Hazard NYC Podcast - The Legacy of the Manhattan Project Lives On in Queens - Season 2: Episode 3

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A small patch of land and the buildings located on it contain radiological contamination, posing a cancer risk for workers on the site and nearby neighbors. Work is ongoing to get rid of the threat — but it hasn’t been easy to get there.

Samantha Maldonado, senior reporter at THE CITY,  and independent journalist Jordan Gass-Pooré dig in on episode three of Hazard NYC, a four-part FAQ NYC Presents limited series exploring the city’s Superfund sites.

See and read more about The Wolff-Alport Chemical Company Superfund site here.

If you like what you’re hearing, please spread the word, and subscribe on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube or wherever podcasts are found.

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Read the episode transcript below:

**HS VO [PRE-ROLL] **

It’s FAQ NYC Off Cycle, where the New Yorkest podcast from the newsroom by and for New Yorkers, THE CITY, steps back to take different and deeper looks into some of the things that are always happening here in the only place in the world. You’re about to hear part 3 of Hazard NYC, a special four-part series, with a new episode out each Saturday, looking at a different one of New York’s four federal superfund sites. It’s part of the Pulitzer Center’s nationwide Connected Coastlines reporting initiative. Find more at pulitzercenter.org/connected-coastlines. Hazard NYC is also made possible by the generous support of the Fund for Investigative Journalism. Hazard NYC is supported in part by Newlab – a platform helping deep-tech startups succeed to address the climate crisis. Learn more at newlab.com. Let’s jump right in.

SM VO

IT WAS LATE AUGUST LAST YEAR… AND I WAS IN RIDGEWOOD, QUEENS, IN AN OVERGROWN LOT RIGHT NEAR THE BORDER OF BUSHWICK, BROOKLYN.

I WATCHED AS THREE MEN TRIED TO HAUL OUT OLD CARS FROM THE LOT BEHIND THEIR AUTO SHOP.

[SOUND OF VAN REVVING ENGINE]

SM VO

THE MEN WERE USING A RED VAN TO PULL OUT A JUNKED UP SILVER SEDAN. IT WASN’T GOING SMOOTHLY. THE VAN WAS SMOKING… AND THE BUMPER CAME OFF THE CAR.

THE MAN DRIVING THE VAN… ALBERTO… OWNED THE AUTO SHOP. HE HAD WORKED THERE FOR OVER 25 YEARS.

BY THE NEXT DAY… HE AND HIS STAFF WOULD HAVE TO LEAVE.

[MUX IN: “Hazard NYC Theme”]

**Alberto Rodriguez: **I have to clean it. (Sam: The whole yard?) Alberto: Yes.

SM VO

THEIR MOVE WOULD BE THE FIRST STEP IN CLEANING UP A SUPERFUND SITE.

THIS IS HAZARD N-Y-C… A MINI SERIES FROM F-A-Q N-Y-C.

I’M SAMANTHA MALDONADO… A REPORTER WITH THE CITY.

JGP VO

AND I’M JORDAN GASS POORE… AN INDEPENDENT JOURNALIST AND PODCAST PRODUCER.

ON THIS EPISODE… WE HEAD TO A SMALL PLOT OF LAND WHERE OFFICIALS FOUND RADIOLOGICAL CONTAMINATION.

[MUX OUT: “Hazard NYC Theme”]

SM VO

ALBERTO’S AUTO SHOP SITS ON TOP OF LAND FORMERLY OCCUPIED BY THE WOLFF ALPORT CHEMICAL COMPANY.

WE’LL GET TO WHAT THAT WAS IN A BIT… BUT THE THING TO KNOW NOW IS THAT FOR YEARS… ALBERTO AND HIS STAFF HAD BEEN WORKING AROUND POTENTIALLY DANGEROUS LEVELS OF RADIATION.

ALBERTO SAYS HE WAS CONCERNED ABOUT THE HEALTH RISKS ASSOCIATED WITH THAT RADIATION.

**Alberto Rodriguez: **Right now he got, like, a radiation on the floor. I never know that. Became very bad. (Sam: Are you worried?) Alberto: Yes.

SM VO

ALBERTO AND HIS STAFF WEAR MATCHING NAVY BLUE UNIFORMS WITH THEIR NAMES EMBROIDERED ON THEM.

