A massive school of fish was spotted in Greenpoint’s most famous Superfund site on Wednesday morning.
Newton Creek has seen it’s fair share of pollution and oil spills, but efforts to restore native habitats by environmental groups such as the Newtown Creek Alliance have helped to bring back life to the waterway over the past decade.
Greenpointers recently spoke with NCA’s executive director Willis Elkins who says that the site of fish is becoming more common on the creek, but that the amount of vessels passing through the East River estuary has not slowed during the coronavirus crisis. Continue reading →
Brooklyn Community Board 1’s monthly combined public hearing is scheduled for Thursday (3/12) at the Swinging 60’s Senior Center (211 Ainslie St.) at 6 p.m.
If you can’t attend in person on Thursday, you can follow along during the livestream available here.
A public meeting is scheduled by the DEP for January 29th, at the CUNY School of Law (2 Court-Square West Auditorium) from 6:30 p.m. to 8:30 p.m.
Last year, the NY State Department of Environmental Conservation’s proposed water quality standard changes were also opposed by local environmental groups. A public notice was issued by DEC last October with a proposal to remove “primary contact use” language for Class I waters in NY, which are meant to “support aquatic life and recreation, and shall be suitable for primary and secondary contact recreation.” Continue reading →
VENDOR CALL! Talented crafters, creators, designers, food purveyors, and small businesses … Do you have items to sell or promote? We are talking to YOU!
Apply here to be part of our Holiday Market on Sunday, December 8th (1-7pm) for a dreamy “The Nutcracker” themed festival of local shopping from a specially curated selection of indie makers at our annual Greenpointers Holiday Market! As always, we will have a full day of free fun activities and our take on the magical Land of Sweets will come alive inside the gorgeous Greenpoint Loft (67 West St)!
WEDNESDAY 10/2
♫ Barba Yiorgi And The Collective Unconscious @ TROOST (1011 Manhattan Ave), 8pm, FREE, More Info
♫ Magos Herrera Presents: A Tribute to João GIlberto @ National Sawdust (80 N 6 St), 730pm, $20, bossa nova classics with a multicultural crew of New York musicians, Buy Tix * Light Flow Yoga @[email protected] (31 Nassau Ave) 645pm, $17, connect breath to movement & soothing beats in this gentle Vinyasa class, Buy Tix ♫ Drum Spiral @ Golden Drum (97 Green St), 730pm, $15 -$20 suggested, learn drum techniques that will help us travel more freely through soundscapes, Buy Tix
THURSDAY 10/3
* Tidal Toast 2019: A Newtown Creek Celebration @ Broadway Stages (520 Kingsland Ave), 530pm, $75, tours of the green roof, local food and drinks, silent auction, and presentations about NCA’s innovative projects and programming, Buy Tix ♦ Steve Wasterval – Art Opening @ Brouwerij Lane (78 Greenpoint Ave), 6pm, FREE, hyper-local, handcrafted art and beer by Greenpoint Beer & Ale Co., More Info ♫ Cumbia Night @ Kingsland (269 Norman Ave) 7pm, $8, Latinx beats and music all night with accordion-based Cumbia band from the US/Mexico border, Frontera Bugalú, Buy Tix ♫ Johnny Dwyer: “The Districts” @ WORD (126 Franklin St) 7pm, $5+, an unprecedented plunge into NYC’s federal court system that gives us a revelatory picture of how our justice system really works, More InfoContinue reading →
The North Brooklyn Boat Club announced their 2019 public paddle schedule, where guides lead short trips on Newtown Creek. More from NBCC:
Public paddles are free and open to everyone. We especially hope to welcome our Brooklyn neighbors to see the city the way we love to see it — from the water. In particular, we are proud to welcome other nonprofit community organizations to join us and relax from the hard work of making the world a little bit better.
We will try to get everyone who shows up on the water, but the earlier you arrive the better your chance of going on a paddle. All our voyages are led by certified trip leaders and include some of the best views of the city. This is a great way to check out the neighborhood and get a chance to explore the local waterways. Paddling is free! And we serve beverages and other snacks. Our public paddles are child and pet friendly.
OU-3, where the proposed cleanup would occur, is the name given to 460 Kingsland Ave. by NYDEC
The proposed cleanup plan for the 3.55 acre-site that was formerly an oil refinery owned by ExxonMobil at 460 Kingsland Ave. has been submitted and the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation is accepting public comment on the plan through May 11th (details below).
A public meeting will also be held with representatives from NYDEC to discuss the cleanup on Tuesday, April 16, at PS 110 Monitor Elementary School (124 Monitor St.) at 6:30 p.m.
While the infamous Greenpoint oil spill, estimated to be between 17 and 30 million gallons, inundated the soil and groundwater with petroleum-related toxins at nearby lots to the North of 460 Kingsland Ave., “historical investigations did not encounter the Greenpoint petroleum plume” at the site, according to the NYDEC factsheet.
1960 aerial view looking northwest from Apollo Street (Courtesy of Newtown Creek Alliance)
As of 2018, 12,972,637 gallons of petroleum product has been removed from Greenpoint, and ExxonMobil continues to remove the oil underneath the neighborhood.
Historical and Current Extent of FreeProduct Plume – 2016 (courtesy of NYDEC)
The contaminants to be remediated at 460 Kingsland Ave. are “petroleum-related volatile organic compounds (VOCs) such as benzene, toluene, ethylbenzene and xylenes (BTEX) found in soils and groundwater,” according to NYDEC.
Also to be remediated are a host of toxins including polyaromatic hydrocarbons, arsenic, copper, lead, mercury,
and PCBs are present in soils and in groundwater.
The site is zoned for heavy manufacturing and industrial use under M3-1 zoning, where a 29,000 square-foot one-story building currently stands and is leased out to multiple third-party businesses, including a trucking terminal.
An oil refinery and petroleum bulk storage facility operated at the site from approximately 1920 – 1966 and in 1967 the sire was purchased bt a freight company, according to the NYDEC factsheet.
The proposed cleanup includes:
A site cover that will allow for commercial and industrial use of the site;
Monitored natural attenuation (MNA) of contaminated groundwater.
Groundwater will be monitored for site related contamination. Reports of
the attenuation will be provided as a part of the site management.
An institutional control in the form of an environmental easement will be
placed on the property that will restrict site to commercial and industrial
uses.
A site management plan will be developed to ensure that the remedy is
maintained and monitored regularly to fully protect human health and the
environment.
NYSDEC is currently accepting written comments on the cleanup through May 11, 2019, contact:
Randy Whitcher, Project Manager
NYSDEC
625 Broadway
Albany, NY 12233
518-402-9662 [email protected]
Metropolitan Avenue Bridge over Newtown Creek (courtesy of Jim Henderson)
A homemade anchor that was first reported to be a sea mine was discovered in Newtown Creek on Friday afternoon causing street closures, NBCNY reports. Sea mines are bombs used to sink and destroy ships and submarines; to prevent injuries, surrounding streets including the Metropolitan Avenue Bridge were shut down during the two-hour investigation.
Sea mines (courtesy of Andre Kaur)
FDNY was notified of a possible explosive device in Newtown Creek near Grand Street on Friday around 1 p.m. and a bomb containment squad was dispatched to the scene, according to NBCNY. Continue reading →
♫ Barba Yiorgi And The Collective Unconscious @ TROOST (1011 Manhattan Ave)
THURSDAY 10/3
