Reality Check! EPA Warns City Gowanus Area Upzoning Cannot Compromise The Canal Clean-up

Just hours before the Gowanus Canal Community Advisory Group's October meeting this past Tuesday,  the Environmental Protection Agency sent a letter to New York City warning that the proposed upzoning of the Gowanus neighborhood cannot compromise the EPA Superfund clean-up of the 1.8 mile toxic waterway. 

The letter, written by EPA Region 2 Administrator Peter Lopez informs the New York Department of City Planning and the New York City Department of Environmental Protection that his agency anticipates a significant increase in wastewater generated as a result of the rezoning from manufacturing to residential.

EPA estimates that waste water will increase from the present 178,795 gallons per day to 1,977,302 gallons per day once the proposed development has been completely built out. 

This should not come as a surprise to the City since the EPA had addressed the same concerns in its comments on the Gowanus Neighborhood Rezoning Draft Scope of Work for an Environmental Impact Statement (DSOW) back in May 2019.

The EPA is very clear that it does not get involved in land use issues. However, anticipating future use is an important component of designing the Superfund remedy. The Federal Agency is also protective of its environmental remedies and will get involved if there is a risk of re-contamination to a Superfund site.

The City of New York is one of the major polluters of the Gowanus canal, as a result of allowing sewage to discharge into the canal when waste water exceeds the capacity of our treatment facilities during periods of heavy rainfall.  To remedy the situation, EPA has mandated that the City construct two retention tanks to capture the waste water during these rain events.

The City has been dragging its feet and using one delaying tactic after another to avoid taking responsibility for polluting the canal. As it stands, NYC DEP now anticipates the completion of the first tank in 2032.

EPA, for its part, is moving ahead at full speed.  In November, the dredging of the toxic material in the canal will begin, followed by the installation of a multi-layer cap at the bottom of the waterway.

Since the City has not yet begun building its tanks, solids from the waste water discharges risk recontaminating the Superfund site.

It will be interesting to see how the City's Departments of Environmental Protection and Planning will try to engineer their way out of this, given the fact that the City has not yet managed to capture current CSOs into the waterway, let alone 10 times the amount.

Once again, it would appear that the EPA is stepping in to protect the environment and the health of the Gowanus community. The same cannot be said about Mayor deBlasio, as well as Councilmen Brad Lander and Steve Levin, who are all pushing for the rezoning before environmental remediation.

Below is Administrator Lopez's letter to the City.

Dear Director Lago and Commissioner Sapienza:

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is in receipt of public notices indicating that
the Department of City Planning (DCP) has resumed the Gowanus rezoning process,
commencing with the public meeting on October 22, 2020 before the Brooklyn Community
Board 6 Land Use Committee.

As you know, the proposed rezoning affects an area surrounding the Gowanus Canal, which EPA
placed on the Superfund National Priorities List in March 2010. The Gowanus Canal Superfund
Site (Site) is defined as the approximately 100-foot wide, 1.8-mile-long Canal, and also includes
any areas that are sources of contamination to the Canal.

In 2013, EPA issued a Record of Decision (ROD) for the cleanup of the Canal that included the
dredging and off-Site disposal of much of the accumulated contaminated sediment within the
Canal, the capping of certain contamination remaining below the dredged material, and the
control of upland sources to prevent the recontamination of the clean Canal. See
https://semspub.epa.gov/workl02/692106.pdf

Such upland sources include certain contaminated sewer solids discharged into the Canal during
Combined Sewer Overflow (CSO) events when stormwater and sanitary sewage capacity is
exceeded within the approximately 1,758-acre Gowanus Canal watershed. The CSO portion of
the EPA-selected remedy requires the City, a potentially responsible party for the Site, to
construct and operate two CSO retention tanks. Pursuant to several EPA administrative orders,
the City is required to design those CSO tanks and to participate in the first stage of the dredging
and capping work. The City will be required to construct the CSO tanks pursuant to a future EPA
enforcement instrument.

