I’ve lived in Greenpoint for three years now, I get most of my food from an organic farm and I’m generally health conscious all around – yet somehow I manage to conspicuously Not Worry about living above the largest oil spill on the planet which still oozes on the underground water table at Newtown Creek.
A plume of oil – 17 million gallons, bigger than the famous Exxon Valdez spill in Alaska – was discovered in 1978 and while cleanup began in 1990, it’s been slow and underfunded and not much has improved.
“Are you worried about health problems caused by the pollution in your neighborhood?”
A community group in Brooklyn called the Newtown Creek Alliance is documenting the public health concerns of people living in communities along Newtown Creek (Greenpoint and Williamsburg, Brooklyn; Maspeth, Queens).
For more information email: newtowncreekstudy@gmail.com
Or attend an information session:
Saturday, October 18th at 3pm
Greenpoint Branch of the Brooklyn Public Library, 107 Norman Ave @ Leonard
Monday, October 27th at 6pm
Leonard Branch of the Brooklyn Public Library, 81 Devoe Street @ Leonard
photo courtesy of the Exxon Valdez Oil Spill Trustee Council (1989)