Red Hook Ballfields Seriously Contaminated

The Red Hook Ballfields, known for their soccer games and food vendors, are packing a dangerous amount of contaminants: In fact, according to charges brought by the State Attorney General against a Connecticut-based company, the amount of PCBs on the 58-acre site is 110 times what is deemed safe by environmental agencies. New York has joined six other states in suing Chemtura, the nation’s biggest maker of plastic additives, to force it to clean up nine sites in total; in the case of Red Hook, the company has a plant that abuts the ball fields and allegedly had a leak for years. (Chemtura is also a target in the Gowanus Superfund case.) Unfortunately for anyone hoping to win punitive damages, the Middlebury company declared bankruptcy back in March 2009.
‘Killing’ Fields of Red Hook Park [NY Post]
Photo by MrSark