In the wake of a video apparently showing how the dredging of Gravesend Bay is dumping toxic waste off the shoreline, Assemblyman Bill Colton blasted the de Blasio administration for polluting Southern Brooklyn waters.
The dredging is being conducted as part of the construction of the Southwest Brooklyn Marine Transfer Station on the site of a former incinerator, which the same NYC Department of Sanitation operated from 1959 to 1989, without ever obtaining a legally required permit. The site is located off Shore Parkway service road along Bay 41st Street.
Colton states he directly told the Mayor that if this senseless garbage station was built, the community will hold the Mayor accountable for whatever damage the garbage station causes to the environment of Southern Brooklyn waters.
This work project involves the construction of a garbage station where the garbage is to be transported by barge to some still unidentified location. The dredging, which resulted in the spilling of the dredged material shown in the video below was part of the construction project.
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Sediment sampling has shown the water bottom being contaminated with Class C acutely toxic levels of dioxins, lead, mercury, chlordanes, and Mirex (an ant killer insecticide banned by the EPA in 1976). Since prior studies had revealed that the sediment being dredged was contaminated, there were strict permit conditions and requirements as to how the dredging must be conducted. It is the violation of these requirements which resulted in the shocking pollution of the waters shown by the video.
“This is an environmental catastrophe,” said Colton. “What they’ve done is gone 20 feet into the ground, scooped up the most toxic kind of sediment that has been covered for last 20 years, and now they’re bring it up into the air, and it’s all dropping back into the water. They’ve violated all the dredging guidelines that they promised they would follow.”
The pollution has also drawn the outrage of elected officials across southern and southwest Brooklyn.
“The dredging of what appears to be toxic waters in Gravesend Bay is disturbing and alarming for the residents of Bay Ridge, Brighten Beach and Coney Island. Assemblyman Colton has done research and warned about these dangers from the beginning. I found troubling that his warnings have not been heeded. I will fully fight to protect the health and welfare of my entire district,” said recently elected Coney Island Assemblywoman Pam Harris.
Republican Southwestern Congressman Dan Donovan also joined in the fight to stop construction of waste transfer station and called both Colton and Coney Island City Councilman Mark Treyger “fearless advocates for South Brooklyn’s environmental safety.”
“The latest revelations of improper procedure at the waste transfer station construction site are alarming. I spoke to the EPA and the Army Corps this morning to share our findings and urged them to take immediate action,” said Donovan.
Colton, Treyger, Daniel Donovan, along with Anti-Waste Task Force Co-Chairs and Democratic Party District Leaders Nancy Tong and Charles Ragusa, have previously sent letters to the US Environmental Protection Agency demanding an investigation of serious complaints about the work site conditions together with photographs showing soil and debris in the waters surrounding the site, ponding storm waters entering to the adjoining properties and the failure to install protective silt barriers to prevent the waters from being contaminated by the site debris, among other alleged violations.
The EPA conducted an onsite inspection on August 21 and its report found potential violations and concerns which the EPA gave the NYC Department of Sanitation 30 days to respond to and/or cure the problems. This new dredging incident has occurred while EPA action on the original complaint is now awaited.
