SUPERFUND! Gowanus Canal Gets Listed!

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Photo Credit: Max Kelly


Just Announced!

EPA
Lists
Gowanus Canal
as
SUPERFUND !

After almost 200 years of industrial pollution and neglect, the Environmental Protection Agency is stepping in to clean the filthy urban waterway.
Disregarding politics, the E.P.A. based its decision to name the Gowanus Canal to the national priority's list as a Superfund Site purely on science. Though New York City's Mayor Bloomberg, as well as developers, lobbied intensely against the listing, the E.P.A. proved that it was not going to be deterred by special interests from cleaning the toxic canal.

The City's Plan Was Too Little, Too Late!

New York City has for years steamrolled residents' concerns and common sense in the pursuit of development along the banks of the Gowanus Canal. Planning has been mostly abandoned to the quest for quick profits and deferred costs. At the very last moment, our city officials tried to make up for decades of inaction and presented a hastily crafted plan designed to deter the EPA, the one organization best equipped to get the job done.

Of course, development interests also stepped up and tried to distract everyone from the fact that our officials were willing to overlook public health once again on behalf of private profits. They formed advocacy groups and pretended to represent the community's interest since they were willing to build their toxic towers using affordable housing as bait. They've made wild claims that we wouldn't be able buy or sell or insure our million dollar houses in this; one of the most desirable New York neighborhoods.

Science and Common Sense Prevails!

Luckily, a coalition of local groups and residents banded together to speak for the interests of the community and opposed the misinformation presented by the people who preferred to build now and worry later. This group grew out of a common desire to finally stop the stalling of our city administration and seize the opportunity presented by the EPA. They visited all of our elected officials to assure them that the community was overwhelmingly in support of a Superfund designation despite the negative connotations portrayed by those interested only in a quick buck. After years of favoring developers, they didn't trust NYC to do the right thing.

Some Officials Get it Right.

It's amazing how some of our elected officials can disregard the majority of the people they represent and explain away their concerns in support of vague (often lost) public benefits and certain (rarely lost) financial gain of a few well connected individuals, and then pretend we are a democracy. In this case, we have a few elected heroes who had the courage to recognize the obvious, that despite the platitudes offered by our city administration, the EPA offered the best hope for cleaning the canal. They deserve to be named:

US Congresswoman Nydia Velázquez

NYS Senator Velmanette Montgomery

NYS Senator Daniel Squadron

NYS Assemblywoman Joan Millman

NYC Councilman Brad Lander

Where do we go from here ?

So, at last, our long ordeal is over. 200 years in the making, a full year in deliberation and now we have reached the end of the beginning.

Today's announcement by the E.P.A. is the best news this community could have hoped for.
It means that, finally, our concerns have been heard and that future generations will be able to live and thrive along the shores of a safe Gowanus Canal.
We sincerely hope that our New York City administration will finally do the right thing by joining the E.P.A. and committing itself to cleaning the canal as it has claimed it would.

To Read The EPA Region Two Official Press Release, click here.


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