When the EPA announced last Tuesday to designate the Gowanus Canal a Superfund site, while Clarke accepted the federal intervention, it was Velazquez who embraced it – drawing a contrast on the role the Gowanus Canal plays in each district.
Rainbow lines of oil and sludge dance along the surface of the Gowanus Canal in Brooklyn. The canal’s cloudy green water snakes through most of Congressional District 12 before the last 1,500 feet stretches into the 11th Congressional District.
Over in district 11, where Rep. Yvette Clarke, a Democrat, represents the tail-end of the canal, the streets are quiet and the buildings are mostly windowless concrete blocks. Nearby is a newly developed residential building with dusty windows and a “sale” sign. This part of the canal seems closest to the boutique-shopping-and-coffee-house hub booming along 4th Avenue in Park Slope.
In district 12, however, the image is different – and a more compelling portrait of the need for federal intervention. In this area of the canal, represented by Rep. Nydia Velazquez, also a Democrat, a rigid skyline of garbage and waste that bustles with big diesel trucks emerge here. An empty, muddy lot about half the size of Union Square park – owned by Whole Foods Market – sits opposite a mountainous pile of scrap metal.
From the beginning Clarke was cautious, if not skeptical, about the EPA’s involvement last April as she focused on “stakeholders” in the Gowanus Canal area, whereas Velazquez immediately saw the Superfund nomination as “an important step toward reclaiming the canal for valuable community development, and restoring contaminated waters to health.”
Clarke seemed to favor the Bloomberg administration’s business-friendly approach to the clean-up, which would rely on companies to admit they polluted into the canal and, then, expect them to voluntarily pay for the clean-up. This, Bloomberg officials said, would avoid a “Superfund” stigma that might deflect new business development and economic activity around the Gowanus Canal.
“I am glad a decision has been reached on this issue,” said Clarke, as the EPA made their Superfund announcement.
Velazquez, on the other hand, striking a victorious tone, said, “The EPA has the proven expertise to oversee a comprehensive clean-up, while holding accountable those responsible for the pollution.”