Dozens of Gowanus polluters could be on the hook for combined $500M

The Environmental Protection Agency is on the hunt for responsible parties to pay for the $300 million to $500 million Gowanus Canal cleanup, after putting the site on its Superfund list last week. Already, nine responsible parties have been named, and 20 more — including Chevron, Exxon Mobil, Kraft and Citigroup — are being questioned about chemicals used on the site and how they were disposed of. “This reads like the Fortune 500,” said Superfund director Walter Mugdan. “It doesn’t mean that those companies had facilities on the Gowanus… they acquired somebody who acquired somebody who had a facility on the Gowanus.” Many of the companies that could be on the hook for the cleanup costs are typical Superfund offenders, Mugdan said. Other potentially responsible parties include Bayside Fuel Oil, BP America, Honeywell and ConocoPhillips and more are expected to get added to the list as those already named call out other polluters in order to spread out the costs. [NYDN]