2025
February 19: NCA comments to Council Member Julie Won and Lin Zeng, Director Queens Office, Department of City Planning, on OneLIC: Comprehensive Community Planning Process.
2024
December 13: NCA, in collaboration with Riverkeeper, submitted comments to the NYS Department of Environmental Conservation, Division of Water, regarding the 2024 Newtown Creek CSO Storage Tunnel Modification urging the updated plan to address the other 18 CSO outfalls in Newtown Creek and New Yorkers being affected by the plan.
November 26: NCA, in collaboration with Riverkeeper, submitted a letter to the NYS Department of Environmental Conservation, Division of Water; and NYC Department of Environmental Protection Commissioner Rohit Aggarwala pressing that information on the Long Term Control Plan be presented to the public and for an extension of the LTCP comment period.
September 25: NCA letter to the US Army Corps of Engineers regarding the Pre-Construction Notification for seawall removal and new bulkhead construction in the English Kills tributary of Newtown Creek.
January 24: NCA provided comments on the City of Yes for Economic Opportunity on how to better utilize our IBZs not just for economic benefits, but community and environmental improvements as well.
January 15: NCA letter to the Public Design Commission sharing our support for the Department of Environmental Protection’s (DEP) proposed plan for the Gateway to Greenpoint project, located at the intersection of Kingsland Avenue and Greenpoint Avenue.
2023
November 14: NCA testimony, given in response to National Grid New York’s rate filings, in strong opposition of the rate increase and any investment at the Greenpoint Energy Center that does not prioritize a cleanup of the site as well as a transition away from the storage of hazardous Liquified Natural Gas and processing of fracked gas.
September 13: NCA submitted comments to the US Army Corps of Engineers regarding a permit for the construction of a pier, sharing general support for maritime uses of Newtown Creek and calling for the agency to properly address issues with the applicant to minimize environmental impact.
June 30: NCA addressed the NYS Department of Environmental Conservation on how historic and ongoing water quality issues continue to threaten the health of those that live near, work along and recreate on Newtown Creek, and the need to strengthen water quality standard protections.
June 20: NCA provided written testimony regarding the City Council’s efforts examining ways to improve the function and productivity of the IBZs surrounding Newtown Creek and shared opportunities for upgrading the IBZs to better address environmental justice issues, mitigate climate change related impacts, and better incorporate use and restoration and public access.
2022
September 21: NCA delivered testimony at National Grid’s hearing on its proposed Liquified Natural Gas expansion at the Cooper Park houses, opposing the expansion and emphasizing the environmental burden of the facility that has yet to be cleaned.
August 12: We introduced incoming NYC Department of Environmental Protection Commissioner Rohit Aggarwala to DEP-related ongoing projects across the Newtown Creek Watershed and shared updates on the state of the following sites/groups/issues: Gateway to Greenpoint, 47th Street Aeration Lot, Borden Avenue Pump House Upgrade, Plank Road Shoreline Area, Newtown Creek Monitoring Committee, Floatables in Newtown Creek (and Harbor-wide), Dutch Kills Wetland Project.
February 17: We informed top officials at the MTA, NYS DEC, and NYC DOT of the shoreline collapse at 29th street bulkhead. We requested that they address the urgent unsafe condition of the bulkhead and adjacent roadway, rebuild a shoreline that incorporates public access to the water and native habitat restoration through living shorelines in the redesign, and remove the abandoned barges at shoreline.
February 1: We submitted written testimony regarding the Transportation, Economic Development, and Environmental Conservation Part Y “Clarifying the State’s Ban on Single-Use Plastic Bags” budget proposal advocating for the definition of “reusable bags” to not be expanded to include virgin petroleum/plastics industry waste products.
2021
December 17: In our comments regarding Equity Works Former MGP site (manufactured gas plant), we expressed strong concern with remediation methods used in the cleanups of former MGP sites in general, namely the practice of in-situ stabilization, which attempts to trap existing contamination in the ground by mixing a low strength concrete with the contaminated soil.
November 21: We supported the designation of the Meeker Avenue Plume site as a Superfund, and its addition to the National Priorities List.
2020
December 16: We worked with Riverkeeper on a joint-comment letter against the issuance of Air State Facility permits to National Grid. These permits would enable National Grid to build new 2 Compressed Natural Gas injection heaters and 2 new Liquid Natural Gas vaporizers.
November 11: We wrote Queens Borough Transportation Commissioner Nicole Garcia opposing the Vernon. Blvd Bulkhead Restoration plan. Get more background on the issue here.
