Dredging the Gowanus Canal will likely continue – regardless of the next president

“You smell it way before you see it,” said Alyssa Kerper, a Park Slope, Brooklyn, resident who lives just a few blocks from the Gowanus Canal. She enjoys breaking up her work days from home by taking walks around the neighborhood, though she wishes she could enjoy the water more without the gnarly smell.

In a city with few green spaces, a waterway in Brooklyn is a draw. The problem is that the Gowanus Canal is one of the most heavily contaminated water bodies in the country. More than a dozen contaminants like coal tar as well as other heavy metals, including mercury, lead, and copper, are present in the canal’s sediments, left behind by industries like manufactured gas plants, concrete plants and chemical plants. The Gowanus Canal was placed on the Environmental Protection Agency’s Superfund list of heavily contaminated sites in 2010 and has been undergoing a federal cleanup since 2020.

Many fundamentals of Superfund cleanups remain stable no matter who is president, as they are established through hundreds of policies and guidelines. But the 2024 presidential election is unusual because of the stark contrasts between the candidates’ approaches, which could impact how efficiently the program runs.

Vice President Kamala Harris, as part of the Biden administration, supported one of the largest federal investments in cleaning up legacy pollution through the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, which earmarked $3.5 billion toward environmental remediation at Superfund sites. In his first administration, Trump eliminated or weakened almost 100 environmental safeguards that fall under the Environmental Protection Agency – which oversees the Superfund program. Trump’s EPA chief, Scott Pruitt, bragged about the high number of Superfund projects that were completed under his watch, but observers say given that a cleanup might go on for decades, the date of completion does not demonstrate particular support or opposition from the administration in power.

Progress at sites like the Gowanus Canal that are currently undergoing cleanups could slow under an administration hostile to environmental cleanup efforts and EPA enforcement.

“If (the EPA is) defunded or there’s significant shortages in their staff, that could have significant impacts in seeing the full cleanup of the canal be delayed,” said Marcel Negret, director of land use at the Regional Plan Association.

Pressure to clean up the Gowanus Canal is mounting because the neighborhood is experiencing a housing boom – 18 new housing developments and more than 5,300 units, including more than 1,400 affordable units, are being constructed under the Gowanus Neighborhood Mixed Income Housing Development Program that Gov. Kathy Hochul announced last year. This construction will bring thousands of new residents to a neighborhood in the middle of cleaning up a toxic site, and one that is increasingly vulnerable to flooding caused by climate change.

Multiple ongoing remediation projects are also in progress in Gowanus, in addition to the state-led brownfield cleanups and a districtwide study to identify areas where soil contamination.

“The flurry of current activity to address this historical contamination means that we will see a clean canal and neighborhood for both long-time and new residents,” said Andrea Parker, executive director of the Gowanus Canal Conservancy.

The Gowanus Canal is one of 84 Superfund sites in New York state – and one of the 1,340 sites on the EPA’s National Priority List. These are places where hazardous waste was dumped, abandoned or poorly contained for decades and require long-term remedial planning. When the EPA can identify the companies that caused the pollution, it makes them foot the bill. When those companies are unknown or no longer functioning, as is the case with the Wolff-Alport Chemical Co. site in Queens, the Superfund Trust Fund pays for the cleanup of these so-called orphan sites with tax dollars.

Approximately 78 million people – almost a quarter of the U.S. population – live within 3 miles of a Superfund site. Studies show that Superfund sites could shorten life expectancy from increased exposure to toxic chemicals. But cleaning up Superfund sites is a complex, multiphase process, which takes years or even decades to complete.

The Gowanus Canal cleanup is taking place in three phases, the first of which the EPA said would be completed in July. It then issued an order for the $369 million cleanup of the second section of the canal. The work on the third and final section won’t begin until the middle of the next president’s administration.

If Trump were to become president, it’s possible that the final phase of the Gowanus Canal cleanup could be postponed or canceled. “The fate of that lower section, I think, is the one that’s at the highest risk,” Negret said. “It is still questionable whether (under a Trump administration) the EPA is totally defunded or ceases to exist.”

During Trump’s administration, he proposed budget cuts of as much as 25% to the Superfund program, although Congress refused to approve them and the EPA’s budget remained roughly even over his years as president.

However, EPA enforcement data showed a 50% decline – from $2 billion annually in the Obama years to $999 million – in commitments made by responsible parties to clean up Superfund sites during Trump’s term. Also, fewer Superfund sites were proposed or added to the National Priorities List than in prior administrations.

By contrast, the Biden administration has backed the EPA to use money from the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law to address the backlog of 49 previously unfunded sites and boost ongoing cleanups. The law also reinstated a federal excise tax on chemicals that goes toward cleaning up hazardous waste sites. And it prioritizes the Superfund program’s steps to adapt to climate change – like introducing guidelines for the first time to incorporate sustainability and climate resilience into settlement agreements with potentially responsible parties.

Climate change poses a huge challenge to cleanups – about 60% of Superfund sites are in areas that may be impacted by more severe flooding, storm surge, wildfires and sea level rise.

“If you’re not accounting for an extreme weather event like significant flooding, you invest $40 million in a remedy and get it washed away in the flood,” said Jim Woolford, the former director of the Office of Superfund Remediation and Technology Innovation in the EPA’s Office of Land and Emergency Management. “That’s just money wasted.”

Kerper, the Park Slope resident, wants to see increased flooding and storm surge factors acknowledged and remedied in the Gowanus Canal’s cleanup.

“The last time we had a big, big rainstorm, there was crazy flooding down Fourth Avenue and closer to the canal,” she said. “The idea of contaminated water coming up to meet human beings and potentially entering somebody’s home causes a lot of concern for me.”

Parker is confident that for sites like the Gowanus Canal, whose cleanup is being paid for by more than 30 known polluters, the upcoming election poses little threat.

“Because the cleanup under the Gowanus Superfund is funded by the polluters instead of the government, it’s one environmental program that Republicans and Trump are not likely to cut,” she said. “In Gowanus, the responsible parties have already dredged a third of the canal. The cleanup is happening, and will continue.”