by Rahul Chadha
In the days leading up to a recent public hearing about a hazardous materials permit, the little-known Radiac Research Corporation had been seizing its fair share of ink, as the media’s apocalypse antennas were perked by the idea of a nuclear holocaust taking place in Williamsburg’s backyard. Various headlines described the low-slung building on South 1st Street as both a “terror-target” and a “nuke waste firm.” Copywriters were, no doubt, employing a bit of artistic license to grab the attention of readers, but it’s hard to argue that the innocuous appearance of the one-story building belies the danger housed inside its brick walls.
Accounts vary on when Radiac first opened its doors to some of the most hazardous chemicals known to man, but for at least the last 25 years the operation has been permitted by various state and federal agencies to serve as a temporary storage facility to those materials, as well as low-level radioactive waste, before it is shipped off for treatment, recycling or disposal. The chemicals that can be stored on site read as a litany of unpronounceable poisons: bromoacetone, chloromethyl benzene, diethyl arsine, phosgene, dinitrophenol, nitroanilene—each with a corresponding set of frightening effects on the health of those exposed to them.
That inventory, and charges that Radiac has been lax in the care and security of the chemicals, has residents and neighborhood activists pining for a relocation of the business to a less densely populated area. An accident in Radiac could easily trigger one of the worst environmental disasters New York City has ever seen, says Sean Nagle, the health and research director of activist organization El Puente’s Community Health and Education Institute. “Depending on which way the wind blows, you’re talking about a radius of 3 miles from [Radiac],” says Nagle, referring to the distance a plume of formaldehyde, which can be stored at Radiac, could travel. “You could take out both airports, lower Manhattan and parts of Brooklyn.”
Of major concern to activists and residents is the possibility that a fire beginning in the hazardous waste section of the site could easily leap to the adjoining radioactive waste storage space, transmuting the entire facility into a de facto dirty bomb. “It’s pretty much the synergy of the two together that makes everybody scared,” says Nagle.
Somewhat complicating the issue is the fact that the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation permits Radiac for containerized hazardous waste, while a separate permit issued by the State Department of Labor was granted for the facility to handle low-level radioactive waste—things like test tubes, syringes and clothing that have come in contact with radioactive material. El Puente’s Nagle believes that without the DEC’s hazardous materials permit, the monetary incentive for Radiac to remain in Brooklyn will evaporate. “I think they’re just trying to stay here as long as they can, until it’s not in their best interests anymore,” he says.
The recent DEC public hearing, held at P.S. 84 less than half a mile from Radiac, brought out a large cross-section of residents and activists opposed to the facility, as many as 400 by some press accounts. Ward Dennis, a resident of Williamsburg for a dozen years, was one of the many who presented testimony in opposition to Radiac before the DEC on May 23. “For the longest time I thought it was just a radioactive storage site,” says Dennis. “I was actually a lot more concerned about it once I found out that it did store all these chemicals that have the potential, at least, for a hell of a combination.” But Dennis was disappointed when the representative presiding over proceedings informed attendees that a preliminary decision to approve the permit had already been made. “It seemed a little bit backwards to me,” he says.
Radiac does have a troubling history of failing to adhere to safety regulations. An environmental impact study commissioned by the NYC Department of City Planning during the recent North Brooklyn rezoning process noted that the site “has a long list of RCRIS violations,” referring to the Resource Conservation and Recovery Information System, a database operated by the Environmental Protection Agency. According to the study, Radiac has been cited for violating both general standards of such a storage facility, as well as preparedness/prevention requirements. And in 2001 Radiac received a fire protection report and analysis they themselves had commissioned that found that, “the current water-based fire protection system at the facility is inadequate to control the fire origination from a 55-gallon container” of the highly flammable chemical heptane, which is stored at the building.
El Puente and fellow activist organization Neighbors Against Garbage (NAG) plan to bolster their position with testimony from fire and public health experts troubled by Radiac’s location, and recently submitted a 61-page issues petition to the DEC through a lawyer which, among other things, described Radiac as “a ticking time bomb.” The document argues that Radiac does not meet necessary safety standards and that the application for permit renewal was insufficient and should therefore be considered an entirely new application. Regardless of where DEC comes down on the issue, it is clear that the losing side will file an appeal, pushing a final decision on the permit to late fall, says Nagle.
