+ All Categories
Home > Documents > The Gowanus Canal: A Superfund Site

The Gowanus Canal: A Superfund Site

Date post: 24-Oct-2015
Category:
Upload: lareinhalter
View: 61 times
Download: 0 times
Share this document with a friend
Description:
Almost immediately upon its completion in the 1860′s, the Gowanus Canal in South Brooklyn became known for its contamination. In 1887 the New York Times reported that the Canal “was pronounced to be offensive and dangerous to the health of the people presiding in the vicinity”. This “water highway” was purported to carry the power of the sea right into the city, bringing with it industrial capabilities; but in fact, the dead-ended canal was a semi-stagnant body of water without tidal flow to flush its contents out into Gowanus Bay.On March 4, 2010, after over 100 years of degeneration and political paralysis, the Gowanus Canal was finally designated as a Superfund Site by the Federal Government. This designation allowed the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to investigate contamination at the site and develop a remedy. As recently as March 2013, the EPA finalized a $500 million plan to dredge and cap the Gowanus Canal; however, the cleanup has yet to begin.
Popular Tags:
24
PRATT INSTITUTE The Gowanus Canal: A Superfund Site Over 100 years of contamination in South Brooklyn Lauren Reinhalter 12/5/2012
Transcript
Page 1: The Gowanus Canal: A Superfund Site

  

PRATT INSTITUTE

The Gowanus Canal: A Superfund Site

Over 100 years of contamination in South Brooklyn 

Lauren Reinhalter 12/5/2012 

 

 

 

 

Page 2: The Gowanus Canal: A Superfund Site

Lauren Reinhalter The Gowanus Canal: A Superfund Site  

      1  

The Gowanus Canal: A Superfund Site Over 100 years of contamination in South Brooklyn

At a meeting of the Board of Health yesterday the attention of the Mayor and Common council was called to the condition of the Gowanus Canal, which was pronounced to be offensive and dangerous to the health of the people presiding in the vicinity. —New York Times, 18871

Superfund the canal now. It should have been done years ago… but, as was the case when the canal was built, no one wanted to get in the way of commerce or real estate. Without Superfund designation nothing will happen for another 100 years. —Allison Prete, Public Comment, 20092

____________________________________________________________________________ Almost immediately upon its completion in the 1860’s, the Gowanus Canal in Brooklyn

became known as a local offense, an eyesore, and a health hazard. For over 100 years the canal

has functioned as a busy industrial waterway, lined by manufacturing plants and other

commercial sites, continuously introducing a variety of chemicals and industrial waste into the

water.3 On March 4, 2010, after a long era of degeneration and political paralysis, the Gowanus

Canal was added to the National Priorities List as Superfund Site NYN000206222, thereby

making it eligible for remedial action and funding by the federal government.4 This paper will

examine the role of the government, both local and federal, in the development and cleanup of

Gowanus Canal and explore the political lifespan of an environmentally hazardous site in the

United States.

History, Development, and Use

The Gowanus Canal is a 100 foot wide man-made canal that runs the 1.8 miles from

Gowanus Bay into South Brooklyn at Butler Street.5 Historically one of the nation’s busiest

waterways, the canal is presently bordered by commercial industrial sites, vacant lots and also

surrounded by residential neighborhoods6. Originally a tidal creek surrounded by saltwater

Page 3: The Gowanus Canal: A Superfund Site

Lauren Reinhalter The Gowanus Canal: A Superfund Site  

      2  

marshland settled by the Dutch, the Gowanus Canal was converted into an industrial-use canal in

the 1860’s at the suggestion of a local developer named Col. Daniel Richards7. The New York

State legislature passed “The Gowanus Canal Improvement Commission of 1866” to oversee the

transformation of the historic creek through a process of dredging and draining of the adjacent

marshlands to construct a bulkhead with docks.8

_____________________________________________________

Figure 1 Gowanus Canal, Brooklyn. Map courtesy of U.S. Environmental Protection Agency9

Page 4: The Gowanus Canal: A Superfund Site

Lauren Reinhalter The Gowanus Canal: A Superfund Site  

      3  

Deepened and widened, with five branching arms jutting off the winding canal, it soon

became vital commercial infrastructure providing access to many manufacturing plants for

lumber, coal, brick, stone, flour and plaster.10 This “genuine water highway” was purported to

carry the power of “the sea-water right into the city,” but in fact, the dead-ended canal was a

semi-stagnant body of water with limited tidal flow to flush its contents out into Gowanus Bay,

and the Atlantic Ocean.11 Despite the lack of water movement, the Gowanus Canal continued to

become home to heavy industry sites expanded to include manufactured gas plants (MGP), coal

yards, cement makers, soap makers, tanneries, paint and ink factories, machine shops, chemical

plants, and oil refineries introducing chemicals and sediment to the water system.12 It became

clear to the community that something must be done and in 1889 The New York Times reported,

The commission appointed by the Legislature to examine into the condition of the Gowanus Canal, Brooklyn, submitted its report to Mayor Chapin yesterday, and in it declared emphatically that the only way to better the canal was to close it up... it is detrimental to health...and therefore an injury in its present condition.13

Rather than shut down the stagnant canal, in 1911 the City of New York built the

Gowanus Flushing Tunnel to pump water from the Buttermilk Channel to increase the flow of

water through the canal.14 The flushing tunnel operated until a mechanical failure in 1960 and

was not reactivated until 1999, by which time barge transport was replaced by trucks and many

of the industrial sites along the canal had become vacant and derelict.15 During the flushing

tunnel’s four decades of disrepair, community awareness increased and several local

organizations became active in the second half of the 20th century. The Gowanus Canal

Community Development Corporation (GCCDC), a not-for-profit neighborhood preservation

organization, was formed in 1978 to revitalize the communities of South Brooklyn, with

particular emphasis on the area surrounding the Gowanus Canal.16

Page 5: The Gowanus Canal: A Superfund Site

Lauren Reinhalter The Gowanus Canal: A Superfund Site  

      4  

Local Government and the Army Corps of Engineers

Faced by an increasing pressure from the community, the New York City and State

Government established several grant-funded assessments, studies and development plans to

address the condition of the New York-New Jersey Estuary, and specifically the Gowanus Canal.