EPA does not have a direct role in local land-use or zoning decisions. However, accounting for
current and anticipated future local land use is an important component in EPA's planning of
response actions under the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation and
Liability Act ("CERCLA" or "Superfund"). EPA also has a role in ensuring that future land-use
changes do not adversely affect the integrity of Superfund cleanups, including the ongoing work
at the Gowanus Canal. Accordingly, in May 2019, EPA provided comments to DCP on the
Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) scoping documents for the rezoning, and also directed the
New York City Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) to provide rezoning-related
information to EPA as part of the CSO tank design process.

The first phase of the dredging and capping is to begin in mid-November 2020 in the upper
Canal, which is in the area where DCP has proposed rezoning for residential use. Progress on the
Canal cleanup is among the factors cited by the City in support of the rezoning.
Progress on the CSO tanks, however, has been delayed by DEP, as noted in recent EPA
communications to DEP. In June 2020, DEP requested that EPA grant an extension of time to
complete the CSO tanks. EPA is reviewing that request, which may impact the effectiveness of
the remedy and have implications on the rezoning.

In light of community interest associated with the start of dredging, DEP's CSO-related delays,
and the resumption of the rezoning process, EPA believes that it would be of assistance to the
City, the community, and other stakeholders to reiterate the cleanup-related discharge parameters
of the ROD.

In anticipation of potential redevelopment, the ROD requires that any future activities that fall
under the City's purview, including development, do not compromise the effectiveness of the
Gowanus Canal remedy. Among other things, the ROD specifically states:

Current and future high density residential redevelopment along the banks of the canal and

within the sewershed shall adhere to NYC rules for sewer connections (Chapter 31 of Title 15

of the Rules of the City of New York) and shall be consistent with current NYCDEP criteria

(NYCDEP, 2012) and guidelines to ensure that hazardous substances and solids from

additional sewage loads do not compromise the effectiveness of the permanent CSOcontrol

measures by exceeding their design capacity. For example, redevelopment

to take mitigation measures to prevent or offset additional sewer loadings. Separated

storm water outfalls will also require engineering controls to ensure that hazardous

substances and solids are not discharged to the Canal. [ROD at page 84.]

In EPA's May 2019 comments on the EIS scoping documents, EPA noted that the City

preliminarily projects a significant increase in the wastewater generation in the neighborhood as

a result of the proposed development. Specifically, for residential development, wastewater

generation is estimated to increase from 178,795 gallons per day (gpd) at present to 1,977,302

gpd once the proposed development has been completed. (See Gowanus Neighborhood

Rezoning and Related Actions at Table B-1).

Consistent with EPA's May 2019 comments, the EIS process should accurately determine not
just the total wastewater generation, but also the incremental sanitary and stormwater volumes
and what appropriate mitigation measures, or combination of measures, are required to prevent
added CSO-related discharges to the Canal and adverse effects on the Canal remedy. In
particular, EPA believes that DEP must determine whether any infrastructure serving the parcels
that are to be rezoned requires upgrading to provide adequate conveyance and prevent overflows
to the Canal. EPA will review all such determinations and other relevant information related to
the impacts of the proposed rezoning on the Superfund Canal remedy and will assess whether
any mitigation measures proposed as part of the development, as a result of the rezoning, would
indeed be protective of the Canal remedy.

EPA acknowledges the City's authority to engage in land-use planning and zoning. With that
said, however, EPA respectfully submits that any rezoning impacting the Canal must proceed in
a manner that is protective of human health and the environment, as envisioned in EPA's Canal
remedy.

EPA looks forward to engaging with the City, the community and other stakeholders in a
cooperative manner so that the appropriate information is available for a productive
consideration of rezoning issues.

