Jul 13, 2008 5:27 pm US/Eastern
Weiner Wants EPA To Clean Up Greenpoint
NEW YORK (CBS) ―
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Democratic Representative from New York Anthony Weiner
Tim Sloan/Getty Images
Greenpoint looks like an average American town in Brooklyn, but it has a dirty past – one that residents and Congressman Anthony Weiner would like the federal government to clean up.
"Today we are asking formally for the Environmental Protection Agency to designate this as a superfund sight," Weiner said.
Since the late 1800s, Greenpoint and its Newtown Creek have been a hub of industrialization, and its side effect – pollution, mostly air pollution.
"The smells were impossible. Nobody could open their windows. The schools couldn't open their windows," said Greenpoint resident Irene Klementowicza.
Over the last 30 years, Klementowicza has seen the devastating effects that pollution and a 17 million gallon oil spill which covered 55 acres have had on the area.
"Between the different odors killing people, many, many people have cancer," she said.
"In order for the federal government to pay up to 90 percent of cleaning costs, the EPA will first have to conducts tests in the area."
It will be up to the EPA to designate Greenpoint a federal superfund site and make it eligible for national funds.
"One of the first things that this designation will hopefully accomplish is to bring the federal resources in and say exactly what we have going on here," said Weiner.
Post clean-up, activists hope to then go after the companies responsible for the pollution, and make them pay for the clean-up costs.
(© MMIX, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)
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