Comments on: Gowanus Canal to Become Superfund Site http://ecobrooklyn.com/gowanus-canal-superfund-site/ Tel: 347 244 3016 Sun, 25 Jul 2010 23:27:24 -0600 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.8.6 hourly 1 By: Superfund http://ecobrooklyn.com/gowanus-canal-superfund-site/comment-page-1/#comment-41775 Superfund Sun, 18 Oct 2009 21:33:48 +0000 http://ecobrooklyn.com/?p=945#comment-41775 ----Currently, all of the project site’s sanitary flow and a portion of the site’s stormwater flow are conveyed to the Red Hook Water Pollution Control Plant (WPCP) via the existing combined sewer in Bond Street.---- -----------------------------------Toll Brothers It is proclamations like this that place Toll's reputation in the highly questionable category! What a twisting of words to make it appear that there will be improvements made! Anyone can visit this site during a rain shower and watch as the roof gutters spill storm water onto the sidewalk which carry the water direct to the canal. The Bond Street street sewer grate is all up hill from the site--rain just doesn't run uphill. As for sanitary sewer volume, the site's current use has but a few toilets, where Toll plans to introduce more than 1000 toilets into the site. Considering all those new toilets, showers, kitchen sinks with garbage disposals, it impossible to believe that the Toll project will bring a net decrease in sewage in the Bond Street Sewer--but quite the opposite! —-Currently, all of the project site’s sanitary flow and a portion of the site’s stormwater flow are conveyed to the Red Hook Water Pollution Control Plant (WPCP) via the existing combined sewer in Bond Street.—-
———————————–Toll Brothers

It is proclamations like this that place Toll’s reputation in the highly questionable category! What a twisting of words to make it appear that there will be improvements made!

Anyone can visit this site during a rain shower and watch as the roof gutters spill storm water onto the sidewalk which carry the water direct to the canal. The Bond Street street sewer grate is all up hill from the site–rain just doesn’t run uphill.
As for sanitary sewer volume, the site’s current use has but a few toilets, where Toll plans to introduce more than 1000 toilets into the site. Considering all those new toilets, showers, kitchen sinks with garbage disposals, it impossible to believe that the Toll project will bring a net decrease in sewage in the Bond Street Sewer–but quite the opposite!

]]> By: Gennaro Brooks-Church http://ecobrooklyn.com/gowanus-canal-superfund-site/comment-page-1/#comment-1055 Gennaro Brooks-Church Wed, 15 Apr 2009 21:28:58 +0000 http://ecobrooklyn.com/?p=945#comment-1055 A NY TIMES article on the subject worth reading: http://cityroom.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/04/15/superfund-status-for-gowanus-canal-is-opposed/#comment-414767 A NY TIMES article on the subject worth reading:
http://cityroom.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/04/15/superfund-status-for-gowanus-canal-is-opposed/#comment-414767

]]> By: Gennaro Brooks-Church http://ecobrooklyn.com/gowanus-canal-superfund-site/comment-page-1/#comment-1054 Gennaro Brooks-Church Wed, 15 Apr 2009 20:34:40 +0000 http://ecobrooklyn.com/?p=945#comment-1054 I don't know Ethan, your post smells to me...do they have Superfund designation for peoples' posts? Because I think you'd get one. Run back to Toll Brothers and laugh there. I don’t know Ethan, your post smells to me…do they have Superfund designation for peoples’ posts? Because I think you’d get one. Run back to Toll Brothers and laugh there.

]]> By: b green http://ecobrooklyn.com/gowanus-canal-superfund-site/comment-page-1/#comment-1053 b green Wed, 15 Apr 2009 20:27:47 +0000 http://ecobrooklyn.com/?p=945#comment-1053 1. Superfund sites do come with $$$, that is the whole point: EPA fronts the money with bonds and contracts out the cleanup while the EPA's legal division goes after the polluters. 2. The Superfund Project will also fix the CSO issues. The amount of excavation required for cleaning up these sites will completely destroy any existing utilities and will replace them with new 21st century items. 3. The Superfund approach will delay residential development, yes, but it will also create more competition (and hence better designs) between developers by removing the complexity of brownfield remediation. 4. The Superfund project may be able to use barges to remove toxic materials, instead of creating thousands of 15-ton dump truck trips up Smith Street. BTW the dump trucks will be full of nasty smelling, potentially harmful loads. 1. Superfund sites do come with $$$, that is the whole point: EPA fronts the money with bonds and contracts out the cleanup while the EPA’s legal division goes after the polluters.

2. The Superfund Project will also fix the CSO issues. The amount of excavation required for cleaning up these sites will completely destroy any existing utilities and will replace them with new 21st century items.

3. The Superfund approach will delay residential development, yes, but it will also create more competition (and hence better designs) between developers by removing the complexity of brownfield remediation.

4. The Superfund project may be able to use barges to remove toxic materials, instead of creating thousands of 15-ton dump truck trips up Smith Street. BTW the dump trucks will be full of nasty smelling, potentially harmful loads.

