Josh Skaller, candidate for the 39th City Council district, was one of the leaders in supporting Obama's EPA and Superfund status to finally clean up the Gowanus Canal. Josh's campaign has issued this statement regarding Governor Paterson's recent comments on the Gowanus Canal:

Statement from City Council Candidate Josh Skaller (D-39th District) Regarding Governor Paterson's Remarks on the Proposed EPA Superfund Designation of the Gowanus Canal

"The Gowanus Canal has been polluted for as long as anyone can remember. At long last, it looked like we might be headed toward a solution through an EPA Superfund designation - but now our governor, like so many other would-be leaders, has buckled under pressure from a developer-loving mayor. I'm disappointed to see such indecisiveness when it appears we may be finally on the cusp of achieving what everyone wants: a clean Gowanus Canal.  read more »

Not too long ago a shady group put out an expensive, glossy and HIGHLY misleading propoganda piece about the EPA's plan to clean up the Gowanus Canal using the Superfund. This glossy piece basically was put out by developers to further their own agenda for the Gowanus. Just as a reminder of what we are talking about, here is a picture of what the canal gets like (picture taken by my wife as we walked past the canal last summer):

City Council candidate Josh Skaller, who was one of the first to endorse Obama's EPA plan to Superfund the Gowanus, is co-hosting a forum on the issue to try and clear up some of the misinformation that developers have been putting out on the issue.

This comes from the Josh Skaller campaign.

"End the Propaganda": Neighborhood Groups Join Josh Skaller in Fight Against Gowanus Misinformation Campaign  read more »

Today my wife wore her new "Superfund the Gowanus" T-shirt today (why did they use a whale on the shirt?...a whale in the Gowanus would be in serious trouble even if it wasn't a toxic waste site). This reminded me that I needed to update my coverage of the drive to clean up the Gowanus Canal through the EPA's designation of it as a Superfund site.

[UPDATE: I should add that State Senator Daniel Squadron has also added his name, alongside Senator Velmanette Montgomery, in urging Superfund Status for the Gowanus.]

What strikes me in this battle is that some pretty serious experts are declaring in favor of Superfund status. I previously mentioned that the EPA, New York State Department of Environmental Conservation, The Army Corps of Engineers, Columbia University’s Urban Design Lab, Riverkeeper and the Sierra Club all support Superfund designation for the Gowanus. I have been criticizing the Republicans for nearly a decade now for ignoring the expert advice of scientists. Now I find the same situation in Brooklyn: people want to ignore the expert advice of what seems like a pretty amazing coalition of organizations. If it was just FROGG and Sierra Club, well, I might be less certain. But when you add Riverkeeper (an excellent organization), the Army Corps of Engineers, Columbia University’s Urban Design Lab and the EPA, I become pretty certain that Superfund is the way to go.

I will review my previous information below. But first I want to highlight another expert opinion: that of Tom Angotti, Ph.D., Director of the Center for Community Planning & Development at Hunter College. Another voice I would hesitate to ignore! Here is part of his statement from an excellent piece for Pardon Me For Asking on May 22, 2009:  read more »