The Mystery of Newtown Creek - The Ripple Effect: The Fate of Freshwater in the Twenty-First Century - page 8

the ExxonValdezin 1989, and 9 million more gallons than the oil spills that coated New
Orleans after Hurricane Katrina in 2005. Until April 2010—when the drill rig Deepwa-
ter Horizon exploded, spewing 185 million gallons of oil into the Gulf of Mexico—the
Newtown Creek oil spill was the largest in US history .
The contaminants that settled onto the creek bed are so thick and viscous that locals
call the sludge black mayonnaise . The goop is composed of many different types of hy-
drocarbons, industrial solvents, and associated chemicals—such as naphtha, the chem-
ical after which napalm is named. Some of the chemicals in Newtown Creek, such as
benzene—a by-product of gasoline refining that is widely used by industry—or the
gasoline additive MTBE (methyl tertiary butyl ether), are known carcinogens and can
cause a host of neurological problems. Investigators have also discovered toxic metals,
such as copper and zinc, and compounds associated with gas plants, asphalt companies,
hazardous-waste plants, and paint manufacturers, in the water and soil.
Older chemicals such as benzene are referred to as legacy pollutants: compounds
that were first manufactured years ago, often at a time when their malign effects were
not well understood and regulation was an afterthought. Many legacy pollutants are
chemically stable, meaning they don't break down in the environment quickly. They
are a festering problem around the world, and there is no simple, cheap way to clean
them up. Newer compounds are also found in the creek, such as PCE (perchloroethyl-
ene), a colorless liquid used for dry cleaning, and TCE (trichloroethylene), an indus-
trial solvent; both are suspected carcinogens that dissolve in water, and many treat-
ment systems are not equipped to filter them. (PCE and TCE have been identified in the
Queens water supply. Whether the Brooklyn spill is the source of the contamination is
disputed.)
The longer toxins associated with hydrocarbons and industrial chemicals remain in
the environment, the more likely they are to cause health problems. They can have
short-term effects, causing nausea and dizziness, or long-term effects, such as develop-
mental problems and cancer.
Since the 1990s, Brooklyn has undergone a renaissance to become one of the most
popular places to live on the East Coast. As the Williamsburg neighborhood grew too
expensive for artists and musicians, they began to migrate north, into Greenpoint. The
city rezoned much of the area around Newtown Creek from light industrial to resid-
ential, and by 2008 the gritty neighborhood was rapidly gentrifying. Today, more than
one hundred homes and dozens of businesses are built near, or on top of, the oil plume.
While some residents worry about their health and property values, others ignore warn-
ings and continue to boat, fish, and occasionally swim in Newtown Creek.
No comprehensive health studies have been done on the neighborhood. Although
Greenpoint has a lower overall cancer rate than much of New York City, it has among