But even on the eve of its purging, the Gowanus Canal remains very much a garbage dump for the city. Along the banks of the canal one recent morning, just a tin can's toss from the oily green waters, a giant claw grabbed at a tower of scrap metal, like a crane in an arcade game. In the lot over, delivery trucks idled behind oil storage tanks. Near them, concrete mixers cranked, churned their ingredients and coughed up dust.
"Somebody needs to heat homes and recycle metal and clean out garbage," said Mike Petrosino, co-owner of a fifth-generation, family-owned business that operates Benson Metal, one of two scrap-metal yards that abut the canal and use it for loading and unloading barges. "The canal acts as an infrastructure that supports the city."
Loud, dirty industry has been entwined with the canal for generations, ever since barges delivered brownstone and coal to build Brooklyn's row houses and light its parlor lamps.
The bulk of the pollution was caused by long-closed factories and by decades of untreated sewage carried into the canal by city drains. But businesses currently along the canal have been fingered by the state or environmentalists for sometimes treating the canal like a waste dump. The environmental group Riverkeeper, which monitors local waterways, has in recent months filed lawsuits against Benson Metal, Greco Brothers Concrete, and Sixth Street Iron and Metal, accusing them of violating the Federal Water Pollution Control Act by allowing dirty storm water to run off their sites and into the canal without permits or controls.
Joseph Greco Jr. of Greco Brothers Concrete declined to comment, and his lawyer did not return calls. Sixth Street Iron and Metal has since filed the necessary plans and permit requests, its vice president, Anthony De Conciliis, said.
"We want to be here a long time," Mr. De Conciliis said. "And we believe it's extremely important that we do things that are environmentally sound.
"In the '50s, people would smoke in offices because they didn't think secondhand smoke would harm anybody. We just got to adapt, adapt environmental conservancy into the business. We are a recycling facility at the end of the day."
In a settlement with the state last year, Benson agreed to pay $85,000 for more than 100 instances over 15 months of dropping metal into the water while loading barges. The New York State Department of Environmental Conservation recently fined Petroleum Tank Cleaners on Butler Street, about a block from the canal, $32,500 for a spill and other violations, according to state records. The company did not respond to messages seeking comment.
A bus company and other businesses owned by Jacob Marmurstein have been fined more than $500,000 for spilling oil, dumping debris into the canal and other violations, state environmental officials said.
Just last month, the bulkhead at Benson collapsed, sending metal junk and concrete blocks into the water.
Riverkeeper, which was out on the canal the day after the collapse, notified the Environmental Conservation Department, which along with the federal Environmental Protection Agency is working with Benson to stabilize the bank and build a new bulkhead.
"It's just another insult," Phillip Musegaas, a program director at Riverkeeper, said of the collapse. "We're talking about a company that is not managing its sites and is not concerned with preventing further environmental hazards."
The issue is also a strain for Mr. Petrosino.
"A good portion of our day is not centered on dealing with the customer and building relationships, but talking about issues of compliance and regulations," said Mr. Petrosino, 42, who began at the company when he was around age 8, riding in the truck next to his father. "It starts to distract you from your core business, which is handling materials." Mr. Petrosino added, "It's one of those obstacles that need to be addressed and handled, and we're doing the best we can."
Anda sedang membaca artikel tentang
Industry Still Churns, Even as Cleanup Plan Proceeds for a Canal
Dengan url
https://scienceteko.blogspot.com/2013/09/industry-still-churns-even-as-cleanup.html
Anda boleh menyebar luaskannya atau mengcopy paste-nya
Industry Still Churns, Even as Cleanup Plan Proceeds for a Canal
namun jangan lupa untuk meletakkan link
Industry Still Churns, Even as Cleanup Plan Proceeds for a Canal
sebagai sumbernya
0 komentar:
Posting Komentar