AND THEY’RE SURROUNDED BY METAL… AND THE RUMBLING OF ENGINES AWAITING REPAIR.

**Alberto Rodriguez: **27 years in the business. And by now, I don't have a business now if everything is shut up. I'm crazy right now. I've got my hands tied.

SM VO

ALBERTO DID END UP MOVING. SO DID THE OTHER BUSINESSES ON THE BLOCK… A DELI AND ANOTHER AUTO REPAIR SHOP.

WHAT WAS HAPPENING TO THEM NOW HAD EVERYTHING TO DO WITH THE LAND’S HISTORY OF CONTAMINATION.

FUNNY ENOUGH… WHEN I VISITED ALBERTO AT WORK… IT WAS AROUND THE SAME TIME A CERTAIN BLOCKBUSTER MOVIE HIT THEATERS.

JGP VO

I’M GUESSING YOU MEAN OPPENHEIMER… IF WE’RE TALKING ABOUT RADIATION.

SM VO

THAT’S RIGHT.

JGP VO

SO… WAS THE ATOMIC BOMB INVOLVED SOMEHOW?

SM VO

YUP.

[ARCHIVE]

THE RADIOLOGICAL CONTAMINATION ON THE LAND ALBERTO AND HIS STAFF WORKED ON CAME FROM THE WOLFF ALPORT CHEMICAL COMPANY… WE MENTIONED THIS EARLIER. THAT COMPANY HELPED THE U-S DEVELOP NUCLEAR WEAPONS.

**Matthew Bolton: So, **I think that the key to understanding this story is understanding the kind of history of nuclear New York.

JGP VO

THAT’S MATTHEW BOLTON… A POLITICAL SCIENCE PROFESSOR AT PACE UNIVERSITY.

**Matthew Bolton: **The Manhattan Project was so named because it began in Manhattan.

JGP VO

DURING WORLD WAR TWO… THE MANHATTAN PROJECT WAS THE COUNTRY’S SECRET EFFORT TO BUILD AN ATOMIC BOMB.

MATTHEW SAYS THE PROJECT WAS A COLLABORATION BETWEEN THE FEDS AND OTHER SCIENTIFIC MINDS FROM AROUND THE WORLD.

**Matthew Bolton: **The early Manhattan Project was a massive, like, subcontracting effort, where they tried to buy the expertise, the raw materials, the labor, the skills of the private sector in-and-around New York City initially, and most of those were in kind of, like, peripheral industrial zones.

JGP VO

AFTER THE WAR… THE FEDS CREATED THE ATOMIC ENERGY COMMISSION TO RAMP UP THE DEVELOPMENT OF NUCLEAR WEAPONS.

THE COMMISSION… A PREDECESSOR TO THE U-S DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY… CONTRACTED WITH THE WOLFF ALPORT CHEMICAL COMPANY IN THE LATE 19-40S.

UNTIL THE MID-19-50S… THE COMPANY PROCESSED MONAZITE SANDS TO EXTRACT RARE EARTH MINERALS THEY COULD SELL.

THAT SAND CONTAINS THE RADIOACTIVE SUBSTANCES THORIUM AND URANIUM…

…SO DOES THE WASTE THAT WAS CREATED IN THE PROCESS.

THE COMPANY DISPOSED OF THEIR WASTE PRODUCT… BY BURYING IT IN THE SOIL… AND DUMPING IT DOWN THE NEARBY SEWERS.

Matthew Bolton: The Manhattan Project and the early nuclear weapons program after the war are happening at breakneck speed. There aren't very clear radiation protection standards in place, and even the ones that were were often not followed carefully.

[MUX IN: “Never Alone”]

SM VO

THE WOLFF ALPORT CHEMICAL COMPANY KEPT DUMPING ITS WASTE AROUND UNTIL 19-47… WHEN THE FEDS TOLD THE COMPANY TO STOP.

THE COMPANY THEN SOLD THE WASTE TO THE U-S ATOMIC ENERGY COMMISSION.

IN 19-54… THE COMPANY CLOSED… BUT WHAT WAS LEFT BEHIND… LIVES ON.

JGP VO

TESTING IN THE LATE EIGHTIES REVEALED RADIOLOGICAL CONTAMINATION… IN THE SOIL AND IN THE FLOORS AND WALLS OF THE BUILDINGS ON THE SITE.

