On April 8, 2009, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) nominated the Gowanus Canal (which borders the Brooklyn communities of Park Slope, Cobble Hill, Carroll Gardens and Red Hook) as a potential Superfund site, for addition to the EPA's National Priorities List.
What does this mean? Perhaps a brief summary of the legislative development of Superfunds is in order. Here we go: The Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act of 1980 (CERCLA) is a federal statute that was designed to clean up hazardous waste sites (a.k.a. Superfund sites) throughout the U.S. Following the law's passage in 1980, the National Oil and Hazardous Substances Pollution Contingency Plan (NCP -- which had been developed 12 years earlier in response to the Torrey Canyon oil spill) was amended and broadened in scope to cover known or threatened releases of hazardous substances/pollutants/contaminants from these Superfund sites. This revision to the NCP accomplished two goals with respect to Superfund site regulation and clean-up: first, the revised NCP provided the EPA with a blueprint which outlined the response procedures and [hazardous substance] removal procedures required to clean up these Superfund sites; second, the amendment mandated that the NCP keep an ongoing list of all such sites within the U.S. that are eligible for the long-term, remedial measures that CERCLA was designed to implement. This list is known as the National Priorities List (NPL), and it serves to guide EPA in identifying national Superfund sites, so that the EPA can assess the extent of environmental and public health risks associated with the site, and if necessary, use its authority to initiate appropriate remedial actions.
So, here's the timeline with respect to the Gowanus Canal:
April 8, 2009: the EPA nominates the Gowanus Canal as a possible addition to the Superfund section of the NPL.
March 2, 2010: the Gowanus Canal is added to the EPA's Superfund National Priorities List, effective April 5, 2010.
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