Sunday, April 9, 2017

The Gowanus Canal Clean-Up is (More or Less) on Schedule


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