BECAUSE THE MONAZITE SAND WAS SHIPPED TO THE COMPANY’S SITE VIA RAIL… CONTAMINATION WAS ALSO FOUND BENEATH A RAILROAD SPUR.

BUT THE LEVELS WERE BELOW REGULATORY STANDARDS AT THE TIME.

SM VO

EVEN SO… THE CITY AND STATE KEPT INVESTIGATING THE SITE IN THE FOLLOWING DECADES.

THE CONTAMINATION STAYED THE SAME… BUT THE REGULATORY STANDARDS FOR RISKY LEVELS BECAME STRICTER.

JGP VO

THE FEDERAL AGENCY FOR TOXIC SUBSTANCES AND DISEASE REGISTRY CONDUCTED A REVIEW OF THE SITE IN 20-12.

OFFICIALS FOUND POSSIBLE HEALTH RISKS TO WORKERS IN THE AREA… AND TO PEOPLE WHO OFTEN STROLLED ALONG THE SIDEWALKS.

THOSE FINDINGS COMPELLED THE STATE TO ASK THE E-P-A TO GET INVOLVED.

IN 20-14… THE E-P-A DESIGNATED THE TRIANGULAR PATCH OF LAND A SUPERFUND SITE AND GOT MOVING TO CLEAN IT UP.

THAT’S AROUND THE TIME JULIE DENT LEARNED MORE ABOUT THE AREA.

[MUX OUT: “Never Alone”]

**Julie Dent: **I grew up in Bushwick, you always heard about it, you know, they did something up here with the atomic bomb, so on and so forth. But then you don't really put so much emphasis on it at the time. So, when they decided whatever they were going to do, and, you know, with the environmental protection and cleanup, that's when I started really looking into it then.

JGP VO

JULIE WAS ON THE LOCAL COMMUNITY BOARD FOR OVER 30 YEARS… AND ATTENDED COUNTLESS MEETINGS ABOUT THE SUPERFUND SITE.

ONE DAY… JULIE SAYS SHE NOTICED SOME WORKERS EXAMINING THE SIDEWALKS IN THE AREA.

**Julie Dent: **You know me, I said, ‘Well, what are they doing to the sidewalk?’ So I went down and I asked them, so they told me what they were testing for. And then someone from the Environmental Protection, they came, and they met with me and they explained what was going on.

SM VO

THE E-P-A WAS TESTING FOR RADON. THAT’S A RADIOACTIVE GAS THAT CAN CAUSE LUNG CANCER. IT’S A DECAYED PRODUCT OF THORIUM AND URANIUM.

THERE’S A DAYCARE CENTER AND A PUBLIC ELEMENTARY SCHOOL ABOUT TWO BLOCKS AWAY FROM THE WOLFF ALPORT CHEMICAL COMPANY SITE.

AND FOR 25 YEARS… JULIE WAS THE DIRECTOR OF THAT DAY CARE. SHE SAYS SHE WAS WORRIED THE KIDS MIGHT GET SICK.

**Julie Dent: **Because you do hear about some of the sites where there's a lot of chemicals or whatever, and they say children end up getting cancer or, you know, different things like that. So, of course, you're concerned about the children. Their safety, you know, is paramount.

SM VO

THE E-P-A ENDED UP TESTING THE DAY CARE CENTER AND THE SCHOOL... TO MAKE SURE EVERYTHING WAS OKAY.

**Julie Dent: **When they did the testing inside of the center they put down little containers or something, and they would put them throughout the center over the weekend, and then they would come in early Monday morning before the children arrived and they would pick them up.

JGP VO

ANDREW KARAM… A RADIATION EXPERT AND HEALTH PHYSICIST… PERFORMED SOME OF THAT TESTING AT THE TIME.

**Andy Karam: **We spent an awful lot of time trying to make sure that there wasn't any way that the radioactivity could have escaped from the site.

JGP VO

HE STUDIED THE WOLFF-ALPORT SITE FOR SEVERAL YEARS… STARTING IN 2009. \

AFTER TESTING… THE E-P-A DETERMINED THE DAY CARE CENTER WAS IN THE CLEAR.

BUT OFFICIALS _DID _FIND SOMETHING AT THE SCHOOL.

**Andy Karam: **The only place where we found elevated levels was inside a hole in the concrete in the basement, in a place where no student or no adult would go.

