1. What is Superfund?
2. Why is the Gowanus Canal being considered for Superfund status (i.e. inclusion on the National Priorities List (NPL)?)
3. What is the State Department of Environmental Conservation's (DEC) Role in the Superfund Listing Process?
4. Do the EPA, State DEC and City DEP have different goals for cleanup of the site?
5. Does a Superfund designation automatically provide federal resources to support the cleanup effort?
6. How would the existing work on the Gowanus Canal be affected if the canal became a Superfund site?
7. Do Superfund cleanup sites have a negative impact on nearby communities and economic development initiatives?  
8. Are there any proposed projects on the Gowanus Canal that could be in jeopardy of disruption by Superfund listing?
9. Why does the City care?
10. Who gets to decide if the Superfund is listed?

1. What is Superfund?
In 1980 the US Congress passed the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation and Liability Act (CERCLA), allowing the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to clean up abandoned hazardous waste sites and to compel responsible parties to pay for or perform remediation.

2. Why is the Gowanus Canal being considered for Superfund status (i.e. inclusion on the National Priorities List (NPL)?)
As a result of historical uses along the Gowanus Canal, waste from industrial facilities including manufactured gas plants, electric utilities, coal yards, tanneries, saw mills, lumber yards, chemical fertilizer plants, paint and ink factories, and oil handling were deposit directly into the canal.  During the period from 2003-2006 numerous sampling efforts quantified the levels of contamination within the sediment of the Gowanus Canal.  Using such data, the Gowanus Canal was evaluated as to whether it is of Superfund-caliber. The Gowanus Canal score, in the pathway that EPA tested, exceeded the threshold for potential inclusion on the NPL.

3. What is the State Department of Environmental Conservation's (DEC) Role in the Superfund Listing Process?
DEC nominated the Gowanus Canal to the EPA for NPL designation late 2008.  The City was not informed of this decision until March 2009, when EPA released its hazard assessment of the canal and upland sites, and began public proceedings to add the Canal to the NPL.  The City is working with State DEC to determine whether a viable cleanup alternative to Superfund is possible.

4. Do the EPA, State DEC and City DEP have different goals for cleanup of the site? 
No.  The City is currently exploring alternatives to Superfund which achieve the same level of cleanup as required by Superfund and meet the same environmental goals. The City's goal is to develop a collaborative approach - one that involves private parties and the Army Corps of Engineers among others. This approach will ultimately lead to a faster and more efficient cleanup than Superfund, which is focused on enforcement and litigation and could take many years.

5. Does a Superfund designation automatically provide federal resources to support the cleanup effort?
No.  In fact, the EPA receives a relatively small amount of federal appropriations for Superfund projects each year. There funds are traditionally dispersed among 'orphan sites,' where no viable Responsible Parties (RPs) can be found. The Gowanus Canal is not eligible for these funds.

6. How would the existing work on the Gowanus Canal be affected if the canal became a Superfund site?
A Superfund listing could affect the timing of the approximately $175 million of water quality restoration work that the City has funded and plans to begin this September. In addition, a Superfund listing would very likely end the participation of the Army Corps of Engineers as the City's partner in the on-going remedial investigation and future dredging of the Gowanus Canal.  This work would generate an estimated 300 new jobs.

7. Do Superfund cleanup sites have a negative impact on nearby communities and economic development initiatives?
A Superfund listing can have a stigmatizing effect on an area that has the potential to decrease property values.  Superfund listing can also make it harder for area property owners to get bank loans and other financing.  Prior Superfund cleanups have taken decades to complete and have left properties undeveloped for many years.

8. Are there any proposed projects on the Gowanus Canal that could be in jeopardy of disruption by Superfund listing?
Projects are planned or under way in the Gowanus area that would encourage a mix of uses including up to 4,000 housing units, approximately 1,100 of which will be affordable. These include Public Place - a model of PlaNYC's efforts to reclaim Brownfields within the city; the planned Gowanus rezoning, which the City has been developing in close collaboration with the local community for close to 3 years; and the Toll Brothers Project, which would include significant public open space, a community facility, and residential units, including affordable housing.

9. Why does the City care?
The City prefers an alternative to Superfund listing because there are currently fully funded on-going cleanup and restoration projects in the Gowanus Canal that, if allowed to continue, will significantly improve water quality. These projects include the DEP's water quality restoration work and the DEP's partnership with the US Army Corps for remediation and revitalization of the Gowanus Canal.  The Army Corps participation creates the potential for significant federal funding under the Water Resources and Development Act, which in a collaborative process will maximize incentives for getting the cleanup done more quickly.

10. Who gets to decide if the Superfund is listed?
The EPA will ultimately decide whether the Gowanus Canal will be listed on the NPL.  The agency considers all comments received from the public, and the final decision to list or not to list is entirely at the EPA's discretion.