Gioia Joins Suit Vs. Exxon For Newtown Creek Oil Leak
By john toscano

“...Newtown Creek should be the Gold Coast of Brooklyn and Queens, but we can’t reclaim the waterfront until the oil companies take responsibility for their spill and clean it up.”

City Councilmember Eric Gioia has joined in a lawsuit against Exxon Mobil for dumping 17 million gallons of oil in Newtown Creek over a half-century ago.

“Polluters beware,” Gioia declared in announcing the action. “The days when you can ruin our water and poison our backyards with toxic waste are over. Newtown Creek should be the Gold Coast of Brooklyn and Queens, but we can’t reclaim the waterfront until the oil companies take responsibility for their spill and clean it up.”

The oil spill allegedly occurred about 50 years ago in Greenpoint on the Brooklyn side of the creek and seeped into the water, polluting it. Long Island City borders the creek on the other side. Gioia charged that oil is still visible, seeping into the creek more than 50 years after the spill, polluting soil, groundwater, the creek, and the East River.

Recent testing by the environmental watchdog organization Riverkeeper, Gioia said, found higher than expected levels of carcinogenic hydrocarbons in the soil in Greenpoint. Residents there initiated a separate lawsuit against Exxon Mobil several years ago.

Riverkeeper filed the suit against Exxon Mobil which Gioia has joined. Another party to the suit is Pastor Mitchell G. Taylor, chairman of the East River Development Alliance.

In Queens, the neighborhoods of Maspeth and in Gioia’s district, Long Island City, which border the creek, remain concerned about the polluted body of water and the effect it may have on their communities.