JGP VO

THE E-P-A SEALED THE HOLE AND MONITORED IT. ANDREW WASN’T CONCERNED.

Andrew Karam: If somebody farts in an elevator, it smells worse than if they're outside. And basically, that's the effect that they had there. There was this little pocket that everything was going into, and it just collected there.

JGP VO

ON AND AROUND THE SITE ITSELF… THE E-P-A TOOK OTHER MEASURES TO PROTECT PEOPLE AND WORKERS.

HERE’S LORA SMITH-STAINES... A HUMAN HEALTH RISK ASSESSOR WITH THE E-P-A.

**Lora Smith Staine: **The more time that you're exposed to something, the more likely that it could impact your DNA and lead to cancer. You want to decrease your time, increase your distance, and increase your shielding from these sorts of contaminants.

SM VO

TO BLOCK RADIATION EXPOSURE… THE E-P-A INSTALLED SHIELDING MADE OF LEAD… STEEL… AND CONCRETE INSIDE SOME OF THE PROPERTIES ON THE SITE AND OVER THE SIDEWALK.

THEY ALSO INSTALLED A MITIGATION SYSTEM IN ONE OF THE BUILDINGS.

JGP VO

THIS IS BASICALLY LIKE WHAT WE SAW IN THE HOME OF AN EAST WILLIAMSBURG RESIDENT IN THE PREVIOUS EPISODE ABOUT THE MEEKER AVENUE PLUME.

SM VO

THE SYSTEM HELPS VENT OUT ANY POSSIBLE TOXIC FUMES SO THEY DON’T BUILD UP INDOORS.

HERE’S E-P-A PROJECT MANAGER TOM MONGELLI.

**Tom Mongelli: **Depending on where you're looking in the building, the mitigation measures were successful in reducing radiation exposure, anywhere from 60 to about 95%, which is great, but they were always intended to be a short term solution to a larger problem.

JGP VO

THE E-P-A WANTED TO DO MORE IN THE LONG-TERM TO CLEAN UP THE SITE.

SO… THEY CAME UP WITH A PLAN.

THE FIRST STEP WAS GETTING THE SITE CLEARED.

**Tom Mongelli: **It's the tenant relocations.

JGP VO

EVEN THOUGH THE WOLFF ALPORT CHEMICAL COMPANY CLOSED DECADES AGO… THE AREA REMAINED HOME TO A FEW LOCAL BUSINESSES.

IN RECENT YEARS THOSE INCLUDED… A BEVERAGE DISTRIBUTOR… AN ICE SELLER… A CONSTRUCTION COMPANY… AN IRONWORK COMPANY… AND A DELI.

BUT AS PART OF THE CLEANUP PLAN FOR THE SITE… WHICH THE E-P-A DEVELOPED IN 20-17… ALL THE BUSINESSES HAD TO LEAVE.

SM VO

JUST LIKE ALBERTO… THE OWNER OF THE AUTO SHOP WE MET AT THE TOP OF THE EPISODE.

THAT CLEARS THE WAY FOR THE NEXT STEPS OF THE CLEAN UP.

**Tom Mongelli: **The building demolition, which, you know, won't be completed until maybe early summer 2024. The soil excavation would follow. And that should take another one-to-two years to complete. That’s EPA’s portion of the cleanup.

SM VO

NEW YORK CITY IS ALSO ON THE HOOK FOR PART OF THE CLEANUP… SINCE IT OWNS THE SEWERS AND SIDEWALKS THAT ARE CONTAMINATED.

THE CITY WILL HAVE TO REMEDIATE THOSE AREAS TOO.

THE IDEA IS TO GET RID OF ALL THE POLLUTION… OR AS MUCH AS POSSIBLE… TO REDUCE PEOPLE’S EXPOSURE TO RADIATION.

IF THE WASTE REMAINED… IT WOULD TAKE LITERALLY BILLIONS OF YEARS FOR IT TO DECAY.

**Tom Mongelli: **It is a long-term health concern for people who are living or working in those buildings. And it would continue to be essentially forever.

JGP VO

AS EARLY AS 20-17… THE BUSINESS OWNERS KNEW THEY’D HAVE TO PACK UP.

BUT THEY DIDN’T.

…EVEN WHEN THE E-P-A SET SET A DEADLINE FOR THEM IN 20-21 TO LEAVE BY THE FOLLOWING YEAR.

**Tom Mongelli: **You know, that deadline came and went. And so we did, unfortunately, have to end up going through the Department of Justice and taking the tenants to court.

SM VO

IN 20-23… A FEDERAL JUDGE ORDERED ALL THE BUSINESSES OUT BY THE END OF THAT AUGUST.

THAT WAS WHEN I WAS WITH ALBERTO AS HE STARTED THE MOVE OUT PROCESS.

THE BUSINESS OWNERS WEREN’T PLEASED… EVEN THOUGH THE E-P-A SAID THEY’D GET MONEY TO HELP WITH MOVING COSTS.

**Andy Bermeo: **I haven't seen nobody turn to a zombie or anything or die, so...

JGP VO

ANDY BERMEO WAS AN AUTO SHOP OWNER ON THE SITE. HE SAID HE THOUGHT THE OFFER WASN’T ENOUGH… AND THAT THE CONCERNS AROUND CONTAMINATION WERE OVERBLOWN.

**Andy Bermeo: **This sucks, but it is what it is. You gotta move on. You gotta, you know, do what you got to do.

JGP VO

ANDY’S BUSINESS WAS THE FINAL ONE LEFT AT THE SITE LAST SEPTEMBER… BUT HE EVENTUALLY LEFT TOO.

HE GOT 40-THOUSAND-DOLLARS FROM THE E-P-A AND SET UP HIS SHOP IN GREENPOINT.

SM VO

FOR WHAT IT’S WORTH… THE RISKS OF CANCER AND OTHER HEALTH EFFECTS FROM RADIATION EXPOSURE REALLY DEPENDS ON THE AMOUNT… AND FOR HOW LONG.

**HS VO [mid-ROLL] **

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[WALKING AMBI]

JGP VO

LAST FALL… I WENT OUT TO THE WOLFF-ALPORT SITE WITH ANDREW TO SEE HOW HE MEASURED RADIATION LEVELS.

HE BROUGHT TWO DIFFERENT TYPES OF RADIATION DETECTORS THAT… WHEN USED TOGETHER… WOULD HELP US GET A BETTER IDEA OF THE RADIATION LEVELS AT THE SITE.

**Andy Karam: **If I remember right, the hottest spot’s outside were right down here in front of Primo. So, I'm up to 25 on this one. This one's up to 27.

JGP VO

BEFORE THIS… THE LAST TIME HE WAS AT THE SITE WAS IN 20-13.

BACK THEN… AND IN THE PREVIOUS YEARS… HE TRIED TO UNDERSTAND THE RISKS OF EXPOSURE.

**Andy Karam: **This business right here, they're doing auto repair, which means that guys are sometimes laying on their backs underneath the cars, changing the oil, changing the tires, or whatever. How long do they spend doing that each day? Where are they doing it? because the dose rate over at one location might be twice what it is just maybe 10 feet away.

SM VO

ANDREW SAYS THERE’S NO REAL REASON TO WORRY ABOUT RADIATION EXPOSURE AT THE WOLFF ALPORT SITE.

BUT IT’S AN OPINION THAT DIFFERS FROM THE E-P-A.

**Andy Karam: **To my mind, the risk of working there from the radiation was no greater than the risk that they would have of just working any job. And so I felt that a sensible approach would be to try to encapsulate it, rather than to try to remove it, and my boss disagreed with that.

SM VO

HIS BOSS PREVAILED.

JPG VO

THE E-P-A DID CONSIDER PUTTING A CAP OVER THE CONTAMINATED AREAS… BUT DECIDED AGAINST IT.

IN PART… THAT’S BECAUSE THE AGENCY WOULD HAVE TO CONTINUALLY MONITOR THE SITE FOR LEAKS AND CONDUCT SAMPLING UNTIL THE CONTAMINATION FINALLY BROKE DOWN AFTER BILLIONS OF YEARS.

SM VO

THROUGH HIS WORK… ANDREW SAYS IN OTHER PLACES HE’S DETECTED HIGHER LEVELS OF RADIATION THAN WHAT HE’S EVER FOUND AT THE WOLFF ALPORT SITE.

**Andy Karam: **It's true: Radiation can cause cancer, and you can die of radiation-induced cancer; it can cause birth defects and all these other things, it just takes much more to do any of those than what most people believe.