A 1977 assessment by the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (NYS

DEC) found a significant raw-sewage problem affecting the water quality of areas such as the

Gowanus Canal.17 New York City’s Waterfront Revitalization Plan of 1982 adopted the federal

coastal legislation in order to "preserve, protect, develop, and where possible, to restore or

enhance the resources of the nation's coastal zone."18 Renewed in 2002, the New Waterfront

Revitalization Plan (NWRP) gives joint responsibility of managing the Canal’s development to

the NYS DEC and the Army Corps of Engineers (ACOE).19

The involvement by the ACOE in the Gowanus Canal long predates the NWRP of 2002;

in fact, the ACOE were part of the original dredging and widening of the canal to make way for

large industrial vessels in 1881.20 Over 100 years later, the ACOE began conducting numerous

investigations of varying scope and a 2000 reconnaissance report for the Hudson-Raritan Estuary

stated that “there is a Federal interest for further studies for the Gowanus Canal.”21 Entering into

a 50/50 funding agreement with the NYS DEC, the ACOE dedicated approximately $1 million

of budgetary appropriations for investigations between 2002 and 2005 to fund “ecosystem

restoration, including contaminate reduction measures, creation of wetlands, water quality

improvements, and alteration of hydrology/hydraulics to improve water movement and

quality”.22 The result of these investigations was the Gowanus Facilities Upgrade of 2008, which

proposed improvement of the flushing tunnel and sewer overflow screening system.23 To

achieve this task, the NYS DEC and the U.S. EPA called for the designation of the Gowanus

Page 6: The Gowanus Canal: A Superfund Site

Lauren Reinhalter The Gowanus Canal: A Superfund Site  

      5  

Canal as a Superfund Site, but it would be some years later that this suggestion would become

official.24

Developments in Federal Environmental Law

While decades of bureaucratic investigations and unrealized plans lengthened in

Brooklyn, in Washington, D.C. the federal government was developing a mechanism to clean up

hazardous sites. On December 11, 1980, Congress passed Public Law 96-510, the

Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation and Liability Act, or CERCLA.25

CERCLA is the federal government’s principal program for cleaning up the nation’s most

polluted sites through a process of surveys, assessments and either a short-term removal or long-

term remediation.26 CERLCLA contains a liability clause that holds past and current owners and

operators of contaminating facilities financially responsible for cleanup costs.27 If and when

these Potentially Responsible Parties (PRP’s) cannot be found, or cannot financially support the

cleanup, the EPA has the authority to use funds from a trust financed by taxes on petroleum and

other chemicals, and a corporate environmental income tax; commonly known as the

Superfund.28

CERCLA’s response, liability and enforcement were expanded and modified in 1986 by

Public Law No. 99-499, The Superfund Amendments and Reauthorization Act, or SARA.29

Section 105(a)(8)(B) of CERCLA, as amended by SARA, “requires that the EPA prepare a list

of national priorities among the known releases or threatened releases of hazardous substances,

pollutants, or contaminants throughout the United States.”30 The most potentially dangerous sites

are added to the National Priorities List (NPL) annually, based on an evaluation of a site’s

hazardous materials conducted by the Environmental Protection Agency with authorization from

Page 7: The Gowanus Canal: A Superfund Site

Lauren Reinhalter The Gowanus Canal: A Superfund Site  

      6  

the President.31 SARA established the Hazard Ranking System (HRS) to outline criteria for

adding sites to the NPL, making them eligible for remedial actions financed by the Superfund.32

Once a site is placed on the NPL, long-term remedial response actions can begin to permanently

and significantly reduce the dangers associated with the release of hazardous substances.33

Gowanus Canal gets Superfund Designation

In early 2009, the EPA conducted a preliminary assessment of the Gowanus Canal using

the criteria for the Hazard Ranking System (HRS).34 The HRS score for the canal was 50 (above

the necessary 28.5 required for inclusion on the NPL) and the study discovered the presence of

Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons (PAHs), Polychlorinated Biphenyls (PCBs), heavy metals,

and volatile organic compounds throughout the length of the canal.35 According to the EPA,

contact with PAH’s and PCB’s can cause acute respiratory and skin conditions and long term

effects such as cancer and birth defects. Information about health dangers associated with

chemicals most commonly found at facilities on the NPL is available to the public via a list of

toxicological profiles compiled and released by the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease

Registry. 36

With conclusive toxicology results and an appropriate HRS score, on April 9, 2009, the

EPA proposed adding the Gowanus Canal to the NPL and opened a 60 day comment period

during which the public could submit opinions and reactions to the proposed rule. 37 Over 1,000

comments were submitted, with the overwhelming majority voicing support for making the

Gowanus Canal a Superfund site.38 While many public comments, community groups and the

NYS DEC urged for Superfund designation, the City of New York under the leadership of

Mayor Michael Bloomberg feared that this designation would stigmatize the area and drive away

the interest of real estate developers.39 Despite the City’s concerns, on March 4, 2010 the

Page 8: The Gowanus Canal: A Superfund Site

Lauren Reinhalter The Gowanus Canal: A Superfund Site  

      7  

Gowanus Canal was added to the NPL as a Superfund Site, allowing the EPA to further

investigate contamination at the site and develop an approach to address the contamination.40

There are several steps to the Superfund Process from discovery and designation of a site

to hazardous waste removal.41 In December 2009, less than a year after the Canal’s Superfund

designation, the EPA, in conjunction with the Army Corps of Engineers and the National Grid,

began the first step in the Superfund cleanup process: a Remedial Investigation (RI) to assess

health and ecological risks associate with the Canal.42 By February 2010, the EPA reported that

“the results of this RI indicate that chemical contamination in the Gowanus Canal sediments

presents unacceptable ecological and human health risks” and it was therefore necessary to

proceed with a Feasibility Study (FS) to explore remediation alternatives.43 Faster than anyone

expected, the FS was completed in late 2011 and a report was presented to the community in

January, 2012.44 The highly technical study evaluates seven possible remediation alternatives,

all of which include some form of dredging and capping, based on factors such as effectiveness,

cost, and implementability.45 The public is encouraged to comment on the alternatives, and

according to the EPA, a decision will be made in late 2012 at which point remediation action will

finally commence.

