENT OBAMA:
Dear Ms. Jackson,
Below you will find an email we sent to you earlier this year. We are cc-ing it President Obama.
We DO NOT AGREE WITH MAYOR BLOOMEBERG'S PROPOSAL TO "CLEAN" OUR GOWANUS CANAL! THIS IS AN EXTREMELY TOXIC AREA as you well know.
WE ARE LONG TIME RESIDENTS OF THIS AREA AND BELIEVE ANYTHING ELSE BUT A SUPERFUND DESIGNATION WOULD BE AN ENORMOUS DISSERVICE TO OURSELVES, AS RESIDENTS OF THE AREA, AS WELL AS TO THE FUTURE INHABITANTS OF THE GOWANUS CANAL AREA.
PLEASE DESIGNATE THE CANAL AS A SUPERFUND SITE ASAP!!!
Attached please find CORD's (the Carroll Gardens Coalition for Respectful Development) statement to Mr. Munhall in support of the Canal's nomination to the National Priorities List.
Although we sent this letter way back in April, 2009, after meeting with several officials from the City of New York, we felt that we wanted to present our opinion and our deep concerns directly to you as well.
We understand that there is a great deal of pressure being applied by the City to have the Canal cleaned through the Superfund Alternative Plan. We understand that the Alternative approach has been used in some areas of the country, although not in our region, with some success, but we also understand that the sheer numbers of potentially responsible parties involved at this particular site makes the alternative approach a considerably more complicated route to pursue.
The City has also indicated that they are totally relying on the Federal Government's WRDA program, and the financial benefits it affords to the PRPs, something which we understand is an even if-ier situation than getting all of the PRPs to come to a voluntary
agreement in regard to their financial responsibility.
Quite simply, we feel that the City's entire plan is a development driven philosophy and we fear that the more important motivations, those of improving public health and safety and environmental remediation and restoration, are being pushed aside.
We look forward to the Canal's listing on the NPL.
Thank you.
Sincerely,
Lucy DeCarlo, Rita Miller and Triada Samaras
CORD
*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/contactComments: 202-456-1111
Switchboard: 202-456-1414
FAX: 202-456-2461
