Filed under: Uncategorized Earlier this summer we wrote two
posts about the Gulf of Mexico oil spill. The first (5.8.2010)
traced the spill’s oil to its origin in geologic time and the
other (7.10.2010) drew connections between the spill and
underground nuclear testing conducted as part of Operation
Plowshare. Just over a week ago, we visited Newtown Creek in
Greenpoint Brooklyn for our Geologic City project. More than 50
oil refineries and fuel storage facilities have operated along
Newtown Creek’s edges over the years and ongoing oil spills have
plagued the area since the 19th century. The EPA calls the
Creek, “one of the nation’s most polluted waterways”. This
neighborhood’s landscape is loaded with contaminates and up to
30 million gallons of spilled oil have seeped into the area’s
soil, groundwater, and creek. Pre-Deepwater Horizon disaster,
this section of Brooklyn housed the nation’s largest oil spill.
Given this reality, it’s surprising that the Creek was only very
recently awarded Superfund status. T