Lawsuit reveals shocking new details about one of America's most

A creek in New York has seen hundreds of years of pollution, and cleanup is proving more complicated than local officials thought.

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What’s happening?

A recent lawsuit has revealed more about the state of the Gowanus Canal, one of America’s most polluted waterways.

The Gowanus Canal is a roughly two-mile-long creek in Brooklyn, New York. For over a century, nearby manufacturers, like paper mills and chemical plants, would dump their hazardous waste into the tiny creek.

The creek drains into New York Harbor and has sent a sludge of sewage, chemicals, and trash into the bay.

Cleanup of the canal has been underway for nearly 10 years, and the lawsuit, filed by National Grid, seeks additional financial help to clean the canal.

Why is the lawsuit important?

National Grid is an electric and gas company that, in the 2000s, bought out the gas company responsible for polluting the canal throughout the 1800s and 1900s. So, while National Grid didn’t do the polluting itself, the responsibility falls on it.

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The company has been working alongside the Environmental Protection Agency to clean up the canal, but the financial burden may be too much to bear alone. National Grid is seeking “a judge to force 40 other groups and companies to help foot the bill for the decontamination, which is estimated to cost at least $1 billion,” per Gothamist.

If other companies don’t pitch in, New Yorkers may pay the price. According to Gothamist, “National Grid suggested in legal filings it could be forced to hike gas rates for New Yorkers if other groups don’t help pay for the work.”

What’s being done about the canal?

The lawsuit goes in-depth into the canal’s contents, which include oil and coal, chemical concoctions, sewage, and other industrial waste.

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The canal has become a hazardous, odorous sludge.

“This canal right here is mutant water,” local resident Kay Ali told Gothamist. “If you jump in, you’re not coming back out; you’re straight sinking in.”

More in U.S.

National Grid is working closely with the EPA and has met many major milestones — storage tanks, canal dredging, and trash pickup — but there’s still a lot of work to do.

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