January 13, 2022 - State Senator Brian Kavanagh hosts Inaugural Monthly 250 Water St Working Group Meeting
Children First and other community stakeholders, HHC, DEC and DOH attended a monthly task force meeting to discuss the Brownfield Cleanup Program.
Read the meeting minutes here. Review the Powerpoint presentation by the DEC here.
Watch the recording of the meeting here.
June 23, 2021 - DEC releases Draft Remedial Action Work Plan.
Read the Action Work Plan here.
February 2021 - DEC releases Draft Remedial Investigation Report.
Read the Fact Sheet here.
Read the Remedial Investigation Report here.
December 7, 2020 - At CB1 Environmental Protection Committee, Lawra Dodge of Excel Environmental provides an update on the the remedial investigation work completed at 250 Water Street.
The Remedial Investigation Report will not come this calendar year. Read her updates here.
June 4, 2020 - DEC approves Final Remedial Investigation Work Plan (RIWP) and Citizen Participation Plan (CPP).
Watch an overview of the RIWP by community engineer, Lawra Dodge of Excel Environmental.
May 27, 2020 - DEC approves Final Remedial Investigation Work Plan.
January 16, 2020 - Deadline for Public Comments to the Draft Remedial Investigation Work Plan.
Make sure our community’s voice is heard! Please send the copy and paste the following to send to DEC:
SEND TO: rafi.alam@dec.ny.gov, michael.komoroske@dec.ny.gov
CC: galebrewer@manhattanbp.nyc.gov, MWashington@manhattanbp.nyc.gov, tduvivier@manhattanbp.nyc.gov, achang@manhattanbp.nyc.gov, MChin@council.nyc.gov, gli@council.nyc.gov, niouy@nyassembly.gov, kavanagh@nysenate.gov, laurence@yuhlineniou.org, lwolf@comptroller.nyc.gov, sstringer@comptroller.nyc.gov, bcook@comptroller.nyc.gov
SUBJECT LINE: Draft Remedial Investigation Work Plan Public Comment / 250 Seaport District LLC for a site known as 250 Water Street, site ID #C231127.
BODY OF EMAIL:
Rafi Alam
Project Manager
New York State DEC
625 Broadway, 12th Floor
Albany, NY 12233-7016
Dear Mr. Alam:
I am writing as a concerned parent and Lower Manhattan community member. As you know, the 250 Water Street site is a 1.1 acre lot in the South Street Seaport Historic District, bordered by preschools, a daycare center, two elementary schools, an afterschool center, and more than 1,600 residential units. Students as young as three-years-old spend nearly seven hours a day within 30 feet of this lot, with an hour of playtime outside adjacent to the lot, and additional weekend hours at extracurricular activities hosted at Peck Slip School and Blue School.
I would like the DEC to adopt the changes to the DRIWP being submitted on behalf of the community by Excel Environmental Resources Inc. Excel was selected as the Independent Community Monitor to provide us technical support and additional expert review of the remediation process at 250 Water Street. Their decades of field work and consultation across the country at some of the most complex remediations is remarkable.
Expert opinions have pointed to multiple problems in the Phase I and preliminary Phase II investigations conducted by Howard Hughes’ engineer, Langan LLC; most notably that it did not cover the entire property. These oversights are dangerous considering the historic industrial uses of the property included operations that handled hazardous materials, including elemental mercury, volatile organic compounds (VOCs), and/or chlorinated VOCs, all of which pose a serious inhalation risks.
Secondly, the Community Air Monitoring Plan (CAMP) included in the Draft RIWP is inadequate. Given the unknown conditions and the extremely close proximity of 250 Water Street to schools, and high-density residential buildings, combined with circular wind conditions at the lot, we need the following:
-Mercury vapor action levels should never exceed background levels around the perimeter of the site.
-Address the lack of geophysical survey information for the middle area of the site - which we know is where the mercury factories are!
-Off-site Community Air Monitoring Program which has 24-hour data being taken at identified “high risk” areas at local schools, parks, and residential buildings. 250 Water Street has been identified as an area with “cyclonic” conditions. Wind whips through the cross sections of open streets there at an astonishing rate.
