News From the Border: Newtown Creek Dredging Will Begin This Week

A big part of being involved with the Newtown Creek story is attending an endless series of meetings.

There’s a Newtown Creek Monitoring Committee over in Greenpoint that provides community input and problems to DEP about the sewer plant, the Newtown Creek Alliance which spans and advocates for both sides of the Creek, and a Kosciuszko Bridge Stakeholders Committee as well. There’s a bunch of other groups and organizations, but these are the three which I always pay attention to and publicly identify myself with. The good thing about these meetings is that I get to know what’s happening, and get my camera pointed in the right direction at the right times.

Today’s big news is that a dredging project, which is anticipated to last around six weeks, is beginning on Newtown Creek. I’m afraid that I was unable to locate a live link to the pdf hosted at nyc.gov, but this is the official story as received. Here’s the text of the NYC DEP announcement.

From NYC Department of Environmental Protection:
OFFICE OF COMMUNITY AFFAIRS, BUREAU OF PUBLIC AFFAIRS

NEWTOWN CREEK DREDGING UPDATE MARCH, 2014

Beginning the week of March 17, 2014 and continuing for approximately 6 weeks, the New York City Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) will be dredging Newtown Creek. The following is a brief overview of the work scheduled and potential community impacts and mitigation measures.

WHY IS THIS WORK NECESSARY? The Newtown Creek Wastewater Treatment Plant is the largest in the City and operates, like most plants, through an activated sludge process. In order for this treatment process to work, waste sludge must be removed every day. Presently, waste sludge is piped to a storage tank near the East River in Greenpoint and then transferred to a sludge vessel (boat) for delivery to Wards Island for further processing. DEP needs to demolish the sludge storage tank to make way for new affordable housing. A new sludge dock has been built at Whale Creek, adjacent to the Newtown Creek plant, and sludge vessels will soon receive waste sludge there instead of the existing East River tank and dock. However, to navigate to the new dock, maintenance dredging must be done along Newtown Creek to remove sediment and debris which accumulates in the waterway.

HOW WILL THE WORK BE PERFORMED? Dredge operations are expected to start in Whale Creek and then move west along Newtown Creek towards the Pulaski Bridge to the mouth of Newtown Creek. Operations will be performed initially in 12-hour shifts, 6:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. As operations move into Newtown Creek, work will run 24 hours per day in order to minimize impacts to marine traffic. All work will be performed from barges located on the water with all required Coast Guard lighting and signage for safe boating.

COMMUNITY IMPACTS During the dredging operations, hydrogen sulfide gas trapped in the sediment may be released. This gas has a strong odor of rotten eggs. DEP will monitor for odor and take preventive measures to control the releases.

FOR MORE INFORMATION Please contact Shane Ojar, Director of Community Affairs at 718-595-4148 or via e-mail at sojar@dep.nyc.gov.

This is a shot of dredging equipment at work over on Staten Island’s Kill Van Kull, another industrial waterway found across the harbor, just to give you an idea what to expect. I can tell you that sound and smell are going to be a common complaint over the next six weeks, based on personal experience. The NYC DEP told us that anyone experiencing discomfort due to this necessary activity should report it to 311, so that they can take steps to alleviate the odors.

If you smell something, say something, and call 311.

Word has also reached me that a tree removal process will shortly be starting up in West Maspeth and Blissville, as well as parts of Brooklyn, in anticipation of the forthcoming reconstruction of the Kosciuszko Bridge.

The text of the message received from the NYS DOT is as follows:

STATE OF NEW YORK DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION REGION

11 47-40 21 st STREET LONG ISLAND CITY, N.Y. 11101

www.dot.ny.gov

re: Kosciuszko Bridge Project

from Robert Adams, P.E., Project Manager New York State Department of Transportation

As the New York State Department of Transportation (NYSDOT) works towards finalizing a contractual agreement for construction of Phase 1 of the Kosciuszko Bridge Project, the agency is initiating a number of activities in preparation for the start of construction. I would like to take this opportunity to inform you that we will begin removing trees within the project area next week. This work is required to ensure the project is not delayed, and that the Northern Longeared bat is not threatened during our work this summer. You can read more about this species of bats at http://www.fws.gov/midwest/endangered/mammals/nlba/index.html.

We will remove approximately 130 trees in Brooklyn and Queens by March 31,2014. All trees designated for removal have previously been identified as being impacted by bridge construction activities. They include approximately 90 trees in properties that have been acquired by the State, approximately 30 street trees in the areas required for realignment of Cherry and Vandervoort Streets, and approximately 15 street trees along Meeker Avenue, between Kingsland and Varick Avenues, the location of a future temporary bridge.

Newtown Creek Alliance Historian Mitch Waxman lives in Astoria and blogs at Newtown Pentacle.