Photo Credit: Drew Grant
Mayor Bloomberg's political wrangling against the Environmental Protection Agency's Superfund listing of the Gowanus Canal continues to muddy the waters of what should be a scientific process.
Rather than ruffle the mayor's feathers, some of our elected officials have been standing by, letting him get away with his bullying. Why a republican mayor, under a mostly democratic state leadership and a democratic presidency, should get away with shamelessly lobbying the EPA, the one federal agency that should be free of interference, is unprecedented and quite frankly, bizarre.
One elected official who could easily stop all of Mayor Bloomberg's political manoeuvering is New York Senator Chuck Schumer, who has not yet issued a position statement on the EPA's proposed listing of the Gowanus Canal as a Superfund site. By not doing so, he is either indicating that he is unwilling to ruffle Bloomberg's feathers, or that the clean-up of the Gowanus Canal is not a big enough issue for this senator.
Yesterday, the largest coalition of South Brooklyn civic groups from both sides of the canal ever assembled met with Phillip Goldfeder of Senator Schumer's office. I was part of that group.
The common mission of all those in attendance was to demonstrate that our community stands united and stands firmly behind the Superfund designation for the canal.
We conveyed that we strongly support the EPA clean-up because only the federal government has the science, know-how and the best array of tools at their disposal to clean the canal to the highest level. Nothing else will do.
It is time that Senator Schumer issue a statement for the designation of the heavily polluted canal as a Superfund. Keeping quiet would make him complicit with Mayor Bloomberg.
Sitting on a fence, waiting to see how this will all unfold is not an option.
And for an elected official who claims to be for the environment, there is only one choice and that is to let the EPA do its job.
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3 comments:
Senator Schumer HAS TO KNOW that the Flushing Tunnel work the City is FINALLY now doing is mandated work that should have been done YEARS AGO!!! The City is only doing this now because it has been BACKED INTO A CORNER with the EPA here ready to tackle cleanup of the toxic Gowanus Canal. Not only is the City's alternate plan insufficient, City taxpayers would be paying for it (as opposed to federal dollar for EPA Superfund cleanup), and the City IS BROKE!!! And now that Newtown Creek has been nominated as a Superfund site, can't wait to see how the City will dance around this once. Will the City say it will clean up Newtown Creek, too? (since they say they can clean better and faster - yeah, right!)
Gowanee
Since 2002, our current Mayor has been designing and dedicated our tax dollars to implement an upgrade to the flushing pump that has finally been contracted.
Superfund supporters are annoyed that it has taken so long.
The Superfund effort was initiated in 2006, funding the research used to justify the designation. The designation is still pending and who knows when cleanup will commence? The EPA has failed to make any commitment to a timeline.
Oh, great, another Bloomberg staff member (or Schumer staffer?) defending the indefensible. Katia, you nailed it. The Mayor tried to threaten the residents that he'd cancel the flushing tunnel work if the Superfund designation went through, but that was just a bluff. Even the Emperor can't afford to be seen flauting the Feds, it seems. Particularly before an election to renew his Empire.
But stop the BS about "the Mayor's been working on this for years!" If he really wanted the cleanup done quickly and completely he'd throw his support behind getting the Superfund rolling!
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