Toxic blob left at Brooklyn construction site for days, enraging Gowanus residents: Stinking sh-tberg
Beware the blob.A huge smelly blob of black sludge was unearthed this week at a construction site for new housing going up along Brooklyn’s toxic Gowanus Canal, and concerned neighbors said the noxious material was left exposed for days, feet from a busy intersection and school.Residents complained to state environmental officials on Monday about the mystery mound at Bond and Union Streets, and accused the developer of utter indifference.“They don’t give a sh-t,” a concerned parent told The Post on Friday.“This site is half-a-block away from an elementary school, and the sidewalk is 10 feet from that stinking sh-tberg.
They should’ve had it covered immediately” with thick plastic and a vapor suppressing foam.The material is suspected to be coal tar — a highly toxic byproduct of plants that produced coal gas and coke for a century.It gives off an “acrid, toxic mothball-type smell,” the parent said, likely because it contains naphthalene, a harmful hydrocarbon used to make mothballs and insecticides.“If its toxic, it should have been removed, not just left out in the open,” the parent added.“It would be like taking fuel rods out of Chernobyl, and putting them on the sidewalk and collecting them later.
It’s outrageous.”The state Department of Environmental Conservation visited the site on Tuesday, and issued a stop-work order.Since then, large sheets of plastic were placed over the 20-foot-tall, 30-foot-wide pile, and work has resumed.Pictures shared with The Post confirm the developer, Tankhouse, also covered all of the viewing windows along the boarded construction site as well as a gate to the site, preventing anyone from looking in on the work.A city Department of Buildings spokesperson confirmed to The Post such coverings violate the city’s building code, but noted they’ve received no complaints about the obstructed viewing holes.
“If DOB does receive 311 complaints about this issue, we will route an inspector to the site to ...