According to CERCLA, Potentially Responsible Parties (PRP’s) are liable for funding the

cleanup of a Superfund site. The manufacturing company Chemtura Corp. has already paid $3.9

million towards cleanup activities and as of October 2012, EPA had sent notices of potential

liability to thirty-one companies, New York City, the US Navy, the US Postal Service, and the

US General Services Administration.46 A published a list of notified PRP’s can be found on

www.epa.gov.

Page 9: The Gowanus Canal: A Superfund Site

Lauren Reinhalter The Gowanus Canal: A Superfund Site  

      8  

When will the Gowanus Canal be clean?

At a recent community meeting, Walter Mugdan, Director of the Division of

Environmental Planning and Protection, stated that, since it’s Superfund designation, the cleanup

of the Gowanus Canal “is being done 2 or 3 times faster than it was plausible to expect, but the

heavy lifting is yet to come."47 The “heavy lifting” has been complicated by the effects of the

environment and the economy. As Hurricane Sandy impacted the East Coast, the Gowanus

Canal breached the bulkhead, flooding many surrounding buildings and raising contamination

concerns and questions about the development of land around the dirty waters of the Canal.48

The EPA conducted an ad-hoc sampling of the flood waters and found high levels of bacteria

that “will become inactive over time”.49 The effects of nature are not the only potential setbacks

for the Gowanus Canal. President Barack Obama’s 2013 budget would reduce the Hazardous

Substance Superfund Remedial program by $33 million, targeted largely at non-time critical

activities that address long-term remediation goals like those laid out in the Gowanus Canal

Feasibility Study.50 Perhaps the funding will remain, since the Government Accountability

Office (GAO), often called the "congressional watchdog", released a report confirming that

almost $2 Billion in EPA's Superfund special accounts is sitting idle.51

Despite the sometimes pungent odor of the Canal, residents of the Gowanus Canal area

in South Brooklyn should not wait with baited breath, as the EPA projects at least 8 to 11 years

for Superfund cleanup.52 Any interested person or party may access documents relating to the

cleanup of the Gowanus Canal by visiting the EPA Region 2 Docket in New York, or online

at http://www.epa.gov/region2/superfund/npl/gowanus.53 As for now, at the end of 2012, the

Superfund Site Progress Profile reads, “Physical cleanup activities have not started.”54

Page 10: The Gowanus Canal: A Superfund Site

Lauren Reinhalter The Gowanus Canal: A Superfund Site  

      9  

                                                            1 Brooklyn. 1878. New York Times (1857-1922), Jun 02, 1878. http://search.proquest.com/docview/93688032?accountid=27668. 2 Regulations.gov, National Priorities List, Notice of Proposed Rulemaking; Gowanus Canal. Docket Folder Summary (Docket ID: EPA-HQ-SFUND-2009-0063) http://www.regulations.gov/#!docketDetail;D=EPA-HQ-SFUND-2009-0063.  3 U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Narrative Summary: Gowanus Canal, Brooklyn, New York (March 1, 2010) http://www.regulations.gov/#!documentDetail;D=EPA-HQ-SFUND-2009-0063-0726.

4 Regulations.gov, National Priorities List, Notice of Proposed Rulemaking; Gowanus Canal. Docket Folder Summary (Docket ID: EPA-HQ-SFUND-2009-0063) http://www.regulations.gov/#!docketDetail;D=EPA-HQ-SFUND-2009-0063; U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Office of Solid Waste and Emergency Response, Support Document for the Revised National Priorities List Final Rule – Gowanus Canal (March 1, 2010) http://www.epa.gov/superfund/sites/supdoc/sd1791.pdf; U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, “EPA Adds Brooklyn’s Gowanus Canal to the National Superfund List of Hazardous Waste Sites; Agency will Pursue Polluters to Pay for Comprehensive Cleanup,” news release, March 2, 2010, http://yosemite.epa.gov/opa/admpress.nsf/0/2C7EF12AD44DA9C4852576DA00536F0F. 5 U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Office of Solid Waste and Emergency Response, Support Document for the Revised National Priorities List Final Rule – Gowanus Canal (March 1, 2010) http://www.epa.gov/superfund/sites/supdoc/sd1791.pdf.  6 Center for the Study of Brooklyn, Gowanus Canal Land Use and Demographic, Economic and Health Information (December 2010) http://www.brooklyn.cuny.edu/pub/departments/csb/documents/csb/Gowanus_Canal_Land_Use_and_Demographic_Economic_Health_Stats.pdf ; City of New York, Department of City Planning, Gowanus Canal Corridor: Existing land use, map (January, 2007), http://www.nyc.gov/html/dcp/pdf/gowanus/4_gowanus_land_use.pdf.  7 New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission, NYC Park Slope Historic District Extension Designation Report (April 17, 2012) http://www.nyc.gov/html/lpc/downloads/pdf/reports/2443.pdf.   8 New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission, NYC Park Slope Historic District Extension Designation Report (April 17, 2012) http://www.nyc.gov/html/lpc/downloads/pdf/reports/2443.pdf.

 9 U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Office of Solid Waste and Emergency Response, “Gowanus Canal, Brooklyn”, map (February 22, 2010) http://www.epa.gov/region2/superfund/npl/gowanus/pdf/Gowanus_Canal_with_Streets.pdf.   

