No Remediate Satisfaction Anytime Soon For Greenpoint

In case you thought Newtown Creek might lose its lustre:

A new study of the nation’s largest oil spill — at Newtown Creek on the Brooklyn-Queens border — found it’s much larger that originally anticipated, is being cleaned up too slowly and raises serious questions about area residents’ health risks.

The ExxonMobil spill, which happened in 1950 along the 31/2-mile creek, may be as large as 30 million gallons of oil instead of earlier estimates of 17 million, according to a report released yesterday by the federal Environmental Protection Agency.

The spill and ensuing cleanup efforts led to community outcry and many lawsuits.

The area hit hardest has been Brooklyn’s Greenpoint section. While 9 million gallons of oil have been removed by ExxonMobil, the EPA cautioned the recovery volume might be overestimated and oil unrelated to the spill is also polluting the creek.

“The ugly truth is that an estimated cleanup at this rate won’t be completed until 2026; the ugly truth is that homes in this area are without a doubt being impacted by this spill,” said Rep. Anthony Weiner, who addressed the study at a press conference at the site of a planned park along the creek on Manhattan Avenue in Greenpoint.