]]> By: Gennaro Brooks-Church http://ecobrooklyn.com/gowanus-canal-superfund-site/comment-page-1/#comment-1044 Gennaro Brooks-Church Wed, 15 Apr 2009 14:47:22 +0000 http://ecobrooklyn.com/?p=945#comment-1044 Thanks for correcting me on these issues, although anything coming from a Toll Brothers employee is seriously suspect in my eyes. Toll Brothers has too much history of "build crap and run" for me to not suspect their motives. Thanks for correcting me on these issues, although anything coming from a Toll Brothers employee is seriously suspect in my eyes. Toll Brothers has too much history of “build crap and run” for me to not suspect their motives.

]]> By: Jason rowalnd http://ecobrooklyn.com/gowanus-canal-superfund-site/comment-page-1/#comment-1019 Jason rowalnd Tue, 14 Apr 2009 17:32:05 +0000 http://ecobrooklyn.com/?p=945#comment-1019 1. The Superfund does not come with ANY $$$ for cleanup. 2. Toll brothers does not own that land yet. Jeopardizing their project will leave that upland parcel uncleaned. It will then prevent them from correcting the CSO problem, which is part of their plan. 1. The Superfund does not come with ANY $$$ for cleanup.
2. Toll brothers does not own that land yet. Jeopardizing their project will leave that upland parcel uncleaned. It will then prevent them from correcting the CSO problem, which is part of their plan.

]]> By: Ethan Geto http://ecobrooklyn.com/gowanus-canal-superfund-site/comment-page-1/#comment-1015 Ethan Geto Tue, 14 Apr 2009 15:43:59 +0000 http://ecobrooklyn.com/?p=945#comment-1015 I am a public policy consultant to Toll Brothers. This posting is so inaccurate it's laughable. Toll Brothers is REQUIRED under the zoning approval it was recently granted to completely remove the toxic substances in the land on the property it hopes to develop. In the abstract a Superfund designation sounds like a positive concept, but in practice it will end the cleanup of the land along the banks of the Gowanus that is now poised to happen. The real threat to human health is the toxic materials on the land along the canal, and that huge and costly cleanup will not be addressed by a Superfund designation, which in this case relates exclusively to the waterway. Cleanup of the LAND would be undertaken by the developers of each parcel at their own expense; there is no public funding allocated to remove the hazardous materials from the land surrounding the Canal – which logically should be the top priority since it is substances in the ground that leach into the canal and pollute it in the first place, along with combined sanitary and stormwater overflows that only can be prevented by building vast new sewer infrastructure – which again would have been built by private developers since the City has not funded such infrastructure upgrades in many years. Toll Brothers is committed to privately financing new infrastructure for its property, infrastructure that will not be built if a Superfund designation is imposed. Currently, all of the project site's sanitary flow and a portion of the site's stormwater flow are conveyed to the Red Hook Water Pollution Control Plant (WPCP) via the existing combined sewer in Bond Street. The proposed project would separate the stormwater flow from the sanitary flow by installing new separate stormwater sewers designed in accordance with NYC Department of Environmental Protection standards in First and Second Streets, with new stormwater outfalls to the Gowanus Canal. These new stormwater sewers built by Toll Brothers would divert the project site's stormwater from the local combined sewer system, thereby reducing the impact of the project site on the local sewer system and improving local drainage conditions. The stormwater will be treated prior to discharge into the Canal. Superfund will do NONE of these, but with a Superfund designation all private development will halt and the hundreds of millions of dollars in private money that would have built new sewers will be lost. I am a public policy consultant to Toll Brothers. This posting is so inaccurate it’s laughable. Toll Brothers is REQUIRED under the zoning approval it was recently granted to completely remove the toxic substances in the land on the property it hopes to develop. In the abstract a Superfund designation sounds like a positive concept, but in practice it will end the cleanup of the land along the banks of the Gowanus that is now poised to happen. The real threat to human health is the toxic materials on the land along the canal, and that huge and costly cleanup will not be addressed by a Superfund designation, which in this case relates exclusively to the waterway. Cleanup of the LAND would be undertaken by the developers of each parcel at their own expense; there is no public funding allocated to remove the hazardous materials from the land surrounding the Canal – which logically should be the top priority since it is substances in the ground that leach into the canal and pollute it in the first place, along with combined sanitary and stormwater overflows that only can be prevented by building vast new sewer infrastructure – which again would have been built by private developers since the City has not funded such infrastructure upgrades in many years. Toll Brothers is committed to privately financing new infrastructure for its property, infrastructure that will not be built if a Superfund designation is imposed. Currently, all of the project site’s sanitary flow and a portion of the site’s stormwater flow are conveyed to the Red Hook Water Pollution Control Plant (WPCP) via the existing combined sewer in Bond Street. The proposed project would separate the stormwater flow from the sanitary flow by installing new separate stormwater sewers designed in accordance with NYC Department of Environmental Protection standards in First and Second Streets, with new stormwater outfalls to the Gowanus Canal. These new stormwater sewers built by Toll Brothers would divert the project site’s stormwater from the local combined sewer system, thereby reducing the impact of the project site on the local sewer system and improving local drainage conditions. The stormwater will be treated prior to discharge into the Canal. Superfund will do NONE of these, but with a Superfund designation all private development will halt and the hundreds of millions of dollars in private money that would have built new sewers will be lost.

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