Page 11: The Gowanus Canal: A Superfund Site

Lauren Reinhalter The Gowanus Canal: A Superfund Site  

      10  

                                                                                                                                                                                                10 New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission, NYC Park Slope Historic District Extension Designation Report (April 17, 2012) http://www.nyc.gov/html/lpc/downloads/pdf/reports/2443.pdf.  11 Peter Ross, LL.D. A History of Long Island from its earliest settlement to the present time, Vol. 1 (New York: The Lewis Publishing Company, 1902), 459. http://books.google.com/books?id=0esiAQAAMAAJ&lpg=PA451&ots=r9gWxXa57C&dq=%22gowanus%20canal%20improvement%20commission%22&pg=PR2#v=onepage&q=%22gowanus%20canal%20improvement%20commission%22&f=false.  12 U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Office of Solid Waste and Emergency Response, Support Document for the Revised National Priorities List Final Rule – Gowanus Canal (March 1, 2010) http://www.epa.gov/superfund/sites/supdoc/sd1791.pdf.  13 “To close gowanus canal. 1889.” New York Times (1857-1922), Sep 17, 1889. http://search.proquest.com/docview/94710710?accountid=27668.  14 City of New York, Department of Environmental Protection, Environmental Assessment Statement: Gowanus Facilities Upgrade, Appendix A (December, 2008) http://www.nyc.gov/html/dep/html/environmental_reviews/gowanus.shtml.   15 Gowanus Canal Community Development Corporation, Comprehensive Plan, pages 21-22 (December, 2006), http://gowanus.org/gccdc/?page_id=87.   16 Gowanus Canal Community Development Corporation, “History”, website, http://gowanus.org/gccdc/?page_id=130.   17 New York State Department of Environmental Conservation, Outer Continental Shelf Study Program, New York State and Outer Continental Shelf Development- An Assessment of Impacts. Coastal Zone Information Center Report, 1977, http://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/CZIC-td195-p4-n54-1977/pdf/CZIC-td195-p4-n54-1977.pdf.  18 City of New York, Department of City Planning, City Planning Commission, Waterfront Revitalization Program (WRP), Commission Report N 990151 NPK, September 8, 1999, http://www.nyc.gov/html/dcp/pdf/cpc/970702.pdf.   19 City of New York, Department of City Planning, The New Waterfront Revitalization Program, Report DCP# 02-14, September, 2002, http://www.nyc.gov/html/dcp/pdf/wrp/wrp_full.pdf.  20 U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Office of Solid Waste and Emergency Response, Support Document for the Revised National Priorities List Final Rule – Gowanus Canal (March 1, 2010) http://www.epa.gov/superfund/sites/supdoc/sd1791.pdf; House of Representatives, 62D Congress, 3rd Session, Laws of the United States Relating to the Improvement of Rivers and Harbors from August 11, 1790 to June 29, 1938, Document No. 1491 (Washington D.C.:

Page 12: The Gowanus Canal: A Superfund Site

Lauren Reinhalter The Gowanus Canal: A Superfund Site  

      11  

                                                                                                                                                                                                

Government Printing Office, 1790- 1896), http://cdm16021.contentdm.oclc.org/utils/getfile/collection/p16021coll5/id/0/filename/1.pdf.    21 U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Civil Works Program, Great Lakes and Ohio River Division, Justification of Estimates for Civil Function Activities, Congressional Submission Fiscal Year 2004, February 3, 2003, http://cdm16021.contentdm.oclc.org/utils/getfile/collection/p16021coll6/id/28/filename/29.pdf.  22 U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Civil Works Program, Great Lakes and Ohio River Division, Justification of Estimates for Civil Function Activities, Congressional Submission Fiscal Year 2006, February 7, 2005, http://cdm16021.contentdm.oclc.org/utils/getfile/collection/p16021coll6/id/26/filename/27.pdf.  23 City of New York, Department of Environmental Protection, Environmental Assessment Statement: Gowanus Facilities Upgrade, Appendix A, December, 2008, http://www.nyc.gov/html/dep/html/environmental_reviews/gowanus.shtml.  24 City of New York, Department of Environmental Protection, Gowanus Facilities Upgrade, presentation document, October 25, 2010, http://www.brooklyncb6.org/_attachments/2010-10-25%20DEP%20Gowanus%20Facility%20Upgrade%20Presentation.pdf.  25 Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act of 1980, P.L. 96-510.  26 David M. Bearden Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act: A Summary of Superfund Cleanup Authorities and Related Provisions of the Act. Congressional Research Service, Report RL41039 (June 14, 2012) http://www.fas.org/sgp/crs/misc/R41039.pdf.   27 Ramseur, Jonathan L. Superfund: Overview and Selected Issues. Congressional Research Service, Report RL33426 (November 26, 2007) http://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metacrs9266/.    28 U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, “CERCLA Overview,” http://www.epa.gov/superfund/policy/cercla.htm.  29 Superfund Amendment and Reauthorization Act of 1986, P.L. 99-499.    30 U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Office of Solid Waste and Emergency Response, Support Document for the Revised National Priorities List Final Rule – Gowanus Canal (March 1, 2010) http://www.epa.gov/superfund/sites/supdoc/sd1791.pdf.  31 U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. National Priorities List, Final Rule--Gowanus Canal, 75 Federal Register 9790-9797 (March 4, 2010) http://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/FR-2010-03-04/pdf/2010-4325.pdf#page=1; Executive Order 12580, Superfund Implementation, 52 Federal Register 2923 (January 23, 1987).  

