Friday, February 17, 2012
News Greenpoint Experiences Discomfort Over Funding Its 'Fart Factory'
Posted by Sydney Brownstone on Fri, Feb 17, 2012 at 1:12 PM
National Grid was identified as one of the six "potentially responsible parties" for the toxic, toilet-like state of Newtown Creek, designated by the EPA as a Superfund site in 2010. BP America, Phelps Dodge and Exxon Mobil also make the list, as well as the City of New York, for keeping a leaky garbage incinerator and sewage treatment plant on the banks.
In 2008, the city paid the state $10 million in a payout for polluting the city's own turf. That money was then set aside for a Greenpoint environmental project fund, from which some say National Grid might seek support.
Critics say the plan stinks, blasting government bureaucrats for shuffling money owed to the community from the city, to the state, to an energy company, and back to the city — a process they cynically call “recycling.”“Oh hell no! You gotta be crazy!” said Greenpoint resident Laura Hofmann. “If National Grid could think that our money could be used so a city agency could get more money, that’s absurd!” [Brooklyn Paper]
The funding path looks messy and uncomfortable, but according to the Department of Environmental Protection, the project is a "precedent-setting" boon for clean energy. Still, the location of the fart factory threatens another environmental plan in the works—a park next to the sewage treatment plant. Poor Greenpoint. If only there were an easier way to deal with this shit.
You can follow Sydney Brownstone on Twitter @sydbrownstone
[viaThe Brooklyn Paper]
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