After the rains! Raw sewage floating on the Gowanus Canal 

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EPA Explains Superfund Clean-Up Sequence For The Upper Gowanus Canal. Work To Begin This Fall

Christos Tsiamis, EPA's Gowanus Canal project manager

On Tuesday, January 28, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) issued a Unilateral Administrative Order to the six major corporations that bear the most significant responsibility for the canal's pollution. The order compels these Responsible Parties to begin the important work of dredging and capping of the upper portion of the Gowanus Canal and to restore the First Street Basin, which was illegally filled a few decades ago.

At last night's Gowanus Canal Community Advisory Group's meeting held at Mary Star of the Sea Senior Home on First Place, the EPA gave the community a one-and-a half-hour presentation on the actual clean-up sequence for this upper portion of the Gowanus Canal.

Christos Tsiamis, the EPA project manager, began the lengthy and detailed presentation by saying:
"It has been a long time coming for me and for you, this moment when I stand here in front of you to discuss specific steps that we will take for cleaning up the canal in a timeframe that is within sight. So I am very happy to be here tonight."

Indeed, it felt like a huge milestone to finally be talking about dredging the main canal after so may years of planning.

With the lessons learned during the Pilot Study in the Fourth Street Basin near Whole Foods in 2018, the EPA has made some adjustments to the original clean-up plan and estimates that the work on Remediation Target Area 1, which covers the top of the canal from Butler Street to the Carroll Street Bridge, will begin sometime in late August/ September of 2020.

The work, as Tsiamis explained yesterday, needs to be carefully choreographed. Before the toxic material at the bottom of the canal can be removed, new bulkheads need to be installed to provide structural support to the shore. Also, work on the Fulton Bulkhead Barrier Wall Construction at the head of the canal is still ongoing. The sealed wall will serve as an environmental barrier, preventing liquid coal tar from the former Fulton Manufactured Gas Plant from recontaminating the canal after the Superfund clean-up is completed.

In addition, the Union Street Bridge and the landmarked Carroll Street Bridge need to be stabilized with pipe piles in order to not compromise them during dredging.  The Carroll Street bridge will most likely stay in an open position for three to four months and will be closed to traffic. The Union Street Bridge, however, will be passable.

Once all the support work has been completed, dredging of the soft, toxic sediment at the bottom of the canal will begin between the two bridges.

One major change in the clean-up plan has to do with the capping, which serves to keep toxins deep in the native soil from percolating back up into the water after the dredging. As Tsiamis observed as part of his work on the canal, there is a significant amount of upwelling of ground water.  In order to deal with this, the contractor will:

-first dredge most of the contaminated soft sediment and debris

-inject a cement layer into the most contaminated pockets of native sediment to stabilize these areas

-add an oleophilic clay layer 

-add granular activated carbon (to absorb any chemical pushed up from below) and a sand layer. The thickness and content will vary to match the expected dissolve phase flux through the cap and to provide an even surface for the top.

-finish with an articulated concrete armor top

Most of the toxic dredged material will be transported out of the community by barge on the Gowanus to New Jersey where there is sufficient space to separate and treat it before disposal.

The work on this upper portion is expected to take about 30 months and is estimated to cost $125 million. Upon its completion, the clean-up will continue on the middle and lower parts of the canal. 

Tsiamis told the CAG that work on the design for RTA2, the most polluted part of the canal, is already underway.

This big step signals the true beginning of the clean-up of this long neglected waterway. It will be a pretty momentous occasion for Gowanus and for this community.

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EPA Gowanus Canal Superfund Community Advisory Group Will Meet Tomorrow

Gowanus Canal, Lightstone Group Project and Combined Sewer Overflow.

Photographed by Mark Karwowski

Taken from the Union Street Bridge

The Environmental Protection Agency's Community Advisory Group for the Gowanus Canal (CAG) will be holding its monthly meeting tomorrow night at 6:30 at Mary Star of The Sea Senior Apartments, 41 1st Street, Brooklyn.  Representatives of EPA Region 2 will be on hand to give the community an update on the Gowanus Superfund project.

