Bronx group sues SCA over clean-up at brownfield site of $230m campus.

The Bronx Committee for Toxic Free Schools has filed a lawsuit against the School Construction Authority claiming it failed to insure the proper remediation of the brownfield site where it plans to build a $230 million school campus.

Three months ago, the city council gave the SCA the go ahead to begin a $30 million remediation plan designed to clean the former railyard in Mott Haven, Bronx, with the stipulation that they take a "hard look" at an environmental consultant's set of recommendations, and then hold a formal public hearing. That followed community outcry that clean-up of the land contaminated with arsenic, mercury, benzene and other suspected carcinogens, was not thorough enough to warrant building four elementary/middle schools.

Advocates claim the SCA failed to meet obligations under the State Environmental Quality Review Act to fully monitor contaminants that would remain on the site after the "partial excavation" outlined in the remediation plan. "Not only have they not drawn up a plan as to how they will monitor the contaminants, but they haven't even done an assessment to determine if they are capable of monitoring the site in the future, or whether they have the money or expertise," said Dave Palmer, attorney with the New York Lawyers for Public Interest, who filed the suit on behalf of community members.

The SCA contends they have met all their expectations. "We have not only complied fully with all New York legal requirements in developing our Remediation Action Work Plan, including state Department of Environmental Conservation approval after a full public process, but we also exceeded these obligations by voluntarily incorporating every recommendation made by the independent consultant," said Marge Feinberg, SCA spokesperson.

The remediation plan called for workers to remove 10-15 feet of soil from the site in certain areas, and then seal them off to prevent further contamination from seeping up from underground. It also would build

a "subslab pressurization system"--basically a piping and fan system that would suck vapors out and draw them into the atmosphere away from the school.

Though this type of partial excavation is the remediation method that is proposed for many heavily contaminated brownfield areas, including Gowanus, it has recently met with controversy. Bronx advocates opposing the SCA believe the method is not sufficient if the contaminants remaining are not thoroughly monitored.

"It is a commonly used method, but here we are talking about children who are especially susceptible in an already environmentally burdened community, so there is a need to be more vigilant," Palmer said.

Advocates also worry about hot spots that are not included in the current plan.

The SCA has until June to respond to the charges. Advocates hope they can negotiate with the SCA and come up with a compromise without actually going to court.

Until then, remediation continues. "We did not ask them to stop construction because, right now, they are setting up safety barriers and will soon begin removing contamination and that is a useful thing, they are cleaning up the site.

"If construction progressed to a point where we felt further safety measures would be difficult or impossible to implement, then they would push for an injunction," Palmer said.