They say they have the mayor dead to rights.
Mayor DeBlasio and city officials would rather see Southern Brooklynites keel over than take seriously a Nov. 12 video depicting a contractor dredging Gravesend Bay violating a state-issued permit by dumping potentially toxic materials into the water, a local pol said.
“Because the mayor and commissioner of the sanitation department refuse to look and acknowledge that evidence, they are basically saying ‘Drop dead’ to the people of Southern Brooklyn,” said Assemblyman Bill Colton (D–Bensonhurst).
Instead extended the contractor’s permit, which expired on Nov. 15, but Colton and other activists say the city must hold public hearings and take locals’ concerns seriously before moving forward.
Contractors are dredging the area around the future Southwest Brooklyn Waste Transfer Station so barges can get into the site to pick up garbage from city trucks and haul it across the harbor for processing. But Colton and district leader Nancy Tong filmed potentially toxic sediment falling out of a giant dredging bucket earlier this month because a piece of metal lodged in the clamshell-shaped bottom-scraper prevented it from closing — a violation of the contractor’s permit, which requires no dredged gunk fall back to the sea.
A 2013 study found lead, mercury and two cancer-causing insecticides banned by the federal Environmental Protection Agency in the soil underneath the bay. The site was the former home of a city garbage incinerator that operated without a permit for 40 years.
The dredging permit only allowed contractors JT Cleary to work up to Nov. 15, but the state Department of Environmental Conservation extended it through Dec. 4. Contractors will use the same dredging method moving forward, a Department of Sanitation spokeswoman said.
Sanitation commissioner Kathryn Garcia appointed a special environmental monitor to ensure contractors were abiding by permits at the site, but the monitor is “clueless” and should be replaced, the area councilman said.
“If they’re blind that’s not our fault,” said Councilman Mark Treyger (D–Coney Island). “We need someone who is competent, who knows what they’re doing, and knows what they are watching for.”
There could be unexploded World War II-era munitions on the seabed as well, and the city is trading safety for expediency, another environmental advocate said.
“There are ways to deal with what’s going on down there but its very complicated, very time consuming, and very, very expensive,” said Natural Resources Protective Association executive director Ida Sanoff. “There are specialized companies that can remove underwater unexploded munitions, but the whole thing here from the get-go is ‘Let’s just do it fast, nobody is watching, nobody cares, and let’s get out.’ ”
