VOG is Pleased to Share Great News About Our Campaign to Protect Public Health in the Gowanus Canal Community

Voice of Gowanus is happy to alert you that the U.S. EPA's Gowanus Canal Remedial Project Manager, Christos Tsiamis, has publicly confirmed our assertion that the New York Department of Environmental Conservation's proposed cleanup of the Public Place Manufactured Gas Plant site is fundamentally inadequate to protect public health and must be revised to control to massive contamination that threatens proposed low-income public housing, a school and the surrounding environment. 

This is precisely what we requested in our: Coalition Letter Which Requests That Governor Hochul Comprehensively Remediate All Toxic Sites in the Gowanus Canal Community to "Pre-Disposal Conditions."

Mr. Tsiamis spoke at a 1/24/23 Gowanus Canal Community Advisory Group (CAG) meeting.  He disclosed that he expressed his concerns in a letter sent to DEC last February, 2022.  DEC shockingly never replied to EPA's letter.

Watch Now:

Our respectful coalition letter now has more than 1,100 signatories.  It requests that Governor Hochul strictly enforce New York's legal mandate to clean up Public Place and more than three dozen other toxic sites in the Gowanus Canal community to "pre-disposal conditions." 

Send Governor Hochul a Personalized Request

Pleas use our web form to send Governor Hochul a personalized letter that echoes our coalition letter request.

https://www.voiceofgowanus.org/sendhochulletter

Be your eloquent best.  Please identify who you are, any groups you are associated with and every professional credential you can reference.  Speak your mind.  Explain your direct personal interest as a property owner, long-time resident or survivor of a potential environmentally induced ailment. 

Echo our specific request for action.  Avoid generalities.  DO NOT SEND A PERSONALIZED REQUEST WITHOUT FILLING IN THE BLANKS.

Conclusion

VOG looks forward to working with U. S. EPA to require Governor Hochul to remediate all legacy toxic hazards in the Gowanus Canal community on a comprehensive basis.  EPA has declared that the success of its $1.5 billion Gowanus Canal cleanup depends on achieving this goal:

"The remedy relies on the control of upland sources of contamination to the Canal, including the remediation of three former MGP [Manufactured Gas Plants, not in the original] sites adjacent to the Canal & Carroll Gardens: Public Place (formerly known as "Citizens Gas Works"); former Metropolitan MGP, and former Fulton Municipal Works MGP (Fulton MGP) (emphasis added)."

Our new campaign is off to a great start.  Please contribute generously to keep our fight growing.  All contributions are tax-deductible. 

We will share more important news very shortly.