news! ...from greenpoint, USA

there is good news for the residents of greenpoint, brooklyn: the new york attorney general, andrew cuomo, is finally filing suit against exxonmobile and other companies who operated along newtown creek decades ago. during the course of their business on the creek they leaked approximately 17 million gallons into the ground and adjacent creek, creating one of the world's largest oil spills, bigger than the widely known exxon valdez tanker spill.

the spill has contaminated ground water and soil in the northern part of my neighborhood so much that there are now toxic vapors emanating from the ground. while the suit will do nothing to stop this immediately, it should quicken the pace of the clean-up and extract large sums of money from exxonmobile.

there was a weak agreement made between the state and the oil companies in 1990 but there were no penalties leveed against the companies and no deadline for clean-up. cynically, it would seem now that greenpoint is the focus of major development and there's the possibility that rich people will be living in the neighborhood, the state has finally come around to forcing the oil companies' hand.

further reading:
cuomo sues exxonmobile: Crain's NY Business
history of the spill: Riverkeeper
image source: Greenpoint v. Exxon