New York City – Today, Sen. Charles Schumer (D-NY), Rep. Anthony Weiner (D-Brooklyn & Queens) and Rep. Nydia Velázquez (D-Brooklyn, Queens & Manhattan) announced a groundbreaking Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) study of Newtown Creek, the site of the nation’s largest oil spill.  The independent study – the most comprehensive to date – will analyze Newtown Creek’s soil, water and air in order to assess the spill’s health and safety impacts.

A result of legislation authored and championed by Reps. Weiner and Velázquez, the study comes at a time when an alarming new discovery has prompted renewed concern among residents about the spill’s health hazards.  Last month, the state Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) and ExxonMobil found elevated levels of cancer-causing benzene and potentially explosive methane gas near homes in the surrounding community of Greenpoint, Brooklyn.

Under the congressionally mandated study, the EPA will examine the extent to which the newly discovered vapors threaten the health and safety of residents.  The agency will also analyze the effects on soil and groundwater in the vicinity of the spill, how far contaminants from the spill have spread into New York Harbor and whether Exxon is using the most effective methods to clean up the Creek.

To ensure that the most comprehensive assessment is done, the EPA will also review raw data from all prior studies of Newtown Creek going back to the initial discovery of the spill in 1978 and coordinate its activities with relevant state agencies, including the Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC), the Attorney General’s Office, and the New York Department of Health.  By law, the EPA must report its findings to Congress by July 12, 2007.

In addition to the EPA studying newly discovered seeping gases, Sen. Charles Schumer today called on the DEC to immediately expand testing for benzene and methane and called for the creation of a federal health registry to track those affected by the spill.

The 3.5 mile Newtown Creek, a polluted waterway that separates Brooklyn and Queens, is the site of the nation’s largest oil spill.  First discovered in 1978, the spill’s size was estimated at 17 million gallons, one and a half times larger than Exxon Valdez.  Oil has been found across 55 acres, seeping into the Creek and settling under homes and businesses in Greenpoint, Brooklyn.

Greenpoint area residents suffer from asthma, emphysema and bronchitis at rates that are 25% higher than the rest of New York City, yet no formal assessment of the public health and safety impacts of Newtown Creek’s pollution has ever been performed.  Two class action lawsuits filed on behalf of Greenpoint residents are currently pending.

To date, 8.7 millions gallons of oil have been cleaned at Newtown Creek but estimates indicate it will take at least 25 more years to finish the remediation. ExxonMobil, the company primarily responsible for the Greenpoint spill, entered into a consent agreement with New York State in 1990 to clean up the Creek, but progress has been sluggish, as the consent order lacked enforceable deadlines, metrics to measure progress and penalties for non-compliance. 

“This EPA study is a terrific first step toward cleaning-up and resurrecting Newtown Creek, which for decades has been a toxic blight on the Greenpoint community,” said Senator Schumer.  “The next step should be testing for toxic vapors in the areas around the Creek so residents of Brooklyn and Queens will know whether or not the ground they live above is also contaminated.”

 “While the oil companies lag in their cleanup responsibilities, the health and safety of Newtown Creek’s residents hang in the balance,” said Rep. Weiner.  “Hundreds of homes and businesses are affected by this terrible oil spill.  The public has the right to know what effects this oil spill is having on our community and local environment.”

            “With record profits and gas prices, Exxon Mobil is more than capable of expediting the remediation process, thereby reducing further risk to residents in my Congressional district,” said Rep. Nydia Velázquez.  “Not only should the spill be cleaned up, but residents must be fully informed of any environmental and health risks this oil spill might have caused through time.”

Under federal law, the study of Newtown Creek will be paid for by the big oil companies, who make contributions to the so-called Oil Spill Liability Trust Fund for every barrel of oil sold in the United States.