The CAG meetings are the place for all your questions regarding the clean-up of the polluted canal, so if you live near the waterway, please make every effort to attend.

Gowanus Canal CAG Meeting

Tuesday, September 22, 2015 at 6:30 pm

Mary Star of The Sea Senior Apartments, 41 1st Street, Brooklyn

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Notes From Last Night's Gowanus Canal CAG Meeting: Brad Lander And His "Trade-Off" Urban Planning For Gowanus

Doug Sarno, EPA Gowanus Community Advisory Group facilitator

Christos Tsiamis, EPA Region 2 project manager for the Gowanus Canal addressing the CAG

Councilmember Brad Lander

The Gowanus Canal Superfund Community Advisory Committee (CAG) had a full agenda for last night's general meeting at Mary Star of the Sea Senior Center.

Christos Tsiamis, Environmental Protection Agency's Region 2 project manager for the Gowanus Canal Superfund, gave members of the CAG a brief update on what is currently taking place in the canal.  "We have been doing quite a bit of work in the area of 7th Street and Public Place that will help us design the clean-up of the canal. Together with National Grid, we have been able to use a new technique to collect data that will help us determine where the liquid tar is in the canal." 

The technique allows the fitting of three different measuring instruments that are fitted to the rig that goes into the canal. "I believe it is the first time it has been used in the country. We are very excited, because we were successful and were able to get a lot of valuable information. It will also save us time. We are going at a good pace."

Tsiamis also talked about the importance of climate change when considering a remedy for the Gowanus Canal.  "We thought that is was important to take into account sea level rise because it will be reality and see how that impacts our work in the canal.  So that you know, we are designing the cap [at the bottom of the canal] to have a lifetime of a hundred years.  We looked at data that has been created by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, a federal agency,

projections made by the Army Corps of Engineers and by New York City.  

The projections vary from 1 to 6 feet.  That is important for our calculations and something that really needs to be taken into account."

A good portion of last night's meeting had been set aside for a presentation of  the draft planning framework for Bridging Gowanus, Councilman Brad Lander's ambitious initiative to "develop a neighborhood framework for the infrastructure and land use plan needed for a safe, vibrant and sustainable Gowanus".

Since members of the the CAG have been working closely with the Environmental Protection Agency on issues relating to the canal's environmental  Superfund clean-up in the past few years, the topic of re-zoning the Gowanus area seemed extremely relevant.

Councilmember Lander together with several other local elected convened Bridging Gowanus back in August 2013.  Several meetings were held throughout 2014. The results of Bridging Gowanus, which was released this past November and can be viewed here, identified eight core values held by the community.  Along with infrastructure investment, a genuine mix of uses, making sure that local manufacturers continue to thrive in Gowanus, historical preservation, and support for its artist community, the participants of Bridging Gowanus called for more affordable housing.

"We did ask people to think hard of the tradeoffs that are necessary," Brad Lander told the CAG last night. "These kinds of investments and achieving the level of preservation we just talked about costs a lot of money." 

During the Bridging Gowanus process, participants were asked what kind of building density they would be willing to allow, from no additional residential development, to low rise residential development, to "heights above brownstone heights" seen in Cobble Hill, Carroll Gardens and Park Slope.  

According to Brad Lander, "a majority of people have said that if we really believe that the plan will address the set of goals that we are talking about, they would be open to additional residential development at densities in some cases higher than the  brownstone context. That's probably the most contentious piece of this."

Oh, yes, it is the most continuous aspect of Bridging Gowanus. During the final presentation in November, Lander claimed that most people were open to high rises from 8 to 18 stories to achieve the goals set forth. The density was determined by a rather misleading exercise given to residents at the public meeting in June which asked residents to add two stories to a base height four story building for each amenity (school, pre-k, park, art space, etc) they felt was important to the neighborhood. Those who checked off every amenity ended up with 18 story buildings. 

