Among most polluted in US, NYC area awaits cleanup

Now this is embarrassing, guys. Really... Embarrassing.

Just across the East River from midtown Manhattan’s shimmering skyscrapers sits one of America’s most polluted neighborhoods, fouled by generations of industrial waste, overflow from the city’s sewage system and an underground oil leak bigger than the Exxon Valdez spill.

It’s easy to see — and smell — the filth in and around Newtown Creek, which runs through an area of working-class homes, warehouses and industrial lots straddling the boroughs of Brooklyn and Queens. The odor of petroleum mixes with the smell of sewage, particularly on rainy days when the city’s treatment plants can’t handle the volume and municipal pipes send trash and human waste straight into the creek.

There is bad, worse, terminal to even fall into by mistake ....and then there is Newtown Creek.

The US Environmental Protection Agency declared Newtown Creek a Superfund site in 2010 — “one of the most polluted urban water bodies in the country,” according to EPA regional administrator Judith Enck.

Today, the creek’s bottom is lined with a 15-foot-thick layer of petroleum-based pollutants that scientists have dubbed “black mayonnaise.” The ooze penetrated the shoreline and now sits on top of the water table dozens of feet under Brooklyn’s gentrifying Greenpoint neighborhood. More than 300,000 people still live within a mile of the creek.

Source

Which is worse, ATS? That such a cess pool of filth and horrible pollution can stand untouched in the middle of New York City (and within sight of the UN) or that I get news of it by way of an Arab (Overseas) news source? Like I said... Embarrassing.

When I talk about the problems of buying into man made global warming and the solutions with MEGA bucks for problems that may or may not actually happen outside computer models? It's places like this I think about for WHY we can't ACT LOCALLY. Wasn't that the old saying? Think Globally, Act Locally? Well, New York City has an enormous population and a 25 Billion Dollar man as the Mayor. Surly some people power can clean up an open air cess pool like this, can't it?

Hmmm, nice find. (Glances side long at the kitchen faucet.) They say that the reason that the pizza around here is so good is due to the water for some reason. I can't help but wonder why... They do make some good pizza.

Yeah I also read a while back, they say if tire island ever caught fire, the smoke would block out the sun for the whole planet and they could never put it out. Sometimes you gotta wonder, oh well, out of sight out of mind I guess.