OR&R Welcomes Public Comment on Newtown Creek Draft Damage Assessment Plan
MARCH 11, 2024 — The Newtown Creek Trustees are announcing to the public the Draft Natural Resource Damage Assessment Plan outlining potential injuries to natural resources related to releases of contamination at this Superfund site. Public participation, review, and input are an important part of the process of assessing and restoring natural resources. The draft plan focuses on environmental resources in Newtown Creek including sediment, surface water, and biological resources such as invertebrates, aquatic vegetation, fish, birds, and aquatic-dependent mammals as well as the ecological (e.g., food web) and human services (e.g., recreational opportunities, community connections) provided by these resources.
Newtown Creek, a waterway that forms a border between the boroughs of Brooklyn and Queens in New York City, flows into the East River and is part of the New York-New Jersey Harbor Estuary. The waterway has been contaminated for decades by releases of polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), heavy metals, volatile organic compounds (VOCs), pesticides, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), oil, and other hazardous substances from the many industrial operations along the creek. These releases have resulted in degraded water quality and contaminated sediments. Petroleum products have seeped into the creek for decades from an underground source estimated to contain millions of gallons of oil and related products.
The Trustees are accepting written comments on the draft plan until April 15, 2024. Following public comments, the Trustees will review, summarize, and incorporate this input, as applicable, into the Final Natural Resource Damage Assessment Plan.
For more information, see the Damage Assessment, Remediation, and Restoration Program page.