This is very disturbing news given the fact that the majority of residents support the designation and that the EPA is supposed to be above politics.
Don't public health and safety count for anything in the mind of this mayor?
CORD has also received permission from Katia at the PMFA blog to reprint the following:
From http://pardonmeforasking.blogspot.com/2009/09/local-resident-writes-to-epa.html:
"Carroll Gardener Jean (Kitty) Farson did just that, and sent me her own letter to Lisa Jackson. With her permission,I am reprinting it below." PMFA
Dear Administrator Jackson,I recently found out that the EPA has not listed the Gowanus Canal on the list of Superfund Sites. I am so very disappointed, as I am a strong supporter of the canal being listed as a Superfund Site.I am a long time resident of Carroll Gardens (back when no one would even walk on Smith Street much less sit at an outdoor café and eat) and a home owner.Until now, I strongly felt that the canal needed to be cleaned up under the Federal government based on quality of life and health of current and future residents. We have an extremely large influx of young families with small children in the last few years.But I want to share a personal moment with you. I have attached a picture of my dogs, Yankee, the fawn male in the foreground, a beautiful Bullmastif/Pitbull mix we rescued after his owner was killed in the WTC on 9/11. He recently passed away from cancer, Lymphosarcome.I walked Yankee every night down along Bond Street and sometimes down to the canal itself, as it was a favorite spot of his. I do not have scientific facts and figures citing any relationship between Lymphosarcoma and all the toxins in the canal and I am not suggesting there is even a connection.I do wonder what will happen to our air quality and our overall quality of life if you allow the politicans to oversee the cleanup of the canal via unscruplous and out of state developers rather than allow the professional Environnemental Protection Agency team clean up the canal. I have even bigger concerns about how the contaminated soil will be hauled out of the site once the excavation is started. Will they simply drive it out in contaminated dump trucks or will there be some agency (ie EPA) to oversee that trucks are hosed down and clean before they drive up my block?My neighborhood is very, very much in support of Superfunding the canal. I can only speak for myself, but I think Mayor Bloomberg and Caswell Holloway are very out of touch when it comes to our middle class Brownstone neighborhood and what is best for the future of the Gowanus Canal.Respectfully submitted,Jean Farson
***Please send your own email or phone to the following:
*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/contact
Comments: 202-456-1111
Switchboard: 202-456-1414
FAX: 202-456-2461
Comments: 202-456-1111
Switchboard: 202-456-1414
FAX: 202-456-2461
*NY Senator Charles Schumer: 914-734-1532
*NY Senator Kristin Gillibrand: 212-688-6262
*Representative Nydia Velazquez: 718-599-3658
Related Reading:
Please Help Get Bloomberg Politics Out Of The Gowanus Canal Clean-Up!
Bloomberg Still Pushing His Gowanus Greenwashing Plan Over EPA Environmental ScienceMayor Bloomberg, Your Band-Aid Approach To Gowanus Clean-Up No Solution
Gowanus Superfund: City And Elected Officials Spinning As Fast As They Can
Last Night's CB6 Gowanus Superfund Meeting: The Pros Vs. The Amateurs
Regarding Gowanus Superfund Designation, Our Local Pols Are Showing Incredible Lack Of Leadership
'Why The Gowanus Should Be A Superfund Site' By Tom Angotti, PHDSee PMFA
http://pardonmeforasking.blogspot.com/2009/09/local-resident-writes-to-epa.html:
