By Elizabeth Hays

08-02-04

Theresa Perrino has lived on Apollo St in Greenpoint for 60 years -- almost as long as a massive oil spill has lurked beneath her house. So when she found out that an environmental group wanted to sue the oil companies accused of leaking the oil to make them clean it up faster, Perrino was relieved.

"People always talk about it, that they're walking on danger," said Perrino, 72, standing in the entrance of her tidy house. It is one of about 100 homes and scores of businesses that sit atop the largest underground oil spill in the country. "It should be cleaned up as fast as possible, so we can finally stop worrying about it," Perrino said of the spill.

Last month, the environmental watchdog group Riverkeeper and a group of community activists started legal proceedings against ExxonMobil, BP Amoco and other companies over the 17 mm gallon oil plume that leaked into the ground beginning in the 1940s. The 55-acre spill runs beneath the former Mobil Terminal and the Amoco Terminal along Newtown Creek as well as under parts of the surrounding neighbourhood.
In 1990, Mobil signed a consent order with the state Department of Environmental Conservation agreeing to clean up the mammoth spill, which is larger than 1989's infamous Exxon Valdez spill in Alaska.

But Riverkeeper charges the company is moving too slowly on the cleanup, and is allowing oil to regularly seep into nearby Newtown Creek. Riverkeeper investigators found oil contaminating the creek on at least 14 boat trips along the water body over the past 15 months. The regional environmental group filed a notice of intent to file suit against ExxonMobil and the other companies Jan. 23.
"The way this oil spill has been handled has been nothing short of a disgrace," said Riverkeeper Executive Director Alex Matthiessen.

Riverkeeper also charged the consent order did not seek adequate penalties from the alleged polluters, provide compensation for community residents or set a time frame for cleanup.
State Department of Environmental Conservation spokesman Matt Burns said the agency "continues to monitor cleanup activities at this site, and... is currently developing upgrades that responsible parties will be required to complete to expedite the cleanup process. Perrino's neighbours on Apollo St. also welcomed the lawsuit, though some remained sceptical that it would clean up the oil once and for all.
"I don't understand how they get away with it," said Tom Petrowski, 68, who moved to the neighbourhood in 1959 and raised five children there.

Source: Daily News