In April 2009, the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced a proposal to list the Gowanus Canal on the Superfund National Priorities List (NPL), beginning a 60-day public comment period which has since been extended to 90 days, ending on July 8, 2009. The Gowanus Canal is a 1.5 mile-long waterway extending northward from the Gowanus Bay in Brooklyn. Historical uses along the canal, for a wide range of industrial activities, have resulted in the contamination of sediment in the canal.

The City shares the same goals for the Gowanus Canal as the EPA: to clean up the contaminated sediments, to restore canal water quality and to halt land discharge of contamination into the canal. Any cleanup plan proposed by the City would clean the canal to the same standards as Superfund.

New York City is currently developing an alternative plan to clean-up the Gowanus Canal that will achieve the same clean-up as Superfund seeks to achieve, but would not involve a Superfund listing.  We are actively working with EPA and NYS Department of Environmental Conservation to develop this plan, and both agencies would be involved in the administration and oversight of a Superfund alternative. The City's plan seeks to maximize on-going and planned investments in the Canal by NYC Department of Environmental Protection and the Army Corps of Engineers, and would use a collaborative, voluntary approach with private, potentially responsible parties. This approach can achieve a cleanup faster and more efficiently than Superfund, which is an adversarial process focused on enforcement and litigation.

The Big Apple Brownfields Workshop: Where is the Money? will be held on June 16, 2009 at CUNY's Graduate Center.  This is the second in the series of workshops to encourage redevelopment of brownfield sites in New York City.

The workshop will provide a series of short presentations by The Mayor's Office of Environmental Remediation (OER) and industry experts on the financial resources that are available. OER will also unveil its new Local Brownfield Cleanup Program for NYC brownfield projects. 

This workshop is intended for for-profit and non-for-profit developers, landowners, local development organizations, community groups, consultants, students, and the general public. 

In addition to the presentations, the workshop will include a panel discussion, question and answer sessions, and a networking lunch with industry experts and businesses, and display presentations highlighting firm services in brownfield redevelopment.

Online registration for the workshop has closed.  Workshop registration will open at 8:30am on Tuesday, June 16th at the CUNY - Graduate Center! 

On April 22, 2009 the City Council unanimously approved a Local Law to develop a comprehensive program for the remediation and reuse of brownfields.  The passage of the "New York City Brownfield and Community Revitalization Act" is an enormous milestone in the City's commitment to cleaning up brownfields for productive reuse in accordance with PlaNYC.  The Mayor is expected to sign the bill into law on May 11.

Brownfields are important to NYC because they represent a significant opportunity to create housing, jobs, and open space to serve our growing population.  PlanNYC estimated that the City has 7,600 acres of brownfields, vacant or underutilized sites where redevelopment is impeded by environmental contamination.

PlaNYC contained eleven initiatives related to brownfields, and the passage of this legislation either completes or enables the achievement of all of them.

The legislation:

• creates the Office of Environmental Remediation (OER) to oversee and coordinate City brownfield policy;
• creates a new Local Brownfield Cleanup Program that is the first in the nation to provide for municipal oversight of brownfield cleanups;
• ensures that the Local Brownfield Cleanup Program will use New York State standards for cleanup of brownfields;
• enables the Office of Environmental Remediation to facilitate community planning for areas affected by clusters of brownfields through the NYS Department of State's Brownfield Opportunity Area grant program; 
• authorizes new Clean Property Certification Program - this program is expected to do for Brownfields what LEED does for green buildings, provide a tangible symbol of commitment to proper cleanup;
• authorizes the City to enter into agreements with the State and Federal governments to provide liability protection for program participants;
• provides for limited City liability protection for completed projects;
• authorizes investment of City funds for small grants to stimulate brownfield projects;
• provides priority for environmental justice communities in the grant program and for technical assistance; 
• creates a one-stop shop for cleanup at OER, enabling land owners and developers to achieve cleanup that is both thorough and timely; and
• enables OER to pursue state and federal grants to support NYC brownfield projects.
  

On April 13, 2009 the NYC Partnership of Brownfield Practitioners to hosted its first annual Brownfields Award Ceremony, and recognized New York's most outstanding brownfield projects in eight categories representing facets of brownfields redevelopment.

"This is a great opportunity to celebrate the people who are achieving important brownfield milestones in our City.  Your visionary endeavors, tenacious advocacy, and hard work have led to projects and programs that realize sustainability goals set forth in PlaNYC," said keynote speaker Edward Skyler, NYC Deputy Mayor for Operations.
PlaNYC, which Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg unveiled on Earth Day 2007, presents a comprehensive blueprint for greening and growing the city and its services.  The cleanup and redevelopment of brownfield sites accounts for 11 of the plans' 127 initiatives.