USA: EPA to Hold Meetings on Gowanus Canal Dredging

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency will hold two public information sessions to answer questions about its plan to clean up the Gowanus Canal Superfund site in Brooklyn, New York:

Wednesday, November 13, 2013,

6:30 – 9:00 PM,

P.S. 32 Samuel Mills Sprole School, 317 Hoyt Street, Gowanus, Brooklyn.

Thursday, November 14, 2013,

6:30 – 9:00 PM,

South Brooklyn Community High School, 173 Conover Street, Red Hook, Brooklyn.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has finalized a plan to clean up the Gowanus Canal Superfund site in Brooklyn, New York, one of the nation’s most seriously contaminated bodies of water.

The final plan, announced recently on the banks of the canal by EPA Regional Administrator Judith A. Enck with Congressmember Nydia Velázquez, state and local officials and community representatives, will require the removal of contaminated sediment and the capping of dredged areas.

The plan also includes controls to reduce sewage overflows and other land-based sources of contamination from compromising the cleanup. With community input, EPA has decided on the option in the proposed plan that will require the disposal of the least contaminated sediment at a facility out of the area rather than building a disposal facility in the water near Red Hook.

The cost of the cleanup plan is currently estimated to be $506 million.

[mappress]

Press Release, November 12, 2013