SM VO

HOW DO WE SQUARE ANDREW’S PERSPECTIVE WITH THE E-P-A’S?

JGP VO

DAVID BRENNER EXPLAINS. HE DIRECTS THE CENTER FOR RADIOLOGICAL RESEARCH AT COLUMBIA.

**David Brenner: **There is one school of thought that very low levels as a threshold, and below that there's really zero risk. The other school of thought, which probably I'm in that, the latter camp, is that as you go down in dose, the risk becomes lower and lower and lower. And as you go down and dose even more, the risk becomes lower and lower and lower, but never actually becomes zero. It's still bad. It's just very, very small.

JGP VO

AND WHILE SOME AUTO SHOP EMPLOYEES SPENT YEARS WORKING AT THE SITE… IT MAKES SENSE THAT THEY MIGHT NOT EXPERIENCE ANY HEALTH IMPACTS.

HERE’S LORA AGAIN.

**Lora Smith Staine: **You know, it's not a one-to-one that this exposure will result in this health effect. You know, it increases the likelihood that it will happen.

JGP VO

LORA SAYS OTHER FACTORS CAN CONTRIBUTE TO THE LIKELIHOOD OF WHETHER PEOPLE WOULD BE AFFECTED BY RADIATION… LIKE THEIR GENETIC HISTORY… OR WHETHER THEY SMOKE.

**Lora Smith Staine: **You know, there's a whole mix of things that each human has, you know, based on who they are and where they've grown up, and, you know, their hobbies and whatnot. So, it's really hard to say whether this exposure will result in cancer for any one person there.

SM VO

IN THE FALL OF 20-23… I MET UP WITH JULIE DENT… THE LONGTIME FIXTURE OF THE COMMUNITY AND FORMER DIRECTOR OF THE LOCAL DAY CARE CENTER.

[AMBI]

WE WALKED THE TWO BLOCKS FROM THE DAYCARE UP TO THE WOLFF ALPORT SITE. KIDS AT THE NEARBY ELEMENTARY SCHOOL WERE JUST GETTING OUT FOR RECESS.

[SFX: TRUCKS RUMBLING]

SM VO

AS WE PASSED SHINY APARTMENT BUILDINGS AND TIDY ROWHOMES… JULIE PEERED DOWN STREETS WITH WAREHOUSES AND NEW BUSINESSES.

**Julie Dent: **All of this is new.

[AMBI]

**Julie Dent: **The laundry mat is new.

SM VO

WE APPROACHED THE SUPERFUND SITE. IT HAD BEEN ENCLOSED WITH GREEN WOODEN WALLS.

BEHIND THOSE WALLS WERE THE AUTO SHOPS AND THE DELI… NOW EMPTY.

**Julie Dent: **Well, I used to go to this grocery store all the time [Sam: OK] and I would run and, you know, get a coffee and a buttered roll. People were very nice.

SM VO

AS WE GOT CLOSER… WE SAW THAT SOME OF THOSE WALLS HAD GRAFFITI SPRAYED ON THEM.

THERE WAS A NOTICE OF ASBESTOS ABATEMENT RIGHT NEXT TO A ROW OF WHEAT PASTED ADVERTISEMENTS.

**Julie Dent: **Why is Urban Outfitters sign over there? [Sam: I think they're just advertising.] Oh, they better be careful. People will think they are part of this [laughs]. I'm sure that they know that the community is changing.

SM VO

JULIE POINTED NORTH OF THE SITE… JUST A BIT AROUND THE CORNER.

**Julie Dent: **There is a little club they have down here. It's called Nowadays. [Sam: Yeah.] Julie: And you should… do you ever come around here at night? [Sam: I don't.] Julie: One day, get in your car and drive around here. It's a whole different atmosphere around here at night.

SM VO

JULIE WAS LAUGHING AS SHE THOUGHT ABOUT HOW MUCH THE NEIGHBORHOOD HAD CHANGED OVER HER LIFETIME. AND SHE ASKED ME WHAT WILL HAPPEN AFTER THE CLEAN UP

**Julie Dent: **Will they then build again?

[MUX IN: “Losing My Mind”]

JGP VO

WHEN THE E-P-A’S WORK IS DONE… THE PROPERTY OWNERS WILL GET THEIR LAND BACK… BUT THE BUILDINGS THAT STOOD THERE WILL HAVE BEEN DEMOLISHED.

