Environmental Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
ted across the country and continue to impact human and environmental health—from
hexavalent chromium (an industrial compound that gained infamy in Erin Brockovich's
prosecution of Pacific Gas & Electric) in California groundwater, to perchlorate (used
in rocket fuel) in Iowa, uranium in Colorado, perfluorochemicals (PFCs) in Minnesota,
and dangerous levels of rust and lead in pipes in Washington, DC.
Even the Potomac—the “nation's river”—was so heavily polluted in the sixties that it
was said you could smell the river before you saw it; people were told not to swim in it
and to get a tetanus shot if they did. The Potomac has been partly cleaned since then,
but it flows into Chesapeake Bay, a famously rich aquasystem that continues to suffer
from monstrous algae growths fueled by pollution, and fish diseases worthy of science
fiction, virtually at the feet of the Environmental Protection Agency, Congress, and the
White House.
What is happening in Chesapeake Bay has national and global implications. But be-
fore I investigated that big story, I took a look at what has happened in my local waters,
including Newtown Creek, in Brooklyn. I was surprised by what I discovered in my own
backyard.
STANDARD OPERATING PROCEDURE
Newtown Creek is a tidal estuary that once ran through a rich wetland populated by
many kinds of birds, animals, and aquatic life. In the early nineteenth century, farmers
barged their vegetables to market along Newtown Creek, while aristocrats fished and
hunted along its marshy shores. In Greenpoint, named after the broad, wet grassland
on the Brooklyn side, land was cheap and taxes were low. As the city expanded, the
marsh was filled in, paved over, and built up. By 1860, New York was the nation's lead-
ing manufacturing center , and over fifty businesses along Newtown Creek processed
kerosene, coal, paraffin wax, naphthas, chemicals, fertilizers, glue, glass, and lumber. In
1867, Astral Oil built America's first large, modern oil refinery there, and as Newtown
Creek became the center of New York's petroleum-refining business, it was soon joined
by others.
In 1872, John D. Rockefeller's Standard Oil Company arrived in Green-point. Ori-
ginally based in Cleveland, Rockefeller built Standard Oil into a monopoly by acquiring
and merging with other companies, including Astral Oil. By 1880, Standard controlled
90 percent of the nation's refinery capacity. Along Newtown Creek, Rockefeller con-
trolled over one hundred stills, which employed two thousand workers and consumed
3 million gallons of crude oil each week.
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