The Press Starting to See Newtown Creek as Federal Issue

Inter Press Service — a news service that covers issues around the globe — has published a great article on Newtown Creek, “New Push to Clean Toxic Hotspot.”

This article is really one of the first major articles about the Creek since Anthony Weiner and Nydia Velazquez came out in support of Federal Superfund designation for the heavily-polluted creek and the surrounding over-industrialized area.

IPS journalist Sam Cassanos interviewed some Newtown Creek advocates including Katie Schmidt of the Newtown Creek Alliance, a few Greenpoint residents, and also yours truly.

Ms. Schimdt:

A situation such as this, in which a large number of companies, many of them no longer in existence, as well as the city government, are all polluters, is ‘exactly the type of situation Superfund was designed for’, said Katie Schmidt director of the grassroots Newtown Creek Alliance.

Schmidt told IPS that the federal Superfund addresses problems in which responsibility for the damage is not immediately clear, but can be established after the proper remediation has taken place. ‘If we got a commitment from the federal government under Superfund,’ she said, ‘the idea would be that we would clean up Newtown Creek and make determinations over what came from what company, and rather than litigate everyone would decide on a payment plan.’

Resident Brian Hersey:

‘On a bad day, everybody smells it,’ said Brian Hersey, whose apartment on Nassau Avenue, nearly a mile away from the water, is still within reach of its odour.

For Hersey, Newtown Creek’s pollution problem is a reminder of Brooklyn’s history as an industrial centre. ‘As Brooklyn’s past is disappearing, it would be nice to clean it up,’ he said, adding that he is doubtful that the creek will receive the remediation that it deserves.

Me:

Federal designation would be very useful in creating a critical mass of awareness.

The article is a good read in that it summarizes the issue and includes both the recent call for Federal Superfund designation through the Environmental Protection Agency and acknowledgment of the issue of Combined Sewer Overflows (CSO) — an issue that is so intricately intertwined with the toxic oil spill in creating a hazardous condition in the creek.

Read the full article here.

Photo Collage: flickr user sgoralnick

Tags: Anthony Weiner, Combined Sewer Overflow, EPA, Ethan Oringel, Flickr, Inter Press Service, Katie Schmidt, Newtown Creek, Newtown Creek Alliance, Nydia Velázquez, Superfund

Category: Community Action, Newtown Creek, Urban Greening, Water

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