Weiner Wants Congress Hearings Into Newtown Creek Oil Spill

Dissatisfied with the slow pace of the cleanup of the Newton Creek oil spill, the largest in our nation's history, Congressmember Anthony Weiner has called for congressional field hearings to examine the status of current cleanup efforts and the extent to which violations of federal environmental laws continue to persist decades after the spill.

W e i n e r

D- Queens/Brooklyn), a member of the House Subcommittee on Environment and Hazardous Materials, has been doggedly trying to bring the investigation of the spill, first discovered in 1978, to a close.

The lawmaker told the subcommittee chairman, Congressmember Albert Wynn

D), "Congress should revisit, and perhaps supercede, the prevailing consent agreement in light of a series of allegations and revelations that indicate the cleanup has been too slow and elements of the agreement are permitting continued violations of the Clean Water Act, Safe Drinking Water Act and other federal statutes."

Last year, Weiner and Congressmember Nydia V e l a z q u e z (D- Queens/Brooklyn/Manhatta n) passed legislation directing the federal Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to conduct a groundbreaking study of the Newtown Creek spill.

The independent study is already underway, examining soil, water and air in and around the creek to assess the spill's health and safety impacts.

The spill into the 3.5-milelong creek, a polluted waterway which separates the Greenpoint section of Brooklyn and the Maspeth section of Queens, was estimated at 17 million gallons, one and a half times larger than the Exxon Valdez spill in Alaska, Weiner said.

Oil has been found across 55 acres, he said. It seeps into the creek and settles under homes and businesses in Greenpoint.

Weiner said that to ensure the most comprehensive assessment is done, the EPA is also reviewing raw data from all prior studies of the creek, going back to the initial discovery of the spill in 1978 and coordinating its activities with relevant state agencies, including the New York state Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC), the state attorney general's office, and the state Department of Health. By law, he said, the EPA must report its findings to Congress by July 12, 2007.

- John Toscano