Greenpoint residents could soon receive an exhaustive map of their neighborhood’s toxic sites under a new proposal by a team of community advocates and experts.
The proposal, which comes in part from LaGuardia Community College and Mount Sinai Medical Center, is currently seeking nearly $1 million from a $19.5 million environmental research fund, according to the New York Post. The money comes from a 2010 settlement with ExxonMobil after a 17 million to 30 million gallon oil spill in Greenpoint’s Newtown Creek.
“There was a time in Greenpoint when you couldn’t take a deep breath without gagging. You could taste the oil and sewage in the air,” lifelong resident Laura Hofmann told the Post.
Known as the Health Outreach Program & Environmental Survey (HOPES), the map would look for clusters of cancer, asthma, birth defects and heart disease in the 11222 ZIP code. [NYP] —Christopher Cameron