Obama's EPA Notices The Infamous Gowanus Canal

For years decades well over a century, the Gowanus Canal that runs through Brooklyn has been a polluted man-made waterway. Even though many factories that used to line it are gone, the pollution is still there and it is still a problem. Although there have been many complaints, few have impressed the ears of the powerful. Now that Obama is in office (and with so many New Yorkers scattered about the White House) things are about to change.

From The Gothamist:

The Gowanus Canal, which has long been festering with gonohorrea, may be on the road to getting cleaned up. OTBKB reports that the EPA is likely adding the 1.8 mile long waterway to their Superfund National Priorities List (NPL), meaning the agency would take a look at the contaminated site and work towards bettering it. In their press release, the EPA begins at the beginning, saying, "The canal was built in the 19th century to allow industrial access into Gowanus Bay. After its completion in the 1860s, the canal became a busy industrial waterway, acting as the home to heavy industries, including manufactured gas plants, coal yards, concrete-mixing facilities, tanneries, chemical plants, and oil refineries. It was also the repository of untreated industrial wastes, raw sewage and runoff." All that history, and it still has heavy kayak activity.

Now that's change Brooklyn can believe in! Though I wonder how they'll get rid of the gonohorrea? Can you treat a canal with penicilin?