wnyc.org / 93.9fm / am 820

Comments

• [1] C from Brooklyn September 18, 2008 - 11:31AM

  As a long time resident of Williamsburg (7 years) who is now currently pregnant, can somebody please tell me and all the neighbors of this terrible environmental disaster, if there are any long term health affects we should know about. My research into this topic has unearthed many contradictory reports about the dangers and safety of living in this area. Help please.

  thanks, C. Williamsburg.

  
  
• [2] david September 18, 2008 - 01:31PM

  please ask guest to state where a oil spill map of the plume can be located. I'm a concerned Greenpoint resident. Thanks

  
  
• [3] Marissa from Manhattan September 18, 2008 - 01:31PM

  with oil prices so high, the city should pump out the oil and make the profit from it, not exxon

  
  
• [4] Marissa from Manhattan September 18, 2008 - 01:33PM

  here's a map from riverkeeper's website

  http://www.riverkeeper.org/campaign.php/pollution/we_are_doing/952-map-depicting-newtown-creek-oi

  
  
• [5] Demetri from brooklyn September 18, 2008 - 01:35PM

  there is concrete wash flowing into the gowanus canal also. you can see this from 9th street and BQE in brooklyn

  
  
• [6] Chuck Renaud from Brooklyn September 18, 2008 - 01:35PM

  What a nightmare.

  Why can't the government take control of this?

  
  
• [7] licnyc from long island city September 18, 2008 - 01:37PM

  As a resident of long island city I've been following this for a while. One problem is its impossible to clean up since they have to replace all the dirt under greenpoint, which is impossible. There is also a lot of problems close by with the buildings going up on the east river.

  
  
• [8] Hugh from Crown Heights September 18, 2008 - 01:39PM

  I was told that NewTown Creek is so chemically active that you can develop film in it. True or urban myth?

  
  
• [9] XXXX from nyc September 18, 2008 - 01:41PM

  I work for US EPA Superfund. EPA personnel never resist any cleanup activities. Now as for EPA political appointees that is another matter.

  
  
• [10] danielle from upper west side - the suburbs September 18, 2008 - 01:42PM

  how does it help the clean-up of the creek if the cement company can just get a permit to dump cement which is the impression i got from the speakers comment : "they knew they needed a permit"

  
  
• [11] Alex from Greenpoint September 18, 2008 - 01:42PM

  yes, it's such a nightmare. the worst spill in U.S. history in such a populated area??? why on earth is this not a superfund cite???? Leonard, please do an update on this story in the future and keep us informed!

  
  
• [12] d. freckles from brooklyn September 18, 2008 - 01:44PM

  Here is documentary about the Creek Spill and health risks in the Willamsburg/Greenpoint Corridor

  http://www.vbs.tv/video.php?id=742311878

  
  
• [13] Laura Hofmann from Greenpoint, Brooklyn September 18, 2008 - 01:52PM

  I've lived in Greenpoint all my life (50 yrs).

  I wouldn't say that folks should pack up their stuff and move out. Greenpoint is a great neighborhood. However, there are definitely health concerns. I won't be convinced to beleive differently. My family's medical history reads like an area 51 report. Health & Environmental officials need to stop sitting on their hands and do a TRUTHFUL study & a QUICK & THOROUGH cleanup. Not only of the oil spill. Their have been horrible environmental offenders in this neighborhood that left the neighborhood ill & polluted. Including the old incinerator, smelting facilities, pvc manufacturers and more.

  What agencies need to do is to finally be truthful and actually DO what's necessary and right to quickly correct and mitigate the conditions.

  For instance. The city should be priortizing Greenpoint for tree plantings given the extent of environmental & health damage. The City should be developing the esplanade/waterfront park instead of hoping developers will do it.

  Apparantly the City was NOT concerned that Greenpointers would be living in unmitigated environmental & health conditions even longer.

  
  
• [14] mc golrick Park resident from greenpoint September 18, 2008 - 02:07PM

  McGolrick Park is one of the beautiful landmarks of Greenpoint, yet the stench from the ultra modern sewage plant on Newton Creek has permeated the area for the last week. Now I look at the Greenpoint oil spill map and listen to the show and wonder if it is not time to get real and move away.

  
  
• [15] Carol Lawson from NYC September 18, 2008 - 03:18PM

  Given the extraordinary amount of time it has taken to focus our government representatives on the environmental hazards that Newtown Creek has always posed (I grew up --40 years ago --as a New Yorker hearing comments like "it smells like Newtown Creek at low tide," as my father did before me), the proposed drilling in the New York City watershed for gas by a process that leaves toxic chemicals in the ground and on the surface in 3-5 acre ponds makes me terrified -- and dumbfounded as to why the media and press have not informed the citizenry about an impending yet preventable environmental and public health tragedy.

  
  
• [16] Michael Heimbinder from Brooklyn September 18, 2008 - 05:13PM

  For more information on the ExxonMobil Greenpoint oil spill visit: http://habitatmap.org/markers/98

  For more information on Newtown Creek visit: http://habitatmap.org/markers?maps=73,72,77,78,79,80

  To share information on environmental hazards and amenities in your neighborhood simply sign in to HabitatMap and add a marker.

  
  
• [17] Frank from Brooklyn September 19, 2008 - 06:46AM

  Two more resources:

  www.motherjones.com/commentary/columns/2007/09/witness.html

  www.greenpointvexxon.com

  
  
• [18] Peggy Plunkett from Hackensack, NJ September 19, 2008 - 10:42AM

  Mr. Lopate: About 4 years ago I listened to your program about Newtown Creek. I was horrified by the info delivered there, including the input from two DCA people. Subsequently I wrote to the editors of the NY Times, The Daily News and the Bergen Record asking them to give press to this important issue. I never read anything about Newtown in any of those papers. The pollution of that neighborhood and the waters that surround New York continues & has been since 1955! What can we do to bring this to the front page? No local or federal governments care. Why is Mayor Bloomberg not DEMANDING the EPA to step up & do the watch-dogging they're paid for?