From left: A rendering of Toll Brothers’ planned Bond Street development, the Gowanus Canal

The fate of the Gowanus Canal and its controversial Superfund status is expected to be determined this month, in a decision that could hinder large-scale development plans for the surrounding area for decades. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, which decided last April to put the site on its priorities list despite the city’s own efforts to clean it up, has scheduled a public information meeting for Thursday to discuss “what has been going on with the remedial investigation of the contamination and what we plan on doing,” according to a spokesperson for the agency. The spokesperson did not reveal when a final decision would be made. The city, along with business group Clean Gowanus Now Coalition, of which luxury home builder Toll Brothers is a part, has been lobbying against a Superfund designation, arguing that the city should be able to follow through with its plans for the site. The group has thus far been successful in slowing down the EPA’s decision, which had been expected last November, but sources told Crain’s that the EPA is likely to make the Gowanus Canal a Superfund site in the end. Toll Brothers had been planning to purchase three parcels of land on the canal to build a mixed-income residential complex but has said it will renege on the plans if the site is a Superfund. “Given the way Superfund sites work, it could be a decade or more from now before clean up starts,” said David Von Spreckelsen, a vice president at Toll Brothers. “We just don’t have that time horizon. We will most likely walk away from the properties.” [Crain's] [more]

After setting a timetable for the Gowanus Canal cleanup effort, Mayor
Michael Bloomberg’s office has released more details on the waterway project.
The $150 million plan to improve the water quality in the canal will
include upgrades to the water pumping station and the existing
flushing tunnel, according to the Brooklyn Paper. Additionally, the
plan includes dredging sediment in the canal to help reduce the potent
smell that many residents find offensive. The Gowanus Canal has been
fraught with debate in recent weeks, as the Environmental Protection
Agency considered granting it Superfund status
and watchdog groups threatened legal action against alleged commercial
polluters.

As the Environmental Protection Agency finalizes its Gowanus Canal Superfund decision, another polluted Brooklyn waterway could be made eligible for a federal cleanup. Newton Creek, a 3.8-mile rivulet in northern Brooklyn, near Greenpoint, has accumulated a tremendous amount of pollution due to its position near industrial neighborhoods, according to the EPA. While federal officials debated a possible Superfund designation for Newton Creek in April, EPA officials said that the fetid waterway is in dire need of immediate action. “By listing the creek, EPA can focus on doing the extensive sampling needed to figure out the best way to address the contamination and see the work through,” George Pavlou, the EPA’s acting regional administrator, said.

The Environmental Protection Agency is rolling out an expanded national plan encouraging homebuilders to create more water-efficient landscapes. WaterSense, the EPA’s existing conservation program, will expand to include voluntary labels for newly built homes that follow a set of EPA guidelines of acceptable outdoor water use. Homes will be eligible for certification if they consume 20 percent less water than the average home. The new plan will be similar to programs in states like Florida, where financial incentives are already available to homeowners. Several companies and trade groups, such as Scotts Miracle-Gro and the Outdoor Power Equipment Institute, have expressed outrage over the new plan, claiming that it demonizes grass. “It puts a label on grass as bad — that it’s not something to be used,” Kris Kiser, executive vice president of Outdoor Power Equipment, said.

While Governor David Paterson had, in a surprise move, called for a federally funded clean-up of the Gowanus Canal last year, he now says that the Environmental Protection Agency should consider another proposal from Mayor Bloomberg. Bloomberg’s plan had been the target of criticism from the EPA and Gowanus residents in the past. The original clean-up plan involved removing toxic sediment from the canal bed. Paterson’s original plan would cost an estimated $400 million, which was to be supplied by federal funds and money collected from polluters, according to the EPA.