Once the Gowanus Canal Is Rid of âBlack Mayonnaise,â Who Will Benefit?
The city may approve a plan in Brooklyn that is one of the biggest rezoning projects in memory. But the debate is not playing out in predictable ways.
The Gowanus Canal in Brooklyn exists in that awkward stage where it is both Superfund site and destination neighborhood.Credit.Kevin Hagen for The New York Times
Jan. 29, 2021
Earlier this week, as if an omen sent from the gods of city planning, a barge carrying toxic sediment nearly sank in Gowanus Bay. It was loaded with the âblack mayonnaiseâ dredged up from the Gowanus Canal, sludge that appeared to be in the midst of a dangerous round trip â potentially recontaminating the water that was so slowly being cleaned up after so long. Designated a Superfund site by the federal government in 2010, the canal is a graveyard to industrial sins committed for more than a century.
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EPA-contracted crews work on the Gowanus Canal in October 2016. (Photo: Drew Angerer, Getty Images)
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The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency said on Tuesday that one of the garbage barges helping clear the federal Superfund site in Brooklyn’s infamous Gowanus Canal of toxic waste has itself sunk.
Barge carrying toxic sediment sinks at Gowanus Canal Superfund site
By Wire Report article
In this file photo, a flower floats along in a sewage run-off on Brooklyn s Gowanus Canal, in New York. (AP Photo/Bebeto Matthews)
NEW YORK - The Environmental Protection Agency is investigating after a barge carrying toxic sludge from Brooklyn s Gowanus Canal Superfund site sank back into the water, officials said Wednesday.
The barge carrying dredged material was moored in nearby Gowanus Bay when it sank on Monday, possibly sending pollutants back into the water, the EPA said in a statement. Dredging was halted to allow contractor Cashman Dredging to secure the sunken boat.