| Last MONDAY night the CAG (GOWANUS CANAL Citizens Advisory Group) met at the American Can Factory building for the most recent of the general meetings. Attendance was not great. There were approximately half of the current CAG members present as well as several members of the community, press and local official's representatives. |
The evening included an update on the EPA's plan to present their Remedial Investigation report. We understand that the EPA will be coming to the community sometime in February via a public forum to discuss the findings included in the report. We will let you know of the exact date, time and place as soon as that information is made available to us. The Remedial Investigation report will be a detailed account of all of the EPA's testing and is therefore the blueprint by which they base their cleanup procedural plan.
EPA’s Public Meeting on the RI will be Wednesday, February 23, from 6:30 p.m. – 9:00 p.m. at PS 32.
The RI is in the process of being posted on EPA’s website along with a fact sheet about the RI. Volume 1 is already up, but it may take a little while for the appendices and fact sheet to be posted, so check back.
For RI documents go to: http://www.epa.gov/
The CAG spent a good deal of time looking over some of the committee work that has been going on in the last month. For example, the Operating Procedures Committee's framework draft was presented to the CAG for their review. The Operating Procedures Committee has been working toward developing what Facilitator Jeff Edelstein referred to as the "constitution" governing the CAG.
CAG members were and are encouraged to offer any and all suggestions that they may have to improve the draft document. From that draft document and the suggestions made by the CAG members, the constitution will be more fleshed out and the CAG will then have the mechanisms and procedures in place necessary for their work to continue.
A discussion regarding voting procedures was part of the conversation. Members were asked to think about the pros and cons of voting versus consensus. What is best for a group such as the CAG which serves in an advisory capacity only?
The Real Estate Committee's Information Gathering Proposal was discussed in a rather lively manner. After all was said and done, it was decided that the whole proposal should go back to the Real Estate Committee for further discussion before any action is taken.
There was also a discussion regarding the development and dissemination of a Frequently Asked Questions document to answer some of the questions that the community is asking regarding the Superfund process. A list of preliminary questions were distributed and a charge to each committee to come up with questions pertaining to their areas was put forth.
CORD wants to hear from you! Help us ask the questions that YOU want the answers to.
What are your questions about the Superfund? Do you have any concerns regarding the cleanup? Do you have any questions about the process in general?
Please feel free to submit them to CGCORD@gmail.com
We will not identify you unless you wish us to. If you wish your general address to be mentioned as part of the question and nothing more, we will do so.
What is important is not WHO asks the question but the question or concern itself. If something is bothering you or you are just plain curious....ASK AWAY!
As we have said so many times before....the CAG allows everyone in the community an opportunity to participate in this important event----
Come to the meetings when you can...and when you can't....please stay involved via this newsletter....talk to us via email....we WILL bring your questions, comments, concerns and opinions to the meetings for you.
We are always happy to hear from you.