Page 13: The Gowanus Canal: A Superfund Site

Lauren Reinhalter The Gowanus Canal: A Superfund Site  

      12  

                                                                                                                                                                                                32 U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Developing the Risk-Screening Environmental Indicators, http://www.epa.gov/oppt/rsei/pubs/rsei_development.pdf ;U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Office of Solid Waste and Emergency Response, Support Document for the Revised National Priorities List Final Rule – Gowanus Canal (March 1, 2010) http://www.epa.gov/superfund/sites/supdoc/sd1791.pdf.  33 David M. Bearden Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act: A Summary of Superfund Cleanup Authorities and Related Provisions of the Act. Congressional Research Service, Report RL41039 (June 14, 2012) http://www.fas.org/sgp/crs/misc/R41039.pdf.  34 U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, “EPA Adds Brooklyn’s Gowanus Canal to the National Superfund List of Hazardous Waste Sites; Agency will Pursue Polluters to Pay for Comprehensive Cleanup,” news release, March 2, 2010, http://yosemite.epa.gov/opa/admpress.nsf/0/2C7EF12AD44DA9C4852576DA00536F0F.  35 U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Region 2, Gowanus Canal, Presentation on Proposal to National Priorities List, presentation slides, April 14, 2009, http://www.epa.gov/region2/superfund/npl/gowanus/pdf/gowanus_canal.pdf; U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, HRS Documentation Record, April 2009, http://www.epa.gov/superfund/sites/docrec/pdoc1791.pdf.  36  U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Public Health Service, Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry, Toxicological Profiles, Substance index http://www.atsdr.cdc.gov/toxprofiles/index.asp.  37 U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, National Priorities List, Proposed Rule No. 50, 74 Federal Register 16162, http://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/FR-2009-04-09/pdf/E9-7824.pdf#page=1.  38 Regulations.gov, National Priorities List, Notice of Proposed Rulemaking; Gowanus Canal. Docket Folder Summary (Docket ID: EPA-HQ-SFUND-2009-0063) http://www.regulations.gov/#!docketDetail;D=EPA-HQ-SFUND-2009-0063 .  39  Mireya Navarro, “City Proposes New Plan for Gowanus Canal Cleanup”, New York Times, July 1, 2009, http://www.nytimes.com/2009/07/02/nyregion/02gowanus.html.  40 U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Title 40 – Protection of the Environment, 40 CFR Part 300 (2010), http://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/CFR-2012-title40-vol29/pdf/CFR-2012-title40-vol29-chapI-toc-id4.pdf; Environmental Protection Agency. National Priorities List, Final Rule--Gowanus Canal, 75 Federal Register 9790-9797 (March 4, 2010) http://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/FR-2010-03-04/pdf/2010-4325.pdf#page=1; U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, “EPA Adds Brooklyn’s Gowanus Canal to the National Superfund List of Hazardous Waste Sites; Agency will Pursue Polluters to Pay for Comprehensive Cleanup,” news

Page 14: The Gowanus Canal: A Superfund Site

Lauren Reinhalter The Gowanus Canal: A Superfund Site  

      13  

                                                                                                                                                                                                

release, March 2, 2010, http://yosemite.epa.gov/opa/admpress.nsf/0/2C7EF12AD44DA9C4852576DA00536F0F. 41 U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, This is Superfund, informational film, Internet Archive, http://archive.org/details/gov.epa.ava19617vnb1.  42 U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, EPA Starting Field Work at the Gowanus Canal , Community Update, December 2009, http://www.epa.gov/region2/superfund/npl/gowanus/pdf/communityupdate12-09.pdf.  43  U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Gowanus Canal Remedial Investigation Report, Volume 1, Remedial investigation report draft prepared by CH2M Hill, January 2011, http://www.epa.gov/region2/superfund/npl/gowanus/ri_docs/Gowanus_RI_Report_Text_combined.pdf.    44 U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, “EPA Adds Brooklyn’s Gowanus Canal to the National Superfund List of Hazardous Waste Sites; Agency will Pursue Polluters to Pay for Comprehensive Cleanup,” news release, March 2, 2010, http://yosemite.epa.gov/opa/admpress.nsf/0/2C7EF12AD44DA9C4852576DA00536F0F; Sophia Kelley and Elias Rodriguez, “Gowanus Cleanup – EPA Lays the Gauntlet,” Greening the Apple: EPA’s New York City Blog, January 25, 2012, https://blog.epa.gov/greeningtheapple/2012/01/gowanus-cleanup-epa-lays-the-gauntlet/.  45  U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Feasability Study, Gowanus Canal, Feasability study draft report prepared by CH2M Hill, December 2011, http://www.epa.gov/region2/superfund/npl/gowanus/pdf/2011-12-19_Gowanus_Canal_Draft_Text.pdf.  46 U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Gowanus Canal Superfund Site, Potentially Responsible Party (PRP) Search Status, October 2012, http://www.epa.gov/region2/superfund/npl/gowanus/pdf/prp_search_october2012.pdf.  47  U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Region 2, Gowanus Canal Public Information Meeting, presentation slides, January 24, 2012, http://www.epa.gov/region2/superfund/npl/gowanus/pdf/GC_01-24-12_presentation.pdf.   48 Elizabeth A. Harris, “In Brooklyn, Worrying About Not Only Flooding but Also What’s in the Water,” New York Times, November 5, 2012, http://www.nytimes.com/2012/11/06/nyregion/gowanus-canal-flooding-brings-contamination-concerns.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0.  49 U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Region 2, Hurricane Sandy Sampling Results, October 2012, http://www.epa.gov/region2/superfund/npl/gowanus/sandysampling.pdf.  

Page 15: The Gowanus Canal: A Superfund Site

Lauren Reinhalter The Gowanus Canal: A Superfund Site  

      14  

                                                                                                                                                                                                50 U.S. Office of Management and Budget, The Budget of Fiscal Year 2013, Environmental Protection Agency, Budget of the U.S. Government, http://www.whitehouse.gov/sites/default/files/omb/budget/fy2013/assets/environmental.pdf; U.S. Office of Management and Budget, Fiscal Year 2013, Cuts, Consolidations, and Savings, Budget of the U.S. Government, http://www.whitehouse.gov/sites/default/files/omb/budget/fy2013/assets/ccs.pdf.  51  U.S. Government Accountability Office, Superfund, Status of the EPA’s Efforts to Improve its Management and Oversight of Special Accounts, Report to the ranking member, committee on environmental and public works, U.S. Senate, January 2012, http://www.gao.gov/products/GAO-12-109; United States Government Manual, Legislative Branch, Government Accountability Office, 2011, http://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/GOVMAN-2011-10-05/xml/GOVMAN-2011-10-05-075.xml.  52 David M. Bearden Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act: A Summary of Superfund Cleanup Authorities and Related Provisions of the Act. Congressional Research Service, Report RL41039 (June 14, 2012) http://www.fas.org/sgp/crs/misc/R41039.pdf; U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, This is Superfund, informational film, Internet Archive, http://archive.org/details/gov.epa.ava19617vnb1.    53 Environmental Protection Agency. National Priorities List, Final Rule--Gowanus Canal, 75 Federal Register 9790-9797 (March 4, 2010) http://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/FR-2010-03-04/pdf/2010-4325.pdf#page=1.  54 U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Superfund Site Progress Profile, Gowanus Canal (EPA ID: NYN000206222), Cleanup progress summary, December 4, 2012, http://cumulis.eapa.gov/supercpad/cursites/csitinfo.cfm?id=0206222#CleanupProgress.

