Local Pols Demand Toxic Dredging Stopped!

BROOKLYN – City Council Member and Brooklyn Delegation co-chair Mark Treyger, along with Brooklyn Borough President Eric Adams, State Senator Diane Savino, Assembly Members William Colton and Pam Harris, and Council Member Vincent Gentile, will gather with community activists at the construction site of the Southwest Brooklyn Marine Waste Transfer Station (Bay 41st Street and Shore Parkway in Gravesend) at 12 p.m. on Sunday, November 22nd to call for an immediate halt to dredging that violates permit conditions set forth for the project by the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation.

Video footage recorded at the site shows a large piece of metal stuck in the jaws of the machine conducting the dredging, resulting in muddy soil and water – contaminated by dioxins, lead, mercury, and the chemical Mirex from the illegal incinerator that operated at the site for decades – falling back into Gravesend Bay, spreading hazardous particles and materials throughout the surrounding water and into the air. The footage also shows piles of hazardous materials on the site grounds that are not covered by tarps, as the permit requires, blowing more contaminated particles into the air and onto the grounds of surrounding businesses. Council Member Treyger, Assembly Member Colton, and the rest of the elected officials who have been fighting this project for years predicted that dredging would result in the violation of these conditions, as well as the possible disturbance of World War II-era metals and explosives buried at the bottom of Gravesend Bay.

Furthermore, the elected officials recently learned that the DEC has made modifications to the permit and its conditions without a public review process. In an effort to ensure the health and safety of Southern Brooklyn residents, the elected officials are demanding a public review hearing before any changes are made to the permit.

WHO:
Council Member Mark Treyger, Brooklyn Borough President Eric Adams, State Senator Diane Savino, Assembly Members William Colton and Pam Harris, Council Member Vincent Gentile, community activists, residents.

WHAT:
Elected officials call for an immediate stop of dredging at the Southwest Brooklyn Marine Waste Transfer Station construction site because of work that violates health and safety requirements of the project’s permit.

WHEN:
Sunday, November 22nd, 2015 at 12 p.m.

WHERE:
Bay 41st Street and Shore Parkway

Here’s video footage of the toxic dredging!

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