City Surfers Fight Ocean Dumping Plan - Benefit Planned for Environmental Fight.NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Dec. 1, 1999-- Surfers' Environmental Alliance (SEA), the Gotham Surf Club, the Natural Resources Protective Assoc. of Staten Island and other environmentalists in the bi-state region have officially notified the Secretary of the Army, the federal Environmental Protection Agency Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), independent agency of the U.S. government, with headquarters in Washington, D.C. It was established in 1970 to reduce and control air and water pollution, noise pollution, and radiation and to ensure the safe handling and , and Castle Oil, Inc., of their intent to sue to stop a government plan to dump tons of toxic muds from New York Harbor New York Harbor, a geographic term, refers collectively to the rivers, bays, and tidal estuaries near the mouth of the Hudson River in the vicinity of New York City. This is sometimes construed in the sense "the Ports of New York and New Jersey". in the open ocean a few miles southeast of Coney Island. The contaminated muck, laced with dioxin, polychlorinated biphenyls polychlorinated biphenyls, (pol´ēklôr´  nā´tid bīfē´n (PCBs), polyaromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), dioxin and other toxic substances lies at the bottom of a tributary of the East River alongside the Castle Astoria Terminals, Queens. Castle Astoria claims it will have to close its shipping terminal if denied the dredge and dump permit. According to Kevin O'Driscoll, a Columbia University medical school professor who serves as SEA's staff scientist, the contaminated sediments contain statistically significant traces of toxins which can readily be absorbed into the marine food chain and exposed to human consumption. The government's final resolution of the matter is up to Colonel William Pearce of the New York New York, state, United States New York, Middle Atlantic state of the United States. It is bordered by Vermont, Massachusetts, Connecticut, and the Atlantic Ocean (E), New Jersey and Pennsylvania (S), Lakes Erie and Ontario and the Canadian province of District Army Corps of Engineers, and the federal Environmental Protection Agency (EPA EPA eicosapentaenoic acid. EPA abbr. eicosapentaenoic acid EPA, n.pr See acid, eicosapentaenoic. EPA, n. ). They term their proposal a "remediation plan." "Ocean disposal of these wastes is an issue because of potential bioaccumulation bi·o·ac·cu·mu·la·tion n. The increase in the concentration of a substance, especially a contaminant, in an organism or in the food chain over time. into the human food chain, as well as a gross spoiling of the marine environment" said O'Driscoll. "State and federal governments, The Port Authority and the port community should have funded really major de-toxification projects a decade ago," added O'Driscoll, an avid surfer. "The lack of substantially funded alternatives in New York State is shameful." Environmentalists are staging a public benefit Friday evening Dec. 10th in SoHo to draw awareness to the government's ocean dumping plan. The plan is fairly simplistic sim·plism n. The tendency to oversimplify an issue or a problem by ignoring complexities or complications. [French simplisme, from simple, simple, from Old French; see simple : first, call it a `remediation plan,' then dump the toxins of commerce into the open ocean, after it drifts around in the water for days or weeks and eventually settles in, call it a `sand cap,' and say with a straight face its purpose is to `protect' a huge toxic stain on the ocean floor at the site that EPA and the Army Corps of Engineers has permitted to develop for over 50 years. The Slacks, a local Manhattan band will headline the benefit next Friday night starting at 8:00 p.m. at Void, a club and bar at 16 Mercer Street, near Canal. (Enter on side alley). Admission is $10 at the door and includes free beer and vodka for the first hour. The benefit will end at approximately 1 a.m. Performance artist Gecko gecko (gĕk`ō), small or medium-sized lizard of the family Gekkonidae. The more than 300 species are distributed throughout the warm regions of the world, mostly in the Old World. Despite folklore to the contrary, their bite is not poisonous. , `The Silver Surfer,' will provide live entertainment. Lisbeth & The Lancelots, a rock & blues cover band, will warm-up. Benefit sponsors include Gotham Surf Club, an organization of New York City New York City: see New York, city. New York City City (pop., 2000: 8,008,278), southeastern New York, at the mouth of the Hudson River. The largest city in the U.S. surfers, Surfers' Environmental Alliance (SEA), a grass-roots coastal ecology group based in Santa Cruz, Calif., New York and New Jersey, and Quiksilver, a surf gear manufacturer and retail surf shop at 109 Spring Street, SoHo, New York City. All proceeds directly benefit SEA's fight against ocean dumping. |
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