Environment Roundtable: Judith Enck

Q: Last year President Obama released a climate action plan. What does it mean for New York?

JE: It means that other states will hopefully catch up to where New York is. New York already has the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative, essentially a cap and trade program, and the state has been effective in driving down carbon pollution. Climate change is by definition a global issue, so you really do need a national if not an international approach. The president has laid out a really comprehensive strategy, and one of the most important features is that for the first time ever there will be national regulations to require the reduction of carbon pollution from fossil fuel plants. One of the assignments the president gave in June was directing the EPA to do this new set of regulations. We’ve carved it into two pieces: The first, which we released last year, requires proposed fossil fuel plants to reduce carbon emissions. Then this June we will be proposing regulations for the first time that require existing coal, oil and gas plants to reduce their carbon emissions. This is a real game changer for climate change. 

Q: What is the latest on the Gowanus Canal cleanup in Brooklyn? 

JE: On Sept. 30 the EPA finalized a plan to clean up the Gowanus Canal, and the final plan required removing a large amount of contaminated sediment accumulated on the bottom of the canal. So we will do some dredging and put a protective cap over the area. The plan will also require reductions in pollution from sewage discharge that goes into the canal. This has been met with strong local support by the community and elected officials. Several years ago the Bloomberg administration did oppose listing this water body as a federal Superfund site, but once it was listed the community has been very supportive. The only folks opposing it are the companies that have to pay for the cost of cleanup and the City of New York. The cleanup plan is estimated to run about $506 million, which is not cheap, but it comes on the heels of over a century of industrial dumping into this water body. We’re now to the design stage of this cleanup. Our initial plan laid out the option of an aquatic disposal facility in Red Hook, which drew strong opposition, but we took that out of the cleanup plan. What we’re going to do is dredge, cap and then send the contaminated sediment by barge out of state to a licensed hazardous waste disposal facility. Getting this water body cleaned up will actually economically benefit this neighborhood. 

Q: Does the EPA deal with hydrofracking? 

JE: The federal Energy Policy Act of 2005 exempted high volume hydrofracking from many of the nation’s federal environmental statutes. This leaves a lot of responsibility in the hands of the state. However, that does not mean that the EPA is not playing a role. One of the most important things the EPA is doing is a national research study on the potential impacts of hydraulic fracturing on drinking water resources. Congress directed us to do this study, and I think the science will help inform the public and provide the state of New York and others with a higher level of scientific knowledge on potential water impacts. We expect to see the first draft by December of this year.