It’s the Battle of Brooklyn revisited at Gowanus Green, by George Fiala

Many people might not realize it, but in 2006 a British utility bought the Brooklyn company that had been providing gas heating and lighting for the borough since 1825.

Yes folks, if you pay a National Grid bill, you are adding to the profits of a London based company.

Way back in 1776, the British defeated us in Brooklyn when Washington’s troops were forced to retreat through Prospect Park on their way to New Jersey, in order to survive to fight another day. It looks like a battle is brewing again as National Grid is girding for a fight with the NYS Dept of Environmental Conservation (DEC).

The eventual outcome of that first battle is known to every American, and in less than 50 years, the Brooklyn Union Gas (or BUG, as it was affectionately called) was founded as a United States company.

As the gas company kept growing  they developed a portfolio of environmental pollution that wasn’t considered important for a long time. When National Grid bought BUG, they purchased that portfolio as well.

The consequence is that as a “potentially responsible party,” the British company is on the hook for much of the cleanup of the Gowanus Canal and its adjacent area. One of the biggest areas of pollution is the land known as Public Place, right around Smith and 9th Streets, where BUG operated a Manufactured Gas Plant facility where they turned coal into gas, and dumped the highly toxic by-products right into the ground.

National Grid has spent the past decade or so trying to remediate this pollution as instructed by the environmental agencies, and thought they were done last year, clearing the way for the Fifth Avenue Committee, along with other real estate developers to start building their long delayed Gowanus Green project.

However this past January, the DEC determined that National Grid had more work to do. This was revealed at the latest Gowanus Oversight Task Force meeting, held March 28 at PS 133.

Up until now, these meetings, mandated as part of the recent Gowanus rezoning, which is turning much of Gowanus into midtown Manhattan, were pretty much pro-forma, as committees formed mostly out of the proponents of the rezoning trotted out representatives of NYC agencies to read a script stating how they well they were doing.

But at this meeting, which was focused on all the beauty of the upcoming Gowanus Green affordable housing extravaganza neighborhood, including parks and a school, a shoe was quietly dropped when Patrick Foster, a mild mannered DEC lawyer, presented the slide to the right indicating that National Grid was protesting a January 19th letter from both DEC and EPA “requesting additional remedial work.”

I do remember hearing at a recent Gowanus Community Advisory (CAG) meeting, of which I am a member, something about toxins leaking into the air and into some neighboring buildings, but I didn’t think anything would come of it, based upon past DEC actions.

As I stared at the slide, it slowly dawned on me that actually might be environmental justice in action. I caught the eye of facilitator Ben Margolis and he called on me first as he opened up the floor to questions.

“Does this mean that the construction of Gowanus Green might be delayed?” I asked.

Unbelievably enough, the  mild mannered and genial Foster described a scenario of delays akin to Donald Trump’s legal strategy as he replied in the affirmative. Steve Marcus, fellow CAG member, speculated afterwards that National Grid doesn’t want to spend any more money especially since Gowanus Green will be totally electrically powered.

I looked over to Michelle de la Uz who was sitting at the podium. She is the Executive Director of the Fifth Avenue Committee, and served with the Dept. of City Planning during the time of the planning of the rezoning.

I had seen her having a quite cordial discussion with Foster before the meeting, when I didn’t know who he was, and didn’t realize he was much more than a lackey for the rezoning. In fact, Foster gave the most professional presentation having to do with Gowanus since the since the retirement of EPA Chief Engineer Christos Tsiamis, who kept the CAG informed of Superfund progress every month.

Michelle was no longer smiling.