NYC: Home to the Largest Oil Spill in North America

In 1950, an explosion rumbling through city sewers in the New York City neighborhood of Greenpoint, Brooklyn sent manhole covers flying into the air. The source of the explosion was traced vaguely to the site of a number of Greenpoint oil refineries and storage facilities owned by the 'children companies' of Standard Oil, which first set up shop there in the 1860s. More than fifty years since the explosion, new environmental test results released last week by the New York Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) show that the underground plume contains flammable methane gas and cancer-causing benzene. Since 1978, when the Coast Guard discovered an oil leak into Newtown Creek (shown in map above), it has been known that Greenpoint, Brooklyn is the site of the largest oil spill in North America at an estimated 17 million gallons covering 55 acres - more than that released by the Exxon Valdez, which released an estimated 11 million gallons off the coast of Alaska. According to the New York Daily News, this month's release of the test results marked the first acknowledgment by either the state or an oil company that gas from the spill could be a health threat to residents: "In an Aug. 23 letter, an environmental firm hired by ExxonMobil warned FDNY brass, the Office of Emergency Management, Con Edison, Verizon, an airplane fuel provider and local businesses about the gas vapors. 'We have identified an area in the vicinity of the intersection of Bridgewater St. and Norman Ave. where methane and other volatile organic compounds are present... at concentrations that could pose a potential hazard,' the letter warned." The letters, which can be found in the report here, go on to say that no readings indicate "any imminent or hazardous condition." (Why did the NY Daily News leave this part of the letter out?) Despite initial assurances that "combustible conditions" do not exist, the DEC announced this week that it is asking residents in the area to sign up for tests for methane gas in their homes. The DEC fact sheet on the Greenpoint Petroleum Remediation Project can be found here.