THE LAND WILL BE CLEAN… AND THEY CAN DEVELOP IT.

SM VO

I TALKED TO A PROPERTY OWNER WHO DIDN’T WANT TO BE NAMED. HE WAS NOT HAPPY ABOUT THIS ARRANGEMENT.

HE SAID IT WASN’T FAIR HE WASN’T GETTING COMPENSATED WHILE HE COULDN’T COLLECT RENT ON HIS PROPERTY… EVEN THOUGH HE STILL HAS TO PAY PROPERTY TAXES.

HE SAID HE DIDN’T HAVE ANY IDEAS YET ABOUT WHAT HE’D DO WITH THE LAND ONCE HE GETS IT RETURNED TO HIM… AFTER THE CLEANUP.

JGP VO

WHILE THE AREA IS ZONED FOR COMMERCIAL AND INDUSTRIAL USES… IT CAN ALWAYS GET REZONED SO THAT HOUSING CAN BE BUILT.

THAT’S WHY THE E-P-A IS FOCUSED ON GETTING THE CLEANUP DONE… AND DONE WELL.

THE AGENCY IS MAKING THE ASSUMPTION THAT PEOPLE COULD LIVE ON THE SITE. SO THEY HAVE TO MAKE SURE IT’S CLEAN ENOUGH FOR THAT.

THE DEMOLITION WORK WILL CONTINUE UNTIL SPRING.

AFTER THAT… THE E-P-A AND ITS CONTRACTORS WILL BEGIN TO EXCAVATE THE SOIL.

[MUX OUT: “Losing My Mind”]

SM VO

THE E-P-A’S TOM MONGELLI HAS WORKED ON THE WOLFF-ALPORT SITE FOR MORE THAN A DECADE. SINCE THEN… HE SAYS HE’S BEEN ENDLESSLY FASCINATED BY THE SITE’S HISTORY.

HE’S SEEN REMNANTS OF THE WOLFF ALPORT CHEMICAL COMPANY’S PAST.

**Tom Mongelli: **If you go there today, you can still see the outlines of where the kilns used to be in the buildings.

SM VO

BUT TOM’S WORK IS FUTURE FOCUSED. HE MUST IMAGINE WHAT’S TO COME.

**Tom Mongelli: **What is the site look like 20, 30, 50,100 years from now?

SM VO

IT’S IMPOSSIBLE TO KNOW. BUT HE SAYS THE REMEDIATION PROCESS WILL TAKE AWAY RISKS TO FUTURE WORKERS AND RESIDENTS. THEY WON’T HAVE TO WORRY.

[THEME MUX IN]

JGP VO [CREDITS]

THIS HAS BEEN EPISODE THREE OF HAZARD N-Y-C… A SPECIAL FOUR PART LIMITED SERIES FROM F-A-Q N-Y-C.

THE SHOW IS WRITTEN AND HOSTED BY SAMANTHA MALDONADO…

AND ME… JORDAN GASS-POORE… THE CREATOR AND EDITOR OF THE SHOW.

OUR ENGINEERS ARE ADAM CHIMERA AND MARK BUSH… WHO ALSO DID OUR SOUND DESIGN.

MUSIC FOR THE SHOW WAS COMPOSED BY NICK PENNINGTON.

ARTWORK BY MATTHEW FLEMING.

COME BACK TOMORROW TO HEAR EPISODE FOUR.

[THEME MUX OUT]

**HS VO [POST-ROLL] **

FAQ NYC is part of The City, a nonprofit, nonpartisan newsroom dedicated to hard-hitting reporting that serves the people of New York. Our work is freely available to everyone, and is supported by listeners and readers like you — go to the city dot nyc slash give if you’d like to pitch in. Harry Siegel is FAQ NYC’s executive producer. The pod also receives support from P&T Knitwear, an independent bookstore, cafe, and event space on Manhattan's Lower East Side with a podcast studio that can be freely reserved for community use. The pod is a proud member of the Brickhouse cooperative of independent journalists, critics and artists, and is affiliated with the Colin Powell School at CUNY’s City College where co-host Christina Greer is one of the Moynihan Public Scholars inaugural fellows.