Preface by Anthony Buissereth, Executive Director of North Brooklyn Neighbors
North Brooklyn Neighbors (formerly NAG – Neighbors Allied for Good Growth) has worked for more than five years to raise awareness about the NuHart toxic Superfund site in Greenpoint. The closed factory was once home to a plastics manufacturer that contaminated the ground under the factory with thousands of gallons of chemical waste. Over time the waste has spread; today it can be found underneath the sidewalk and roadway north and southwest of the site.
The city’s School Construction Authority (SCA) has proposed to build a new elementary/middle school for the southwest corner of Franklin & Dupont Streets, diagonally across the street from NuHart.
Along with nine community partners, NBN has requested that SCA reconsider and meet with community representatives to move the school. In addition, NYC Councilmember Stephen Levin invites everyone to a discussion about the siting of this school on February 7th. Please read NBN’s letter below and attend CM Levin’s meeting!
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COMMUNITY LETTER TO SCA
January 3, 2019
Lorraine Grillo
President & CEO
New York City School Construction Authority
30-30 Thomson Avenue
Long Island City, NY 11101
RE: Proposed school in Greenpoint next to hazardous waste site
Dear Ms. Grillo:
We are a group of concerned residents and families of Greenpoint, Brooklyn and organizations that advocate for children’s environmental health and environmental justice. We are writing with great concern about the current plans to construct a 640-seat, pre-Kindergarten through eighth grade public school adjacent to the former NuHart Plastic Manufacturing Site, a state Superfund site. We do not believe that a site with such a long history of toxic contamination, which is still listed on the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation’s Registry of Inactive Hazardous Waste Superfund sites, is an ideal environment in which to educate our children. We have deep concerns about the safety of this proposed school site, despite the proposed remediation work. The School Construction Authority owes the community, at a minimum, an opportunity to set up a formal meeting to discuss the future of this project.
The ground underneath the NuHart site is contaminated with an estimated 40,000 to 60,000 gallons of phthalates, which have begun migrating off site in a plume, toward the proposed school site. We will not be completely certain of the precise volume of phthalates under the NuHart site until the remediation begins. Phthalates are particularly hazardous to children’s health and have been implicated in negative infant and child health conditions like reduced gestational growth, asthma and issues with neurological and reproductive systems. Researchers and government agencies, including here in New York City, have strongly cautioned parents to reduce their children’s exposure to these highly toxic chemicals. These chemicals are so toxic they have been banned in children’s toys. The site is also contaminated with trichloroethylene (TCE), a known carcinogen that can have serious effects on both long and short term health. These chemicals have been found in the soil, ground water and soil vapor. Soil vapor is of particular concern because of the potential that it has to migrate off-site.
In 2013, Greenpoint Landing and our local City Council Member Stephen Levin signed a community benefits agreement letter that predicated the school’s construction on complete remediation of the site. The letter states in part that “[n]o school shall begin construction (breaking ground) at the Greenpoint Landing site (lot 1, parcel 5D) until the following condition is met:
“The environmental conditions associated with the NuHart site that have moved off-site (including the public streets, sidewalks, and playground), shall achieve a comprehensive clean up requiring an unrestricted use or restricted residential use for the site according to NYCRR Part 375-6.3 and 375-6.6 NY State Regulations, which are the soil cleanup standards that are protective of children’s health.”
Five years later, those conditions have still not been met and the clean-up will take years to be complete. At a recent public meeting a NYS DEC representative stated they did not know how long it would take, but would take “many years.”
While this agreement letter may technically not be legally binding, it was drafted as a good faith promise to our Councilmember and community and we strongly believe it must be followed. Construction is set to occur in FY 2019 and the remediation is still in the planning process. We understand that the SCA has proposed schedules for developing and constructing the new educational facility and that critical decisions are being made about this site without ongoing input from our community’s stakeholders. For instance, the SCA has never held a community meeting in Greenpoint about this school.
We acknowledge the lack of space and opportunities for safely siting schools in New York City. Brooklyn’s population has steadily increased, and school overcrowding has become a major issue. The Department of Education must accommodate the growing rate of enrollment, and the scarcity of available, non-contaminated space adds to the problem. In its recently released report, “Planning to Learn” the City Council of New York noted that “[r]eal estate experts have indicated that there are very few large sites left without some level of contamination, including but not limited to semi-volatile organic compounds and heavy metals.” In Greenpoint, where a heavily industrial past has had lasting ramifications on our environmental health, we must be particularly mindful of siting choices that would place vulnerable populations like children in close proximity to contaminated sites. Council Member Levin is well aware of our concerns and criticisms of this project.
Problematic school siting has an unfortunate history in our City. In 2010, the SCA and DOE opened a school in the Mott Haven neighborhood of the Bronx that had previously been the site of a railyard, a gas plant and a laundry. The site was contaminated with TCE and other harmful chemicals. While the City followed a remediation plan, they were later sued because of their failure to design monitoring procedures that incorporated community input. Consider PS 65 in Queens that was sited on leased property which was formerly an airplane parts factory where children were reported to develop respiratory ailments. The ground below the school was also contaminated with TCE. In Harlem, the former PS 141 was sited on land that was previously a dry-cleaning factory and had to be shut down because of the toxic fumes that permeated into the school.