Page 16: The Gowanus Canal: A Superfund Site

Lauren Reinhalter The Gowanus Canal: A Superfund Site  

      15  

                                                                                                                                                                                                

Methodology

Picking a topic for my Government Document research paper was a feat in itself. I knew

I had to select a topic that was broad enough to necessitate diverse government attention, but yet

narrow enough to tackle in one semester and 3,000 words. I had a previous interest in the

Government’s Superfund program, but didn’t know much about it, and was especially curious

about the Gowanus Canal, having recently moved to a surrounding neighborhood in Brooklyn

and hearing that the canal was a “superfund site”. In the beginning I was certainly unsure of

what a Superfund Site was, not to mention the direction my research would take. I suspected it

would be heavily environmentally regulatory, which it was, but I quickly uncovered a history

that reached back into the last two centuries of American Government . Certainly, some the

documents I needed were considered “archival” but the expanse of dates was only a secondary

challenge compared to the difficulty of deciphering the overlapping local, state and federal

government regulations and initiatives. In a rare moment, I became incredibly thankful for

rigorous citations as legalese and beaurocracese ran together into interminable gibberish.

With very scarce prior knowledge of the topic at hand, I began my research with a

general Google search of the terms “Superfund Site Gowanus”. Resisting the urge to click on

the Wikipedia link, I first noticed the prevalence of information listed on

http://www.epa.gov/region2/superfund/npl/gowanus/, the website for the Environmental

Protection Agency. In fact, the EPA site maintains an entire docket for each Superfund site,

including the Gowanus Canal, that is rich in historical background, scientific findings and

legislative documentation. The National Service Center for Environmental Publications

(NSCEP) maintains and indexes amazing amounts of EPA produced documents so this web

Page 17: The Gowanus Canal: A Superfund Site

Lauren Reinhalter The Gowanus Canal: A Superfund Site  

      16  

                                                                                                                                                                                                

portal remained a go-to source for me in my research. As I formed my research hypothesis I

decided to answer the following questions:

o What is the lifespan of an environmentally hazardous site in the United States? o How does a superfund designation affect a site? o How does this policy affect the Gowanus Canal?

With a vague narrative in my mind, I decided to use the wide search methods first and

turned to Metalib and FDSys. Casting a wide net with the Metalib confederated catalog, I

became quickly aware that searching simply “superfund site” was the long way down a rabbit

hole. Part of my strategy in choosing a narrow subject lay in the ability to use a specific search

term; in my case “gowanus canal”. Even this term brought back 109 records, the majority of

which dealt with the regulations of a drawbridge over the canal. It became apparent that the

Gowanus Canal appeared in federal documents in two scenarios: the drawbridge and the

pollutions of the waterway, so I attempted advanced Boolean searches of “‘Gowanus Canal’

%drawbridge”. Most results were pulled from FDsys and USA.gov; however, one helpful source

was actually a social media sit: the EPA’s New York City Blog, Greening the Apple. All other

useful documents that the Metalib search produced were actually located on FDsys, so I

proceeded to that site, with which I feel quite confident.

FDSys, while it is powerful, is a limited tool for conducting broad, full text searches. As

is the case with all legal documents, it seems best to search by the site by citation which one can

discover through secondary sources, like agency reports, press releases, or the Federal

Register. For instance, the specific Public Laws I was researching were from the 1980’s, which

is slightly before the individual document indexing of FDsys and I had to open bulk pdf

documents and scroll through to the applicable Statute or Public Law. I also resorted to using

Page 18: The Gowanus Canal: A Superfund Site

Lauren Reinhalter The Gowanus Canal: A Superfund Site  

      17  

                                                                                                                                                                                                

Westlaw Next to access the text of early Public Laws. It is even more difficult to research

budgetary laws, since many appropriations maintain the same title from year to year. By

searching for “energy and water development appropriations” and narrowing that by the terms

“gowanus canal”, I was able to slowly eek out a history of appropriations to the Canal, but I was

sure this was not the definitive or accurate spending record. Finding applicable Rules and

Regulations is by far the most cumbersome and difficult task. The Code of Federal Regulations

is simple enough to browse but knowing which regulations apply to which situations seems

daunting without the aid of the Parallel Table providing the regulatory equivalent to each section

of the US Code. It was; however, surprisingly easy to find a record of the public comments on

proposed regulations (once you know which regulation). A docket of the comments on proposed

Gowanus Canal rules was maintained on Regulations.gov and published in the EPA’s Support

Document for the Revised National Priorities List Final Rule.

After exhausting the broad search options, I used the information I had to lead me to the

specific Government Agencies involved in my research topic. As I mentioned, the EPA website

provided a wealth of documentary evidence about the Gowanus Canal in its role as a current

Superfund Site and even touched on the history of the site. The website for the National Oceanic

and Atmospheric Administration is home to the NOAA Library, which has a long list of

databases that index it’s information. I was able to access the COS Conference Papers Database

(Proquest) and find historical New York Times articles, but when I tried to re-visit the link I had

to go through the NOAA site again.

The Army Corps of Engineers was a frequent party mentioned in documents and

responsible for documents relating to the Gowanus Canal. I utilized historic legal documents

accessed through the ACOE digital library, and also surveyed the agency’s annual budget report

Page 19: The Gowanus Canal: A Superfund Site

Lauren Reinhalter The Gowanus Canal: A Superfund Site  

      18  

                                                                                                                                                                                                

to analyse line items allocated to the Canal since many line items are not present in the final

appropriations laws or the official budget document as published by the GPO. In addition to the

ACOE budget, I found budgetary information for even obscure projects like the Gowanus Canal

outlined clearly in Congressional Hearings and Bills. Congressional Hearings, The

Congressional Record, and even the Federal Register proved the most useful documents as far as

providing context for and even addressing controversy surrounding the law.

Since my topic was highly local and focused, I was forced to deal with documents of

local and State government. The New York State website has a digital library, but the

documents are huge pdf’s and only semi-searchable. The NYS Department of Environmental

Conservation has an Environmental Site Remediation Database that indexes hazardous sites

going back to the 1970’s and includes a glossary and other introductory information for the

general public.

