In April 2024, EPA proposed a plan to protect people living and working in residential and commercial buildings (this is referred to as Operating Unit 2 aka OU2, while OU1 pertains to the entire plume site) at the Meeker Avenue Plume Superfund site in the Greenpoint/East Williamsburg area of Brooklyn. Groundwater and soil in the area is contaminated with chlorinated volatile organic compounds (CVOCs), including tetrachloroethylene (PCE) and trichloroethylene (TCE), which can vaporize from groundwater, travel through soil and seep into buildings through their foundations.
EPA’s preferred alternative for OU2 calls for the installation of sub-slab depressurization systems at residential and non-residential properties where multiple lines of evidence indicate that subsurface vapor intrusion resulting from Site-related contamination is occurring at concentrations that represent a threat or potential threat to human health, as well as additional preventative measures, where necessary, such as the sealing of cracks and gaps in the lowest level of a structure. To use multiple lines of evidence means that EPA will evaluate multiple pieces of information and data to support a conclusion.
On 09/27/2024 a Record of Decision was approved allowing for this remedial action to proceed.
View more details, fact sheets and presentation files on the EPA project site.
View the CAG’s comments on the proposal.