The planned development by All Year Management at the NuHart site (known as 22-26 Clay St.)
NYC Councilmember Stephen Levin is holding a public meeting regarding the proposed k-8 school across from the Nuhart Plastics Superfund site on Thursday (2/7), at the Dupont Senior Housing Center (80 Dupont St.) from 7 p.m. – 8:30 p.m.
A letter (PDF) addressed to the NYC School Construction Authority written by a coalition of neighborhood groups and public officials explains that the planned site for the proposed school sits across the street from one of the most contaminated parcels in NY state:
The ground underneath the NuHart site is contaminated with an estimated 40,000 to 60,000 gallons of phthalates, which have begun migrating off site in a plume, toward the proposed school site. We will not be completely certain of the precise volume of phthalates under the NuHart site until the remediation begins. Phthalates are particularly hazardous to children’s health and have been implicated in negative infant and child health conditions like reduced gestational growth, asthma and issues with neurological and reproductive systems.1 Researchers and government agencies, including here in New York City, have strongly cautioned parents to reduce their children’s exposure to these highly toxic chemicals. These chemicals are so toxic they have been banned in children’s toys. The site is also contaminated with trichloroethylene (TCE), a known carcinogen that can have serious effects on both long and short term health. These chemicals have been found in the soil, ground water and soil vapor. Soil vapor is of particular concern because of the potential that it has to migrate off-site. Continue reading →
Map of proposed school next to the NuHart Superfund site (via North Brooklyn Neighbors)
The future of the proposed k-8 school across from a toxic site is in question. The current plan is to build the school on a vacant lot across the street from the NuHart Plastics Superfund site, one of the most contaminated sites in New York state.
NuHart Plastics Superfund site
NYC Councilmember Stephen Levin is holding a public meeting on Feb. 7, at the Dupont Senior Housing Center (80 Dupont St.) at 7 p.m. regarding the school and has for the past three years cited efforts to seek an alternative site for a new k-8 school in the North Greenpoint area.
A petition from North Brooklyn Neighbors in opposition to the location of the future school at the corner of Franklin and Dupont streets has received over 6,600 signatures so far.
The NuHart Plastics building spewed toxic fumes into the neighborhood while producing vinyl sheeting from 1950 – 2004, during which time underground storage tanks of toxic chemicals leaked into the groundwater and soil. Today as much as 60,000 gallons of phthalates are underground at the site and the toxic plume has migrated west toward the Greenpoint Playground across the street.
The underground plume at the corner of Franklin and Dupont streets (via North Brooklyn Neighbors)
While local residents are not currently a risk for exposure at the moment while the toxins remain more than 10 feet underground, the cleanup process is supposed to start following the demolition of the building which could start later this year following approval of the proposal of the cleanup plan by the state. Continue reading →
The soil and groundwater onsite are contaminated with the plastics softener phthalates and the cleaning solvent TCE, both human carcinogens, and a potential school is being discussed for an adjacent lot on Franklin Street.
A letter from the North Brooklyn Neighbors requests the Superfund remediation process include an independent expert to monitor the cleanup and off-site impacts:
The neighbors/residents need to be confident that site-related activities will not expose the residents and visitors to harmful conditions during any part of the work. The community has raised concerns about dust, odors, noise, and possible off-gassing of VOC’s or SVOC’s during the remediation. DEC should do all it can to ensure off site impacts are mitigated to the great extent practicable to safeguard public health and address community concerns.
The community requests a website for the DEC and developer to share the results of air and environmental monitoring in real time during the clean-up. Such websites have been used and are in use at other cleanup sites, including the Hudson River PCB removal action.
We request an independent on-site expert to monitor the clean up and ensure that there are no significant off site impacts (e.g. odors, ambient air pollution, noise, etc.) to the community during the remediation, especially when the building is being brought down and the contamination on site is being dug up.
New York City Council Member Stephen Levin will hold a public meeting to hear feedback from Greenpoint parents on the plans to build a 600-seat elementary school on a vacant lot across the street from the Nuhart Plastics Superfund site (280 Franklin St.), which will be remediated in the next few years after the proposed cleanup plan (PDF) is approved. The meeting will take place on Thursday, Nov. 8, at 7:30 p.m. at the Dupont Senior Center (80 Dupont St.). The school would take around three to five years to complete following approval. Continue reading →
Next Thursday, November 8th, NYC Council Member Stephen Levin will hold a community meeting at the Dupont Senior Center (80 Dupont St.) for concerned parents to discuss the proposed site for Greenpoint’s newest K-8 school.
Levin stipulates that this meeting will not focus on the Superfund site so much as on the school itself. He said in a Facebook post: “We would like to meet with Greenpoint parents to discuss the school that will be getting built in the area. We have had several meetings about the Nuhart site but would like to concentrate the school and what people need to know and have questions about regarding the school itself.”
Despite opposition from community groups including North Brooklyn Neighbors (formerly NAG), the proposed location for the school, to be built by developers at Greenpoint Landing, is at the corner of Dupont and Franklin Streets, across from the Nuhart Plastics site, a designated state Superfund.
At the meeting, you can weigh in on issues surrounding the school, and voice your opinion about where it should be built.
If you prefer to lament, or compliment, the cleanup plan in the company of your neighbors, then you’re in luck: North Brooklyn Neighbors and NYC Council Member Stephen Levin are hosting a comment-athon this Wed. Oct. 24, from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. at Threes Brewing (113 Franklin St.). Continue reading →
The school is slated to sit on the corner of Dupont and Franklin Streets, across the street from NuHart Plastics, which was declared a state-level super-fund site in 2010 because it is highly contaminated with thousands of gallons of hazardous chemicals, including two underground plumes of trichloroethylene (TCE), and as much as 60,000 gallons of uncontrolled phthalates, which have leeched from the site out toward surrounding streets.
According to NAG’s petition, “exposure to these chemicals have been linked to liver and kidney damage, congenital heart defects, central nervous system defects, changes in sex hormones, low sperm count, obesity, reduced female fertility, birth defects, low birth weight, and altered behavior in toddlers.” Continue reading →
New York City is a super city. We have it all. But sometimes, having it all means warts-and-all, as is the case with the city’s three Federal Superfund sites. Superfund sites are areas designated by the federal government as hazardous toxic waste disposal sites. The Superfund program holds polluting manufactures liable for the waste their businesses leave behind, and provides compensation, cleanup and emergency response services for the environment and communities surrounding the sites. New York’s Federal Superfund sites — The Gowanus Canal, our very own Newtown Creek, and the Wolff-Alport chemical site in Ridgewood — are a potent reminder of the city’s industrial past, and, perhaps, a new cause celebre in Washington. Continue reading →