I also used government documents that I found through non-governmental sources. A

highly useful resource for grasping the overall significance of the Superfund program were the

CRS reports; however, these documents are not accessible directly from the Library of Congress

so I searched and downloaded them from OpenCRS.com, the Federation of American Scientists

and the University of North Texas. The Center for the Study of Brooklyn, run out of Brooklyn

College, published a document about the development of Park Slope using information from the

Department of City Planning, City of New York. Finally, the Internet Archive was useful in

finding multimedia sources, like the semi-outdated but highly informative video “This is

Superfund” produced by the EPA.

One aspect in which I felt that I struggled was in researching statistical

information. Although I am comfortable using American Factfinder for human demographic

Page 20: The Gowanus Canal: A Superfund Site

Lauren Reinhalter The Gowanus Canal: A Superfund Site  

      19  

                                                                                                                                                                                                

data, I was unable to successfully build a search to display geographic information in regard to

industry and land use. Using the longitude and latitude of the Canal as published by the EPA, I

was able to find the 6 Census Tracts that make up the Gowanus Canal site, I could not produce a

map that satisfied my attempt to discover what is currently located on the banks of the Canal. I

further explored the Economic Census and tried to use the National Library of Medicine’s

ToxMap but to no avail.

Although I did a significant amount of research before I began my paper, I inevitably

found new sources during the writing process. Looking things up on the fly proved to be helpful,

especially after becoming familiar with the legislative history and the bureaucratic makeup of my

topic. Following citation leads and re-visiting reference lists uncovered some deeply embedded

information, which was very useful and often quite buried in a bureaucratic clutter. Almost

every question I had could be answered with a government document; however, it wasn’t always

the clearest, most straightforward answer.

Bibliography

Brooklyn. 1878. New York Times (1857-1922), Jun 02, 1878. http://search.proquest.com/docview/93688032?accountid=27668.

Center for the Study of Brooklyn, Gowanus Canal Land Use and Demographic, Economic and Health Information (December 2010) http://www.brooklyn.cuny.edu/pub/departments/csb/documents/csb/Gowanus_Canal_Land_Use_and_Demographic_Economic_Health_Stats.pdf

City of New York, Department of Environmental Protection, Environmental Assessment Statement: Gowanus Facilities Upgrade, Appendix A (December, 2008) http://www.nyc.gov/html/dep/html/environmental_reviews/gowanus.shtml.  

 

—, Department of City Planning, Gowanus Canal Corridor: Existing land use, map (January, 2007), http://www.nyc.gov/html/dcp/pdf/gowanus/4_gowanus_land_use.pdf.

Page 21: The Gowanus Canal: A Superfund Site

Lauren Reinhalter The Gowanus Canal: A Superfund Site  

      20  

                                                                                                                                                                                                

—, Department of Environmental Protection, Gowanus Facilities Upgrade, presentation document, October 25, 2010, http://www.brooklyncb6.org/_attachments/2010-10-25%20DEP%20Gowanus%20Facility%20Upgrade%20Presentation.pdf.

—, Department of City Planning, City Planning Commission, Waterfront Revitalization Program (WRP), Commission Report N 990151 NPK, September 8, 1999, http://www.nyc.gov/html/dcp/pdf/cpc/970702.pdf.

—, Department of City Planning, The New Waterfront Revitalization Program, Report DCP# 02-14, September, 2002, http://www.nyc.gov/html/dcp/pdf/wrp/wrp_full.pdf.

Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act of 1980, P.L. 96-510. David M. Bearden Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act: A

Summary of Superfund Cleanup Authorities and Related Provisions of the Act. Congressional Research Service, Report RL41039 (June 14, 2012) http://www.fas.org/sgp/crs/misc/R41039.pdf.

Elizabeth A. Harris, “In Brooklyn, Worrying About Not Only Flooding but Also What’s in the

Water,” New York Times, November 5, 2012, http://www.nytimes.com/2012/11/06/nyregion/gowanus-canal-flooding-brings-contamination-concerns.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0.

Executive Order 12580, Superfund Implementation, 52 Federal Register 2923 (January 23,

1987).     Gowanus Canal Community Development Corporation, Comprehensive Plan, pages 21-22

(December, 2006), http://gowanus.org/gccdc/?page_id=87.

Gowanus Canal Community Development Corporation, “History”, website, http://gowanus.org/gccdc/?page_id=130.

House of Representatives, 62D Congress, 3rd Session, Laws of the United States Relating to the

Improvement of Rivers and Harbors from August 11, 1790 to June 29, 1938, Document No. 1491 (Washington D.C.: Government Printing Office, 1790- 1896), http://cdm16021.contentdm.oclc.org/utils/getfile/collection/p16021coll5/id/0/filename/1.pdf.   

 

Mireya Navarro, “City Proposes New Plan for Gowanus Canal Cleanup”, New York Times, July 1, 2009, http://www.nytimes.com/2009/07/02/nyregion/02gowanus.html.

 

New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission, NYC Park Slope Historic District Extension Designation Report (April 17, 2012) http://www.nyc.gov/html/lpc/downloads/pdf/reports/2443.pdf.

Page 22: The Gowanus Canal: A Superfund Site

Lauren Reinhalter The Gowanus Canal: A Superfund Site  

      21  

                                                                                                                                                                                                

New York State Department of Environmental Conservation, Outer Continental Shelf Study Program, New York State and Outer Continental Shelf Development- An Assessment of Impacts. Coastal Zone Information Center Report, 1977, http://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/CZIC-td195-p4-n54-1977/pdf/CZIC-td195-p4-n54-1977.pdf.

Peter Ross, LL.D. A History of Long Island from its earliest settlement to the present time, Vol. 1 (New York: The Lewis Publishing Company, 1902), 459. http://books.google.com/books?id=0esiAQAAMAAJ&lpg=PA451&ots=r9gWxXa57C&dq=%22gowanus%20canal%20improvement%20commission%22&pg=PR2#v=onepage&q=%22gowanus%20canal%20improvement%20commission%22&f=false.

Ramseur, Jonathan L. Superfund: Overview and Selected Issues. Congressional Research Service, Report RL33426 (November 26, 2007) http://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metacrs9266/.  

Regulations.gov, National Priorities List, Notice of Proposed Rulemaking; Gowanus Canal. Docket Folder Summary (Docket ID: EPA-HQ-SFUND-2009-0063) http://www.regulations.gov/#!docketDetail;D=EPA-HQ-SFUND-2009-0063.