I have told Councilman Lander on various occasions that this exercise tactic was disgraceful. I repeated that claim personally last night.  Where in New York City is that sort of  'trade-off' zoning applied?

What do you think would happen if Lander told the people in Park Slope that the neighborhood would have to be up-zoned by two stories because a new school needed to be built there? Or by another two stories because more pre-k spaces were needed?

Why would we agree to it in Gowanus? 

The public comment period for Bridging Gowanus has been extended to the end of March. Please take a moment to add your voice.

Questionnaire distributed at a"Bridging Gowanus" meeting in June 2014.
The 'results' were used by Lander to claim that most residents were ok 

with 8-18 story buildings in Gowanus

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Gowanus Canal Superfund Community Advisory Group To Meet Tomorrow And On February 24

The Gowanus Canal Superfund Community Advisory Committee (CAG) will be meeting tomorrow evening February 10th at 6:30 at Mary Star of the Sea Senior Center, 41 First Street.

Representatives of the Environmental Protection Agency will be on hand to give an update on upcoming activities on the Canal.
The CAG's Water Quality/Technical Committee will also be discussing its response to NY State's Department of Environmental Conservation's proposed amendments to 6 NYCRR Parts 701 and 703 for Class I and Class SD waters regarding Class 1 and SD waterways to meet the "swimmable" goal of the federal Clean Water Act.
These proposed amendments will have a positive impact on the Gowanus Canal.

The CAG will also be holding a meeting on February 24 at 6:30 (location to be announced)
Councilmember Brad Lander will present the results of "Bridging Gowanus", a  proposed framework for the future development of the Gowanus area.

All CAG meetings are open to the community and I urge everyone to attend.


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EPA Gowanus Canal Community Advisory Group Will Meet Next This Coming Tuesday

The Environmental Protection Agency's Gowanus Canal Community Advisory Group will hold its next meeting on Tuesday, April 22, at 6:30 PM.  The meeting will be held at Mary Star of The Sea Senior Apartments, 41 1st Street, Brooklyn

Items on the agenda include updates on EPA's Record Of Decision implementation,  discussion and comments on NY State Department Of Health's Draft Gowanus Public Heath Assessment and  updates from various CAG committees.

The public is always welcome at the CAG meetings.



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EPA Gowanus Canal Community Advisory Group Meeting Tonight

The Environmental Protection Agency's Gowanus Canal Superfund Community Advisory Group (CAG) is holding its January meeting tonight at 6:30 PM
These meetings are open to the public, so if you are interested and want to know more about the Superfund clean-up process for the canal, this is the place to get all relevant information.

Gowanus CAG Meeting 

Tuesday, January 28, 2014

Mary Star of The Sea Senior Apartments, 

41 1st Street, Brooklyn

Agenda

*6:30 – 7:15 PM: Agency and PRP Updates
EPA- ROD Implementation Updates
Other Updates- TBD

*7:15 – 8:30: CAG Committees
Administration Committee
Archaeology Committee
Outreach Committee
Website, YouTube Site
Timeline
Templates
Tag line and logo
Real Estate Committee
Water Quality and Technical Committee

*8:30 – 9:00: Other Business
TAG Grant Consultant Award
NYDEC Gowanus Canal Health Assessment Release


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EPA Gowanus Canal Community Advisory Group To Meet This Tuesday

The Environmental Protection Agency's Community Advisory Group for the Gowanus Canal (CAG) will be holding its monthly meeting on Tuesday, November 19, 2013 at 6:30 PM.  The meeting will take place at Mary Star of the Sea Senior Apartments, 41 First Street between Hoyt and Bond Street.
The EPA Region 2 team will be on hand to update the community and to speak about implementation of the  Record Of Decision, which was signed in late September 2013.
The meeting is open to all in the community.

Gowanus CAG Meeting Agenda

Tuesday, November 19, 2013 at 6:30 PM

Mary Star of The Sea Senior Apartments, 

41 1st Street, Brooklyn

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