Newtown Creek: NYC/NYS Reach Landmark Waste Water Agreement, NYS DEC/DOH Hold Meeker Ave. Contaminant Plume “Availability Session” (Wed Nov 12, 2-5pm & 7-10pm)
November 7th, 2008 by EthanSome good — albeit slightly shocking — news from New York State Department of Environmental Conservation:
New York State and NYC have announced a “landmark agreement” for Newtown Creek and other sewage treatment plants, including “improved performance” and community benefits.
The news release speaks highly of fundamental changes to several sewage, wastewater, and CSO projects and plants. Upon reading it, I was struck by two common threads that define the landmark agreement: compliance with environmental law and settlement over payment of violation fines.
But is this what makes up a landmark deal? Catching up to current (read: outdated) environmental law? It is shocking to me. What other environmental laws do the city and/or state ignore or bypass? What other sums of money from environmental violations have gone unpaid?
The environmental benefits component of the deal — consisting of $10 million in outlays to the City Parks Foundation, NYSERDA, and the Hudson River Foundation — is promising, and a settlement of this sort must have required many late nights between negotiating staffs… but please forgive me if I don’t find cause for celebration in achieving compliance with existing laws or settlement between two massive, cumbersome bureaucracies.
If nothing else, this type of quid-pro-quo agreement smacks more of old-style, 20th-century thinking rather than the pro-active, forward-thinking, long-term problem solving that is required to move towards a truly improved city waste system.
It certainly — in my view — doesn’t address the crux of the PlaNYC 2030 storm water plan. Nor does it address advocacy for progressive action towards a sustainable solution to the city-wide CSO problems by coalitions such as Storm Water Infrastructure Matters (S.W.I.M.) and Newtown Creek Alliance.
As the city and state engage in these partnerships and settlements, it is beholden upon us — the taxpayers — to make sure they are doing right by us, and to investigate and publicize any grievances or failures on the part of our city and state governments.
Speaking of Newtown Creek… The Newtown Creek Alliance notifies us of an availability session on November 12th dealing with plumes of contamination discovered under Meeker Avenue.
To catch up on this latest environmental remediation action, check out the very informative fact sheet (pdf) from the NYS Department of Environmental Conservation and the NYS Department of Health — the two orgs leading the availability session.
The plumes are the result of decades of dumping and irresponsible manufacturing practices by historic and contemporary drycleaning, dyeing, and metalworking businesses. Long story short: out of the hundreds of homes that are potentially impacted by hazardous chemicals, only 12 have been tested by the DEC.
For more information about the plumes and the action to clean them up, go here.
For an interactive map of the affected region, go to Habitatmap map for the Meeker Ave. Contaminant Plumes. Click on the flags for more information about each location and possible contaminants released.
More info on the availability session:
Where:
St. Cecilia’s School
1 Monitor St., Brooklyn, NY
When:
Wednesday, November 12th
2:00pm - 5:00pm & 7:00pm - 10:00pm
Why:
“Representatives from the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (NYSDEC) and New York State Department of Health (NYSDOH) will be on hand to answer questions about the site and the recent investigation results, and to provide one-on-one meetings to discuss an individual property owner’s sampling results. Those living in the vicinity of the Meeker Avenue Plume Trackdown site are encouraged to attend.”
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