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Alarming levels of chemicals found inside Brooklyn public housing apartments that sit near toxic spills

The New York Daily News - 9/7/2018

Sept. 07--A Brooklyn NYCHA development located next to land that's been tainted by dry cleaning and petroleum spills recently registered alarming levels of chemicals in indoor air, the Daily News has learned.

Sensors installed inside five randomly chosen apartments throughout the 16-story Saratoga Village development in Brownsville consistently detected levels of volatile organic compounds far greater than those the federal government deems acceptable.

From July 16 through Wednesday, NYCHA consultant BlocPower found high chemical levels inside apartments on the fifth, 10th and 14th floors of the 125-unit building at 33 Saratoga Ave. The detected chemicals could include benzene -- a compound found in petroleum -- and tetrachloroethylene, a compound found in dry-cleaning.

The disturbing test results come as NYCHA management has been caught lying about its failure to perform required lead paint inspections and the revelation that more than 1,100 children living in NYCHA apartments have tested positive for lead poisoning since 2012. After the exposure of this long-running cover-up, the authority in June agreed to the appointment of a federal monitor.

"Why is it that families within NYCHA constantly have to bear the health burdens of mismanagement and neglect?" asked Brooklyn Councilwoman Alicka Ampry-Samuel, chairwoman of the Public Housing Committee. "Is it because families in NYCHA are people of color, and most from low economic backgrounds? We have constantly witnessed a lack of response and urgency when it comes to these major concerns and, unfortunately, we are now seeing the consequences, and families are becoming sick. We need to act now to make all the needed repairs to make public housing safe and healthy for our children and families."

The source of the chemicals at Saratoga Village remains unknown, but The News found evidence that land next door has been found to be contaminated.

Earlier this year as part of its ongoing cleanup of toxic sites, test results were submitted to the state Department of Environmental Conservation from a vacant city-owned lot next door to the NYCHA project, which housed a dry cleaning operation from 1949 to 1965.

The dry cleaning is long gone, but the results showed elevated levels of tetrachloroethylene and petroleum throughout the soil and in groundwater, records show. The state DEC told The News Monday that the results of the tests are currently under review.

In April 2015, a city-hired contractor excavating site adjacent to the Saratoga Village building on the same lot found elevated levels of petroleum in the soil, documents obtained by The News from the Binghamton, N.Y.-based environmental consultant Toxics Targeting show.

The report states that the city Department of Environmental Protection was building what's called a bioswale -- a pool designed to trap water runoff -- at the site. During the excavation, the "contractor noted some smelly soil." A consultant tested the soil and found it was contaminated with petroleum, the records state.

The city decided not to complete the bioswale, but contacted NYCHA. The authority manager dispatched a crew to the site, and stated that the oil tank system on site hadn't been in use "for almost 10 years." The authority tested unspecified soil at the site and said they found no petroleum present, the report states.

Last month BlocPower began sharing the results of its tests at 33 Saratoga Ave. with Metro Industrial Areas Foundation, a consortium of Brooklyn churches that has long advocated for affordable housing. Metro IAF shared the results with the News.

"Lead paint, poisonous mold, contaminated water tanks -- and now, toxic air for families who live in public housing," said the Rev. David Brawley, leader of Metro IAF. "Under Mayor de Blasio, half a million black and Latino New Yorkers are getting sicker and angrier."

Brawley called on the mayor to order immediate testing of the entire building "and implement common-sense air filtration and circulation solutions. It's time to make all the needed repairs to make public housing safe for our children, families & seniors."

On Thursday BlocPower staffers presented NYCHA with the test results. Managers from the company declined to discuss the test results with The News.

BlocPower was hired in May to measure health and safety conditions at NYCHA developments.

"As part of a pilot program we launched to identify potential energy savings, we discovered a possible air-quality issue and are working with (city health and environmental agencies) to ensure this is managed appropriately," NYCHA spokeswoman Jasmine Blake said late Thursday.

BlocPower agreed to test 20 randomly selected developments, analyzing energy efficiency and measuring humidity levels inside buildings, and testing for carbon dioxide and placing sensors in apartments to detect the presence of chemicals in the air.

Their devices repeatedly picked up levels of volatile organic compounds well above the 200 parts per billion the federal government lists as the "maximum threshold" for these types of chemicals, records show. In fact, the sensors regularly registered results well above 1,000 PPB, with some above 2,000 PPB.

Walter Hang of Toxic Targeting said chemicals like petroleum and tetrachloroethylene can migrate through soil and into buildings if there are flaws in a building's foundation.

"If that foundation has cracks or floor drains or utility conduit openings, then the volatile chemicals can come into a building and pollute the indoor air, particularly if the building is heated by oil or natural gas," he said. "This creates a vacuum that draws the (chemicals) from underground into the building air. Once it's in the building, the residents can be exposed to the chemical."

Dr. Panos Georgopoulos, of the Environmental & Occupational Health Sciences Institute at Rutgers School of Public Health,

said it's crucial to determine the precise nature of the chemicals at the site. His colleague at Rutgers, Clifford Weisel, said it's also essential to test the ventilation system, noting, "If you have an air handling system that feeds the whole building and the intake is near some sort of source, it would supply the whole building."

On Thursday one of the tenants whose apartments was equipped with the sensors, Sara Davis, said she got a call earlier in the day from someone who's name she couldn't recall.

"It was nothing about chemicals," she said. "All they told me is there are a lot of apartments not getting a lot of air circulation."

With Elizabeth Keogh

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