The federal government's $78 million Superfund plan to divert toilet water that overflows from the Gowanus Canal to underground tanks in an effort to clean up the rancid waterway has already attracted quite a bit of neighborhood opposition, but now there's a new argument against it. It's not poopy sewage that's the problem, city officials say, but rather the toxic, carcinogenic coal tar? a product of industrial waste?that lies at the bottom of the canal. That's what's dangerous, so the money earmarked for the project should be put towards decontaminating that substance rather than tackling less hazardous forms of pollution. [Brooklyn Paper; previously]
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