Re: [CPEO-BIF] Gowanus Canal update, Brooklyn, New York

["R CHAPIN" <rwc27q@verizon.net>]

If EPA wants to list a site on the NPL quickly, they can do it. The Raritan 
Bay Slag site was proposed in April 2009 and listed in November 2009. That 
site also had significant backing of the local congressman, the NJ's 
senators etc. The EPA's Removal Branch did a lot of work on a quick schedule 
support the listing.

NYC has a proposed plan and has submitted written objections. Not sure in 
what capacity this was (i.e., the municipal government where the site is, or 
as a PRP. Anyone know about this and can enlighten us?) I don't know if NY 
congressman and senators have officially weighed in; hopefully someone can 
also fill in this data gap.

One man's opinion: EPA is not jumping in till it's sure it has to, and 
hasn't gotten to that point, for a number of reasons. Maybe they don't have 
the resources (i.e., people) to properly staff the job AND BIG money is 
surely required to clean this up. Remember, superfund is not awash with 
funds and hasn't been for years. (How long ago did that tax expire?) If EPA 
doesn't/can't  "jawbone" a PRP to spent its own money the site must get in 
line with the other NPL sites. EPA people have told me many times if they 
start a site they will finish it, so they they won't just jump into it. (If 
it hadn't been for ARRA, many major projects here in Jersey would still be 
stuck in limbo.) I'm sure Region 2 knows what it can and can't do with this 
years funding for its superfund sites. And we shouldn't forget that 
superfund wouldn't be the fastest route to completing the actual work or the 
most economical. If they did list it, it would have to compete with all the 
other NPL site's for staff and $. I doubt anyone in Region 2 would or could 
tell you that Gowanus Canal would "win out" over all the other sites out 
there; they have no way of knowing this. I suspect a combination a factors 
(technical, financial and other) have resulted in EPA taking the currently 
"safe" route of collecting more data. They are working on the site, they 
just taken it all. (It is possible, BTW, that EPA just couldn't/wouldn't 
accept the existing data's QA/QC and/or needs to fill in "critical data 
gaps" that it identified before proceeding. This wouldn't be the first time 
that questionable data (or just questioned data)  has slowed cleanup work.)

Rich Chapin
_____________________________________________________
Richard W. Chapin, M.S., P.E., BCEE
President, Chapin Engineering
27 Quincy Road, Basking Ridge, NJ 07920
908-647-8407 908 625 5697 (cell) 908-647-6959 (fax)




----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Lenny Siegel" <lsiegel@cpeo.org>
To: "Brownfields Internet Forum" <brownfields@lists.cpeo.org>
Sent: Friday, December 04, 2009 1:15 PM
Subject: [CPEO-BIF] Gowanus Canal update, Brooklyn, New York


> EPA in no rush to Superfund; more tests coming for filthy canal
>
> By Stephen Brown
> The Brooklyn Paper (NY)
> December 4, 2009
>
> Hopes for the Gowanus Canal to quickly be designated a Superfund site were 
> reigned in on Thursday night as a top federal official cautioned that it 
> is very rare for a proposal to be approved in less than a year.
>
> "It is unusual for a Superfund listing to be made in less than one year, 
> even for sites that aren't as controversial as this one," said Walter 
> Mugdan, the regional Superfund director for the Environmental Protection 
> Agency, which started the Gowanus process in April.
>
> Given how much time has passed - and how much is already known about the 
> toxic corpse of water - hopes were high that this informational meeting 
> would actually serve as the forum for announcing the Superfund 
> designation.
>
> ...
>
> For the entire article, see
> http://www.brooklynpaper.com/stories/32/49/32_49_sb_gowanus_meeting.html
>
> --
>
>
> Lenny Siegel
> Executive Director, Center for Public Environmental Oversight
> a project of the Pacific Studies Center
> 278-A Hope St., Mountain View, CA 94041
> Voice: 650/961-8918 or 650/969-1545
> Fax: 650/961-8918
> <lsiegel@cpeo.org>
> http://www.cpeo.org
>
>
>
> _______________________________________________
> Brownfields mailing list
> Brownfields@lists.cpeo.org
> http://lists.cpeo.org/listinfo.cgi/brownfields-cpeo.org 

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