Sophia Kelley and Elias Rodriguez, “Gowanus Cleanup – EPA Lays the Gauntlet,” Greening the Apple: EPA’s New York City Blog, January 25, 2012, https://blog.epa.gov/greeningtheapple/2012/01/gowanus-cleanup-epa-lays-the-gauntlet/.

Superfund Amendment and Reauthorization Act of 1986, P.L. 99-499.  

“To close gowanus canal. 1889.” New York Times (1857-1922), Sep 17, 1889. http://search.proquest.com/docview/94710710?accountid=27668.

United States Government Manual, Legislative Branch, Government Accountability Office, 2011, http://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/GOVMAN-2011-10-05/xml/GOVMAN-2011-10-05-075.xml.

U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Civil Works Program, Great Lakes and Ohio River Division, Justification of Estimates for Civil Function Activities, Congressional Submission Fiscal Year 2004, February 3, 2003, http://cdm16021.contentdm.oclc.org/utils/getfile/collection/p16021coll6/id/28/filename/29.pdf. 

U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Public Health Service, Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry, Toxicological Profiles, Substance index http://www.atsdr.cdc.gov/toxprofiles/index.asp.

Page 23: The Gowanus Canal: A Superfund Site

Lauren Reinhalter The Gowanus Canal: A Superfund Site  

      22  

                                                                                                                                                                                                

U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, “CERCLA Overview,” http://www.epa.gov/superfund/policy/cercla.htm.

—, Developing the Risk-Screening Environmental Indicators, http://www.epa.gov/oppt/rsei/pubs/rsei_development.pdf.

—, “EPA Adds Brooklyn’s Gowanus Canal to the National Superfund List of Hazardous Waste Sites; Agency will Pursue Polluters to Pay for Comprehensive Cleanup,” news release, March 2, 2010, http://yosemite.epa.gov/opa/admpress.nsf/0/2C7EF12AD44DA9C4852576DA00536F0F.

—, EPA Starting Field Work at the Gowanus Canal , Community Update, December 2009, http://www.epa.gov/region2/superfund/npl/gowanus/pdf/communityupdate12-09.pdf.

—, Feasability Study, Gowanus Canal, Feasability study draft report prepared by CH2M Hill,

December 2011, http://www.epa.gov/region2/superfund/npl/gowanus/pdf/2011-12-19_Gowanus_Canal_Draft_Text.pdf.

—, Gowanus Canal Remedial Investigation Report, Volume 1, Remedial investigation report

draft prepared by CH2M Hill, January 2011, http://www.epa.gov/region2/superfund/npl/gowanus/ri_docs/Gowanus_RI_Report_Text_combined.pdf.   

—, Gowanus Canal Superfund Site, Potentially Responsible Party (PRP) Search Status, October

2012, http://www.epa.gov/region2/superfund/npl/gowanus/pdf/prp_search_october2012.pdf.

—, HRS Documentation Record, April 2009,

http://www.epa.gov/superfund/sites/docrec/pdoc1791.pdf. 

—, Narrative Summary: Gowanus Canal, Brooklyn, New York (March 1, 2010) http://www.regulations.gov/#!documentDetail;D=EPA-HQ-SFUND-2009-0063-0726.

—, National Priorities List, Proposed Rule No. 50, 74 Federal Register 16162, http://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/FR-2009-04-09/pdf/E9-7824.pdf#page=1.

—. National Priorities List, Final Rule--Gowanus Canal, 75 Federal Register 9790-9797 (March 4, 2010) http://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/FR-2010-03-04/pdf/2010-4325.pdf#page=1.

—, Superfund Site Progress Profile, Gowanus Canal (EPA ID: NYN000206222), Cleanup progress summary, December 4, 2012, http://cumulis.eapa.gov/supercpad/cursites/csitinfo.cfm?id=0206222#CleanupProgress.

Page 24: The Gowanus Canal: A Superfund Site

Lauren Reinhalter The Gowanus Canal: A Superfund Site  

      23  

                                                                                                                                                                                                

—, This is Superfund, informational film, Internet Archive, http://archive.org/details/gov.epa.ava19617vnb1.

—, Title 40 – Protection of the Environment, 40 CFR Part 300 (2010),

http://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/CFR-2012-title40-vol29/pdf/CFR-2012-title40-vol29-chapI-toc-id4.pdf

—, Office of Solid Waste and Emergency Response, Support Document for the Revised National Priorities List Final Rule – Gowanus Canal (March 1, 2010) http://www.epa.gov/superfund/sites/supdoc/sd1791.pdf.

—, Office of Solid Waste and Emergency Response, “Gowanus Canal, Brooklyn”, map (February 22, 2010) http://www.epa.gov/region2/superfund/npl/gowanus/pdf/Gowanus_Canal_with_Streets.pdf.

—, Region 2, Gowanus Canal, Presentation on Proposal to National Priorities List, presentation slides, April 14, 2009, http://www.epa.gov/region2/superfund/npl/gowanus/pdf/gowanus_canal.pdf

—, Region 2, Gowanus Canal Public Information Meeting, presentation slides, January 24, 2012, http://www.epa.gov/region2/superfund/npl/gowanus/pdf/GC_01-24-12_presentation.pdf.

—, Region 2, Hurricane Sandy Sampling Results, October 2012,

http://www.epa.gov/region2/superfund/npl/gowanus/sandysampling.pdf.

U.S. Government Accountability Office, Superfund, Status of the EPA’s Efforts to Improve its Management and Oversight of Special Accounts, Report to the ranking member, committee on environmental and public works, U.S. Senate, January 2012, http://www.gao.gov/products/GAO-12-109

U.S. Office of Management and Budget, The Budget of Fiscal Year 2013, Environmental Protection Agency, Budget of the U.S. Government, http://www.whitehouse.gov/sites/default/files/omb/budget/fy2013/assets/environmental.pdf.

—, Fiscal Year 2013, Cuts, Consolidations, and Savings, Budget of the U.S. Government, http://www.whitehouse.gov/sites/default/files/omb/budget/fy2013/assets/ccs.pdf.

 

 


Recommended