Public Comments and Advocacy Letters

2022

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 viagra uit india 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 best timing for levitra 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 Mark, has you ordered this medicine? Do you satisfied cialis daily dosage pharmacy. We would strongly recommend you to consult your doctor before taking a medication. 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 viagra online 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 viagra professional pfizer 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