The Greenpoint oil spill is one of the largest oil spills ever recorded in the United States. Located around Newtown Creek in the Greenpoint neighborhood of Brooklyn, New York City, between 17 and 30 million US gallons (64,000 and 114,000 m 3 ) of petroleum and petroleum products have leaked into the soil from crude processing facilities for decades.
Video Greenpoint oil spill
Sejarah area
The northeastern part of the Greenpoint industry along Newtown Creek was home to an oil refinery from the 1840s, and in 1870 boasted over 50 oil processing plants, many of which were incorporated into the Standard Oil Trust by the end of the century. The successor of Standard Oil (Mobil and then ExxonMobil) used refining facilities until 1966 and then operated a bulk petroleum storage facility and distribution terminal on site until 1993. Other oil companies operating in the area were Amoco (later BP parts) and Paragon Oil ( now part of ChevronTexaco).
Maps Greenpoint oil spill
Spill findings
In September 1978, a US Coast Guard helicopter on a routine patrol found a plume of oil flowing in the river, which came from the insulation at Meeker Avenue. A subsequent study revealed large-scale soil contamination, estimated to exceed 50 acres (0.20 km 2 ) and a spill volume of more than 17 million gallons (64,000 m 3 ).
Mitigation cleaning and mitigation attempts
The first pumps were installed on site at the end of 1979, and recovery efforts have improved over the years. The pump system is operated by ExxonMobil site owner, BP and, more recently, ChevronTexaco. Environmental organizations say that there has been little effort until the early 1990s and has called the "imperfect" cleaning operation. In January 2006, the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation, backed by the companies involved, stated that 9 million gallons of US (34,000 m 3 ) of the oil spill had been found and cleared.
In 2007, a report by the US Environmental Protection Agency on the spill raised an estimated contaminated area of ​​up to 100 hectares (0.40 km 2 ) and an estimated spill volume of up to 30 million US gallons (110,000 Ã, m 3 ), three times larger than the Exxon Valdez spill. The report also criticized recent recovery efforts and slowdowns.
According to the Environmental Protection Agency study, "American Petroleum Institute (2002) shows that 40% to 80% of the product spill can be stored on the ground as a residual product". The Department of Environmental Conservation's website states that oil companies participating in cleaning have used a Free Product Recovery System for groundwater, rather than land.
The New York State Department of Health study, completed in May 2007, indicates that no steam comes from spills into homes. "Newtown Creek/Greenpoint Oil Spill Study" from the Brooklyn, New York Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) states that the concentration of steam in "some commercial enterprises" is found "above the Upper Explosive Limit." The study also says, " collected by NYSDEC suggests that, in general, chemicals are detected in all locations in every home, but not in a pattern that would normally represent the phenomenon of vapor intrusion. "
A New York State Department of Environmental Conservation report tested the settlement bloc over the spill area concluded that no evidence of dangerous oil or steam seeps into people's homes. Brooklyn Paper columnist Tom Gilbert wrote, "This makes sense, because spilled oil tends to lie deep underground, covered by a layer of almost impermeable clay." Good soil steam testing by DEC and the non-profit environmental organization Riverkeeper has come out positively.
As reported by ScienceLine NYU, ExxonMobil's testing indicates that the presence of oil vapor remains unclear: "This summer, a contractor for Exxon Mobil conducted a ground steam study at Greenpoint.It took ten samples from residential areas: five samples that detected benzene, one derived from area above the oil feathers at a rate below 5.4 parts per billion. "
Litigation
On October 20, 2005, local residents within the oil recovery operations area, located in the most commercial/industrial section of Greenpoint near East Williamsburg Industrial Park, filed a lawsuit against ExxonMobil, BP and Chevron at the Brooklyn State Supreme Court, accusing them has suffered adverse health consequences. ExxonMobil confirmed that the oil was spilled by Paragon Oil. In 2006 Chevron was excluded from the case.
References
External links
- http://www.gwapp.org
- http://www.dec.ny.gov/chemical/38605.html
- http://neighborhoodroots.tripod.com/williamsburgcancer.html
Source of the article : Wikipedia
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