April 20: We wrote Hon. Michelle L. Phillips, Acting Secretary to the Commission NYS Public Service Commission, RE: Case 19-G-0309 – KeySpan Gas East Corp. d/b/a National Grid to oppose rate payers paying for Superfund cleanup expenses and infrastructure improvements. National Grid is one of the Potentially Responsible Parties (PRP) identified by EPA as part of the Newtown Creek remediation, and as such they should be paying to clean up the damage they’ve done to the Creek. All legal documents for the case are available here, along with a fact sheet here.
April 9: We expressed our frustration with the Vernon Blvd Bulkhead Restoration plan proposed to Queens Community Board 2 by the city for its disregard of existing community-led design and visioning plans for the site.
January 13: We do not believe that water quality standards for Newtown Creek are adequate, and definitely don’t support their weakening. We told DEC this, and advocated for improved and increased engagement with the impacted communities as many were left out of (and uninformed of) this proposed reduction in water quality standards.
2019
December 2: We expressed our concern that Citywide & East River/Open Waters LTCP (which touches every borough of New York City) will not appropriately address the billions of gallons of CSO which are discharged every year, and submitted these comments on the DEP’s Retained Alternatives Summary for the Citywide/Open Waters CSO Long Term Control Plan to Commissioner Sapienza.
July 31: NCA’s Executive Director delivered comments on the 2019 National Grid Rate Case at CUNY School of Law in strong opposition to National Grid’s proposal to offload 100% of their Superfund costs onto their customers through rate increases, as well as addressing ongoing delays and lack of financial transparency with the Renewable Natural Gas Project at the Newtown Creek Wastewater Treatment Plant.
May 10: We wrote the NYSDEC with our concerns that the proposed cleanup of ExxonMobil OU-3* will not result in a cleaner (or usable) waterway. All upland sites, like OU-3, need to be properly remediated to prevent future recontamination of the Creek. We also requested a full PCB removal in conjunction with bulkhead replacements in the area.
2018
August 6: The DEC proposed removing Newtown Creek from List of Impaired Waters. We wrote in opposition as Newtown Creek is severely impaired, naming the following 4 key reasons why in the letter: (1) work to begin designing CSO alternatives must begin now, (2) floating trash is pervasive across the Creek, posing both health risks to wildlife and a major deterrence for recreational purposes, (3) dissolved oxygen levels are extremely low, we need a drastic reduction to CSO volumes and improved natural function of the Creek to improve it, and (4) CSO leads to large amounts of sewage related bacteria within the water body, that pose a direct threat to human and environmental health.
May 2: We wrote to permitting authorities and representatives from the Division of Marine Resources at NYSDEP, requesting that they allow oyster garden permits in contaminated/Superfund waterways for their environmental and public educational benefits.
2017
October 23: We sent additional LTCP feedback to DEP Commissioner Sapienza, ccing DEC Commissioner Seggos. We questioned the utility of a CSO plan that will only address 62.5% of (current) discharge from the 3 largest outfalls on Newtown Creek, and will complete the insufficient remediation over 25 years.
September 3: We submitted Comments on Former Pratt Oil Works , DEC Site #S241115 Operable Units 01, 02 to the NYSDEC’s Division of Environmental Remediation documenting numerous instances of petroleum discharge into open water and seeping through shorelines. We urged the DEC to enforce penalties to fund intertidal habitat restoration and support impacted wildlife through a living shoreline and/or ecologically inclusive bulkheads.
May 31: We submitted our feedback on the Long-Term Control Plan (LTCP) to DEP Commissioner Sapienza. We request 100% CSO recapture from the largest 3 outfalls on the Creek: NCQ-077 (Maspeth Creek), NCB-083 (East Branch) and NBC-015 (English Kills), storage tanks to hold the recapture, an expansion of green infrastructure, an expansion of soft shorelines, oppose increased aeration and the proposed potential use of chlorination, and oppose the LTCP’s method of finding solutions to meet individual issues’ and acceptable standards.
2016
February 13: In a letter to NYSDEC, we stated that we did not believe that human health was being prioritized by the proposed remediation actions for Newtown Creek Superfund Site Operable Unit One (OU-1) and adjacent sites of the Greenpoint Petroleum Remediation Project.
2015
June 9: We wrote in opposition to aeration as a strategy for long-term water quality control, requesting that the NC-3 aeration project for East Branch project at least be delayed until the forthcoming Newtown Creek Long Term Control Plan be released.
February 11: We wrote to DEP and NYS DEC outlining our concerns about the proposed aeration into the Dutch Kills tributary