9.28.2010

And in CERCLA news: EPA Adds Newtown Creek (NYC) to its Superfund List.

The Environmental Protection Agency has added another NYC waterway to its Superfund National Priorities List (NPL). The designation of the four-mile-long Newtown Creek, which divides Brooklyn and Queens, was announced yesterday by Regional Administrator Judith Enck.

Like the Gowanus Canal in Carroll Gardens (Brooklyn), water samples from Newtown Creek have revealed the presence of P.C.B.s, metals, pesticides, volatile organic compounds and other contaminants. This is due to the "more than 50 industrial facilities" that were located along its banks since the mid-1800's, "including oil refineries, petrochemical plans, fertilizer and glue factories, sawmills and lumber and coal yards."

Newtown Creek is the second Superfund Site in the City. The EPA also added sections of the Black River in Jefferson County to the NPL, bringing the number of Superfund Sites in New York to 86.

Click here to read the rest of the EPA's Press Release.

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