From DNA Info:
Brooklyn concrete magnate John Quadrozzi wants to take toxic sludge dredged from the Gowanus Canal Superfund site, ship it by barge to Red Hook and dump it into the Gowanus Bay to expand a shipping terminal he owns.
The proposal, discussed at a Brooklyn Community Board 6 committee meeting Monday night, would allow Quadrozzi's Gowanus Bay Terminal on Columbia Street to accommodate larger ocean-going ships by extending the terminal into deeper waters.
The plan would also create more land above water, adding to the property that Quadrozzi rents to industrial businesses.
Many questions — from who would pay for which parts of the project, to what exactly will be dredged from the canal, to where the sludge will be shipped, how it will be treated, and whether Quadrozzi can even legally expand his terminal — have not been addressed.
Cleanup of the Gowanus Canal, [Quadrozzi's spokesperson] said, would involve dredging only the lowest-level contaminants, which would then be mixed with a "concrete-like…stabilizing material" that could safely be deposited in open water as landfill.
4 comments:
NYSDEC is the final decider, as they issue all permits for aquatic fill. Mixing with concrete is a proven dredge material disposal option, and does neutralize contaminants.
Mixing with concrete is a proven dredge material disposal option, and does neutralize contaminants.
Two words: Oh? Proof?
Wait, the city is going to pay to do all this so a private business owner can make more money and have more space to rent out to enrich his business? Plus there's toxic waste involved? Sounds great.
The approach here will not only be cement treated dredge. The sludge will first undergo a destructive process nutralizing the contaminants - sort of a detox. The cement treatment will follow.
From what I understand, this private company is offering the EPA free disposal in exchange for land filling as oppose to dumping it in Jersey where some other private company would charge billions to do the same thing. Saving billions, enhancing economic development in NYC, doesn't sound all that bad. What's bad is that other private business don't come up with ways of making it in NYC, for NYC. Keep the dollars and the jobs here, that's what I say.
Applause!
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