DEC Recap

When pressed on hard issues like "how do you make sure that nobody gets sick? Or Should we be building on toxic land, at sea level, in a climate crisis?..." Their strategy was to deflect and encourage you to talk to another table.

In response to a statement in the article made by Royal Palms co-owner, Jonathan Schnapp,

Do we appreciate being called "pseudoscientists peddling misinformation to the detriment of our community"?  No, no we do not. It's precisely why we hired experts like Walter Hang of Toxics Targeting.

With all due respect, Gov. Hochul, Sean doesn't cut it. We need better. We need smarter. And everyone in that room felt the same way.

We are thrilled to let you know that our Campaign to Clean Up the Gowanus Canal Community just received massive local, state, national and international news coverage by documenting cancer-causing toxic indoor air pollution concerns at a popular club located at 514 Union Street, Brooklyn.  Our powerful new campaign is a joint effort with Toxic Targeting, an environmental data firm.

Beginning in March 2021, State health and environmental authorities knew highly toxic trichloroethylene contamination was detected in indoor air at more than 20 times the Department of Health protection guideline of two micrograms/cubic meter.  State authorities never alerted the public about the problem for nearly two years until VOG and Toxics Targeting broke the scandalous story on March 9th.

We need your action today! 

Listen to us on WNYC today and read the story in Gothamist!

Then please call Hochul's office: (518) 474 - 8390

Please, identify yourself as a Gowanus resident. Complain that you were never alerted to the problems at 514 Union St, Royal Palms Shuffleboard.

Explain why it's important to the health and safety of our residents as well as their patrons and employees. Explain and why you care!

Please DEMAND that we need Gov. Hochul to comprehensively clean up 514 Union Street and all the other massively polluted toxic sites in Gowanus!

Current DEC cleanup efforts are pathetically bad and unacceptable. We cannot allow housing development on toxic sites. We must fully remediate before redevelopment!

Hochul must enforce the law to protect public health. 514 Union Street needs to be remediated to "pre-disposal" conditions.

Again the number to Hochul's office is:

(518) 474 - 8390

Listen to us on WNYC

https://www.wnyc.org/story/toxic-fumes-detected-popular-brooklyn-shuffleboard-club-past-2-years/

Read the story

https://gothamist.com/news/toxic-fumes-detected-at-popular-brooklyn-shuffleboard-club-for-past-2-years

Please read today's lead story on Gothamist. "Toxic fumes detected at popular Brooklyn shuffleboard club for past 2 years"

FOR TWO YEARS the State's DEC knew that the ground under Royal Palms was toxic and that people were being exposed to 10,000 times the allowable amount of cancer causing gas vapors. And what did they do about it? They claim to have shared it in their newsletter. That's it. How is this protecting our health and safety? How are we supposed to trust that our State Agencies are looking out for the public's best interest when this is how they behave? 

Toxic sites must not be redeveloped until they are comprehensively cleaned up and restored to pre-disposal conditions as required by NYS law!

Read it now.

One year later, The EPA STILL HASN'T RECEIVED a response from the DEC regarding this letter.

Letter from EPA regarding DEC cleanup of Public Place gas manufacturing plant site - February 23, 2022. 

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.