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 »

It has always seemed vaguely insane that NYC devlopers have been pushing for expensive development along the Gowanus canal while it smells like it does and it looks like this:

Development of the Gowanus canal into some kind of Venice-in-Brooklyn has been a long standing dream of many. But it always seemed that people wanted to build before anyone knew whether it was safe or not. Or, more precisely, people wanted to start building while MOST people were pretty damned sure it was NOT safe. My wife keeps predicting if plans to develop went forward it would be the next Love Canal.

Now the EPA has nominated the Gowanus canal for Superfund status. That means it recognizes it as essentially a toxic waste site that requires Federal help to clean up. Boy, I am glad they didn't start building yet! Imagine trying to sell luxury property while the EPA in full protective gear are cleaning it up.  read more »