Hello from Carroll Gardens CORD!
Tuesday
night's general CAG meeting took place at the Brooklyn Historical
Society. The meeting was attended by nineteen members of the CAG as well
as an assortment of guests.
The night's business included, among other things, a
vote on a resolution proposed by the Water Quality/Technical Committee,
which came out of a meeting the CAG had with the DEP earlier in the
month.
Please read the resolution below:
Proposed Resolution: A resolution passed by the WQ/Technical Committee will be up for a ratification vote by the full CAG at the 4/24 meeting:
"The
Gowanus Superfund Community Advisory Group fully supports the U.S.
Environmental Protection Agency in its finding that New York City’s
Combined Sewer Overflows are a significant contributor of harmful
sediment and Superfund regulated PAHs and metals to the canal. The CAG
takes the position that the total elimination of CSOs into the Gowanus
Canal is the only acceptable solution to the problem. The CAG asks that
the EPA, under their Superfund authority, take the necessary measures
that will insure protection of the proposed remedy from ongoing CSO
sediment solids deposits and the release of PAHs and other toxins."
Much
to the surprise of some of the CAG members (CORD included), the
facilitator announced at the beginning of the meeting that the DEP had
sent a representative to the meeting in order to make a "presentation"..
Initially, we were told they wanted twenty minutes, then down to
ten then maybe we could grant them five minutes.
The facilitator suggested several scenarios whereby the
DEP could speak before or after the Water Quality/Technical Committee
presented the resolution to their fellow CAG members.
It
was completely obvious to the Water Quality/Technical Committee
members, who had worked on the proposal for several days prior to its
presentation, that the DEP was there to persuade the group to accept
their version of how the cleanup should proceed.
Why? Because after the Water Quality/Technical
Committee's meeting with the DEP earlier this month,it was apparent that
the city has no intention of doing anything more than what they already
have in the works in regard to the canal...and it simply is not
enough....
The science is clear----besides the raw sewage---there
are dangerous chemicals and heavy metals that are being emitted into the
canal through the cso's---some of these dangerous compounds actually
wind up attaching themselves to the "solids"---and wind up accumulating
at the bottom. Something must be done to address this once and for all.
We have talked about the city's Green Infrastructure
and Long Term Control Plans. These are city wide programs--good
programs---expensive programs--but they DO NOT tackle the complicated
and massive problem of the Gowanus Canal---they in fact only address a
very small percentage of the overall problems we have throughout
the entire city in regard to our sewer system--they do not address the
toxins and the reasons that the canal was designated a superfund site in
the first place.
Keep your ears open and you will hear the
city say things now like the EPA is moving too fast----incredible! It
was the city who tried to talk the community out of allowing the feds in
by whining that the process would be so slow, the city could do it
better and faster, etc etc etc---now that the EPA is moving along right
on target, and by the way, ahead of anything that the city
promised....all of a sudden it's going too fast
Also, watch out and listen for things like the benign.....we want all the agencies to work together and coordinate their efforts.....
This
is code for the city to try to get their Long Term Control Plan kicked
into gear before the EPA can begin (that city plan is not set to even
begin until 2015--look at the name, "long term"--that means final
results are not for twenty or thirty years!---the EPA will be presenting
their proposed plan this summer/early fall) ---the city just seems
determined to slow the process down.
The truth is that the federal government is going to
spend a half a billion dollars cleaning up the toxic sediment in the
canal and prevent additional contamination from the surrounding uplands
from entering the canal..
....and the city plans on continuing to dump more toxic and cross toxin contaminated bacterial waste on top of it!
If
the CSO's emissions, documented by the EPA in their studies, are not
addressed by the city in a more effective manner, we will be literally
throwing our money and the epa's efforts into the toilet. How ridiculous
and wasteful is that?!
The CAG, made up of local residents, business owners
and community groups made a very clear statement...it is important that
the science remain the focus- that the CAG supports the remedies that
will address what the studies have shown.The EPA studies are clear and
posted for all to see with even more information to come. http://www.epa.gov/region2/superfund/npl/gowanus/
It is important that all of us keep in mind that the end goal is a clean and healthy canal and environment----and that we focus on demanding those measures needed to attain that goal----not be swayed by city wide programs designed to meet other city wide obligations the city must meet.
More than an hour later, after a spirited discussion, a vote was
taken and it was decided that the DEP would not speak....the resolution
was presented and discussed and the the CAG approved the resolution. One
tiny step---but an important one.
It clearly shows that we want and expect what most of
us had in mind from the day we heard that the canal would be
superfunded---a clean canal that does not endanger public health---
Eymund Diegel and Angela Murphy, members of the Archaeology Committee,
presented a delightful slide show and a great history lesson on the
Gowanus and offered up some wonderful suggestions on how we can
commemorate the Canal's important place in Brooklyn's past and present.
Next meeting....end of May.
CORD