-Use a 25’ by 25’ grid and soil vapor sampling points should be placed at various depths; the proposed grid is too large because of the history of the site.
Immediate notification for job site shut-downs due to action level exceedances.
-“Curtaining” or small tents at the boring or drilling areas they are working on to provide a safety feature, as well as a sound and light barrier to protect area residents.
-Prepare an emergency plan with the community on what is to be done in the event of an emergency and coordinate the emergency response from police, fire, local hospitals, and elected officials prior to the commencement of any intrusive activities.
-Make all site and data documents available online.
Just two months ago Governor Cuomo, in a statement regarding new mercury vapor laws said, "No parent should have to fear their child will be exposed to mercury vapors at school." We hope the DEC and DOH will err on the side of caution to ensure families are not faced with this very real threat from 250 Water Street. There is no need to rush into this remediation before doing due diligence to protect my family, friends and neighbors from possible dangers are safely identified before ripping into the ground.
If any of the responses in this document conflict in any way with Excel’s response to the draft RIWP, we defer to their expertise as it is only because the DEC declined to give a few day extension to review the changes being submitted by Excel Environmental.
Sincerely,
YOUR NAME
ADDRESS
September 11, 2019 - Citizens Participation Plan (CPP) and Remedial Investigation Work Plan (RIWP) Drafts released to the public.
Click Here for DRAFT Remedial Investigation Work Plan.
Click Here for DRAFT Citizens Participation Plan.
Drafts can be reviewed and are open for public comment. NYSDEC to present at Community Board 1 Environmental Protection Committee on September 16 at 6:00PM.
August 1, 2019 - Brownfield Cleanup Agreement (BCA) has been fully executed by the NYSDEC and has been returned to the applicant.
The Applicant is now required to submit a Draft Community Participation Plan within 20 days and a Draft Remedial Investigation Workplan within 30 days to the NYSDEC.
June 24, 2019 - NYSDEC announces 250 Water Street admittance into the Brownfield Cleanup Program
Link to the DEC Fact Sheet for more information on the application:
http://www.dec.ny.gov/data/der/factsheet/c231127app.pdf
Link to the Responsiveness Summary:
https://www.dec.ny.gov/docs/remediation_hudson_pdf/250waterrs.pdf
On June 24, 2019, NYSDEC announced that it has admitted 250 Water Street into the Brownfield Cleanup Program. Along with this announcement, the DEC submitted a responsiveness summary to the 250 letters of concern they received from the community. In it, the DEC acknowledged that the site currently does not pose a threat to the community.
Children First is committed to ensuring that Howard Hughes Corporation follows all necessary protocols to keep our children safe -- even at the expense of their profits. We’ve sent letters, we’ve raised our voices, and we will continue to rally to ensure that our elected officials put our children's safety first.
What we know:
The applicant, Howard Hughes Corp, was sent an agreement letter by the DEC on June 24th for approval. Once the agreement letter is finalized and signed, HHC will be officially in the State-run Brownfield Clean-Up Program.
What’s next: Here’s a preliminary timeline from the DEC on what to expect.
A DRAFT Remedial Investigation (RI) Work Plan will need to be submitted to the DEC within 30 days after the BCP agreement is finalized and signed.
The DEC expects the DRAFT work plan to be submitted sometime in July.
The draft work plan will be made available to the public prior to the start of the 30-day comment period.
The DEC would like to have the draft plan presented to the community while the 30 day comment period is open.
The draft plan presentation will most likely be at the CB1 Environmental Protection sub-committee meeting in September (no meeting is held in August).
The Remedial Investigation Work Plan (RIWP) will not be approved until the conclusion of the comment period and after all public comments on the work plan are reviewed.
Given the delay in accepting the application and the time needed for review and public comment on the Draft work plan, the field investigation will likely not start until the Fall.
The approved work plan will have a schedule and work may be conducted on weekends or holidays when the schools are not in session.
November 18, 2019 - Howard Hughes Corporation submits Brownfield Cleanup Program Application for 250 Water Street.
Link to the Brownfield Cleanup Program Application:
https://www.dec.ny.gov/docs/remediation_hudson_pdf/c231127bcpapp.pdf.pdf