We urge the SCA to adopt the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) school siting guidelines in this and in other cases, including developing a protocol or policy on siting that embeds EPA goals and objectives. The school siting guidelines stress “meaningful involvement” and encourage public information and discourse. The EPA suggests that local education authorities form school siting committees comprised of interested community stakeholders to encourage open dialogue and negotiation about the suitability of the sites under evaluation for school construction. While we were made aware of the issues with the land, the nature of the contaminants and the prospects for remediation, we cannot conclude whether or not any other sites were made part of the evaluation or search. This key step precluded the opportunity to propose alternative locations.
We urge the SCA and Greenpoint Landing to meet with us as soon as possible to discuss this situation and to scout for additional proposals that may meet the needs of both the Department of Education and the community at large. Our coalition of concerned community groups has been engaging in grassroots campaign over the past year. We have circulated a petition on Change.org that has gathered over 6,500 signatures. Our concerns have been featured on local news outlets like NBC4 and NY1,. We also submitted comments to DEC’s Proposed Remedial Action Plan (PRAP) for the NuHart site and have empowered our local residents and allied groups to participate in the comment process as well.
We want to consider what other options are available, especially identifying another site. If we can build giant towers for the wealthy, surely, we can find a location for our children that is not next to a toxic plume.
Siting a school in such close proximity to a hazardous waste site sends the wrong message to the children of District 14 about how the City prioritizes their health and environment.
To schedule a meeting, please contact Anthony Buissereth, Executive Director at North Brooklyn Neighbors (NBN) at anthony@northbrooklynneighbors.org, (718) 384-2248, 110 Kent Avenue, 2nd floor, Brooklyn, NY 11249.
Thank you and we look forward to your response.
Sincerely,
Anthony Buissereth
Executive Director
North Brooklyn Neighbors
Christine Appah
Senior Staff Attorney
New York Lawyers for the Public Interest
Katherine Radke
Steering Committee
61 Franklin Street Community Garden
Claire Barnett
Founder & Executive Director
Healthy Schools Network, Inc.
Willis Elkins
Executive Director
Newtown Creek Alliance
Dewey Thompson
Founder & Board Member
North Brooklyn Boat Club
Joe Mayock
Executive Director
North Brooklyn Parks Alliance
Kenny Volandes
Co-President, PTA
PS 31 Samuel F. Dupont School
Jane Lea
Co-President, PTA
PS 34 Oliver H. Perry Elementary
Erica Young
President, PTA
PS 110 The Monitor School
CC:
Mayor Bill de Blasio
City of New York
Congresswoman Carolyn B. Maloney
12th District, New York
State Senator Julia Salazar
18th District, New York
Assemblyman Joseph R. Lentol
50th District, New York
Council Member Stephen Levin
33rd District, City of New York
Mr. Steven Zahn
Director – Region 2
NYS Department of Environmental Conservation
Ms. Jane H. O’Connell
Chief, Superfund and Brownfield Cleanup Section, Division of Environmental Remediation
NYS Department of Environmental Conservation
Ms. Dawn Hettrick, P.E.
Public Health Engineer, Bureau of Environmental Exposure Investigation
NYS Department of Health
Mr. Richard Carranza
Chancellor, NYC Department of Education
Mr. Rick D. Chandler, P.E.
Commissioner, NYC Department of Buildings
Mr. Mark McIntyre, Esq.
Director, NYC Office of Environmental Remediation
Ms. Dealice Fuller
Chairperson, Brooklyn Community Board 1
Mr. Yoel Goldman
President, All Year Management
Sources:
- Braun, J. M., Sathyanarayana, S., & Hauser, R. (2013). Phthalate exposure and children’s health. Current opinion in pediatrics, 25(2), 247-54. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3747651/
- Letter, Greenpoint Landing Associates to Councilmember Stephen Levin, December 2013*
- New York City Council (2018). Planning to Learn: The School Building Challenge. Retrieved from the New York City Council site: https://council.nyc.gov/land-use/plans/schools-working-group/
- United States Environmental Protection Agency (2011). School Siting Guidelines, Chapter 3, Meaningful Involvement, https://www.epa.gov/sites/production/files/2015-06/documents/meaningful_public_involvement.pdf
- https://www.change.org/p/stop-brooklyn-school-from-being-built-next-to-hazardous-waste
6.https://www.nbcnewyork.com/on-air/as-seen-on/Greenpointers-Concerned-About-School-Near-Toxic-Site_New-York-487703521.html
7. http://www.ny1.com/nyc/brooklyn/news/2018/10/12/greenpoint-plastics-plant-controversy
8.https://www.ny1.com/nyc/brooklyn/news/2018/07/10/advocates-rally-against-proposed-location-for-new-brooklyn-school-