Deborah Masters, the former chair of Community Board 1’s environmental committee and a member of NAG, doesn’t necessarily blame Radiac for the current situation, noting that the industrial tenor of the neighborhood has eroded in recent years in favor of more profitable residential housing. Analysis by the activist groups of census data collected between 1990 and 2000 shows a significant spike in the number of residents, and specifically a doubling of the population on Radiac’s block. Masters believes state or city agencies should have taken a stronger role in helping Radiac relocate to a more suitable area. “I’m just really disappointed at the city for not paying attention to this issue,” she says.
With recent North Brooklyn rezoning efforts likely to bring in a host of high-income residents to Williamsburg, activists you might expect to be opposed to gentrification are hoping it will bring the neighborhood some benefit in attending political clout. Developers keen on burnishing Williamsburg into an enclave of the wealthy are likely interested in settling the issue in a manner that will help them move units. In fact, in an interview with a local newspaper, Masters acknowledged that a developer donated $30,000 to help foot the bill of legal fees incurred by the groups during their fight.
For years, the minority and low-income residents of Williamsburg have played unwilling hosts to a bevy of environmental injustices: power plants, sewage treatment facilities, 
failed attempts to relocate garbage incinerators and a highly disproportionate number of waste transfer stations. Another analysis by activists, included in the issues petition sent to the DEC, found that the majority of residents living within a one-mile radius of Radiac were people of color. The staggering environmental injustice issues are enough to frustrate anyone.
“It just seems like [the residents] deserve better,” says Masters. “It’s just very disheartening to me that all this money is being spent on homeland security while Williamsburg is being ignored.”
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A Greener Greenpoint
Park Space and Floating Pool on Waterfront
by Christy Nicholson
Imagine a floating swimming pool in the East River and diving into water on water. A public pool built within a steel barge, anchored off the end of Greenpoint Avenue, is part of the New York Economic Development Corporation (NY EDC) and Parks Department’s plan to reconstruct the abandoned waterfront space between Kent Street and Greenpoint Avenue, in the next two years. The neighborhood has hoped for more green space and accessible waterfront – the new park will provide it all.
Donna Walcavage, of Landscape Architecture and Urban Design, presented her concept for the park on June 1st, at a community meeting led by the NYEDC, Parks Department and Community Board #1 (CB#1).
Ornamental grasses, shade structures and a terraced lawn gently sloping towards the waterfront are intended to provide a calm public space. There are plans for a bird garden, a climbing wall and children’s playground. Stretching out over the East River will be short bridges connecting platforms or ‘pods’, each approximately 20 by 30 feet. Floating wetlands sit just off the sides of the pods. Finally, at the end of the pier of pods, the innovative plan calls for the mooring of a floating pool.
The pool is courtesy of the Neptune Foundation, Inc., a non-profit group. It will be built in Louisiana and shipped to its home on the East River. The 81 by 50 foot pool could migrate to various locations around New York, but it is currently planned for the Greenpoint Avenue Park.
Greenpoint residents attending the June 1st meeting are excited they may have access, finally, to a public pool. But there are challenges. According to Dana Rubinstein, spokesperson for the Parks Department, the shallow waters next to the park force the pool to be anchored farther off shore. There are also high utility costs, which will need to be approved and paid by the NYEDC.
The park area had been home to the old WNYC transmitter tower, unused for over 15 years. The City tore down the hazardous tower five years ago, and the Parks Department took ownership of the land. Now they are starting real work on the park.
After months of conflict between residents, activists and government over the rezoning of the waterfront, it is a relief to have one project without disagreement, as Julie Lawrence, Chair of Waterfront, for CB#1 said, “I think both the design and the planning process have been fantastic. The partnership between NYEDC, the Parks Department, and CB#1 has been unusually productive and smooth.”
So far so good – but don’t count the chickens…yet. Should plans for the floating pool be scrapped, expect outspoken negativity from residents and the community.
The next public government meeting will take place this September, with the unveiling of the park’s schematic design. The NYEDC hopes to have the park completed within two years.
