From the CG CORD Blog:
March 2017 Gowanus Canal CAG General Meeting Summary
The March Gowanus Canal CAG General meeting was held at the St Mary's houses on Carroll Street on its regular last Tuesday of the month at 6:30 PM
In
attendance were EPA Project Manager, Christos Tsiamis and Legal
Counsel, Brian Carr as well as representatives from the Army Corp of
Engineers, NOAA (National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration) and
US Fish and Wildlife Service. They were there to explain their role as
some of the Trustees in a program called the National Resource Damage
Assessment (NRDA) which helps neighborhoods/communities recover
monetary damages suffered from environmental
accidents/disasters/situations
We were given an update by both EPA representatives:
--4th Street Basin pilot study/design is 50% complete.
--The First Street Basin may begin by late fall early 2018.
--The
5th Street basin has had some work done. some data collected and that
data is currently being reviewed. There should be more updates regarding
this basin at the next general meeting.
(edit)
Part
of the discussion turned to some of the financial facts of our Gowanus
Superfund Project. Lately, there has been quite a bit of buzz regarding
the Superfund status of the Canal since the new administration
has taken over.
There have been articles claiming that the funding is endangered--indeed the project could be endangered.
During
the course of last week's meeting, funding (or lack thereof) did come
up. We were told that a particular "basket" of funding would be running
out very soon. This would mean that the work would continue
but at an extremely slowed pace. The slowdown would NOT affect or
extend the consent agreement timeline that EPA has with the City of New
York regarding the April 2020 deadline for the city to acquire the
properties they wish to either purchase or seize at
the head of the canal for the required retention tank placement. But a
slowdown in general should be expected and of course, a slowdown is
never welcome.
Shortly after that on March 30th, to be exact, EPA issued the following statement:
"Work
on the Gowanus Canal is expected to continue using funding that the EPA
already has and, as is the goal of the Superfund program, relying on
the work being conducted by those parties responsible for the
pollution at the site. The regional office has not requested additional
funding from EPA's national office.
The
EPA currently has several administrative orders in place which ensure
the completion of design work and a dredging and capping pilot. Under
those orders, work is expected to begin later this year on the
pilot in the 4th Street Turning Basin.
2022
remains the EPA estimated target for completion of the dredging work at
the Gowanus Canal Superfund site, with work on the Combined Sewer
Overflows completed after that."
So, with that good and most welcomed news, things seem to be progressing mostly on schedule.....
(edit) See LINK for rest
(edit) See LINK for rest
