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New York's Most Polluted Waterway | New Town Creek
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 15 ส.ค. 2024
- Special thanks to our dear friend Max Touhey for the great drone shots www.metouhey.com/
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Chapters:
00:00 - America's Largest Domestic Oil Spill: The Story of Newtown Creek
00:22 - Meet the Activist Swimming in America's Most Polluted Waterway
01:49 - The Geological History of Queens, Long Island, and Brooklyn: The Formation of Newtown Creek
02:38 - How Native Americans Utilized Newtown Creek for Trade and Transportation
02:49 - Newtown Creek: The Colonists' Discovery and Early History
03:09 - Newtown Creek in the 1800s: Transformation and Industrialization
04:39 - The Pollution of Newtown Creek: How It Happened
05:54 - Newtown Creek Industries: What Was Happening on the Waterway
06:33 - How the Oil Industry Destroyed Newtown Creek's Ecosystem
07:59 - Newtown Creek's Role in World War II: A Vital Industrial Waterway
08:58 - The Great Fire That Ended Oil Refining at Newtown Creek
09:29 - When New York City Discovered the Extent of Pollution in Newtown Creek
10:12 - A Tour of Newtown Creek's Infrastructure: Past and Present
11:15 - Manufacturing Natural Gas and the Pollution of Newtown Creek
12:01 - Why Cleanup Efforts for Newtown Creek Seem Hopeless
13:24 - The State of Newtown Creek Today: Challenges and Opportunities for Restoration
Learn about the tragic story of America's largest domestic oil spill on Newtown Creek, and how it became one of the most polluted waterways in the country. Meet the environmental activist fighting for Newtown Creek's restoration and discover the creek's geologic history and how Native Americans used it for trade and transportation. Explore the early history and colonization of Newtown Creek and how it was transformed into an industrial waterway in the 1800s.
Discover the causes and consequences of Newtown Creek's pollution and the impact of the oil industry on the creek's ecosystem. Learn about the vital role Newtown Creek played during World War II and the great fire that ended oil refining at the creek. Find out when New York City discovered the extent of pollution in Newtown Creek and take a tour of the creek's infrastructure, past, and present.
Understand the manufacturing of natural gas and its impact on Newtown Creek and why its cleanup efforts seem hopeless. Finally, learn about the state of Newtown Creek today and the challenges and opportunities for restoration. Follow us for more environmental history and news.
Hashtags: #NewtownCreek #oilspill #environmentalactivist #pollution #waterways #industrialization #WorldWarII #naturalgas #cleanup #restoration #environmentalhistory #news.
IT’S HISTORY - Weekly tales of American Urban Decay as presented by your host Ryan Socash.
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» CREDIT
Scriptwriter - Ryan Socash
Editor - Patrycja Klimczuk
Host - Ryan Socash
» NOTICE
Some images may be used for illustrative purposes only - always reflecting the accurate time frame and content. Events of factual error / mispronounced word/spelling mistakes - retractions will be published in this section.
I worked at a trucking company under the Kosciuszko Bridge in the late’70 and sometimes, especially in summer, the stench was unbelievable. It was like the smell of death, something that you would never forget!
I grew up in Greenpoint in the 60s and 70s and the new town creek smell is something no one will ever forget like you said in the summer and when it rained oh my God. Many many people have been diagnosed with cancer that I grew up with now it’s a Park thank God.
I grew up in greenpoint I know it too well!😡
@@kathleenmabli600 that’s terrible. I worked at Highway Express on Lombardy St.
I work blocks away from that river. It still smells of pollution.
The U.S.S. Monitor, one of the first Ironclad Ships built, was built in Newtown Creek in 1862. There is even a Monitor Street in Greenpoint, Brooklyn.
I didn’t know that. Interesting.
And a statue in a park on monitor st
I live two blocks from Monitor St- I was surprised there was no mention of Greenpoint original name the “garden spot of the world” lol
you need to do a companion video to this, about the Gowanus Canal in Brooklyn NY. Another similar superfund site!
I always thought the Gowanus was worse.
Had a friend that fell in the gowanus canal as a kid off of bond street. Rushed to the hospital immediately.
I live in Long Island City and walk to Greenpoint over the Pulaski Bridge pretty often. There the creek is close enough to the East River that it looks and smells fine (at least from the bridge). I hope that eventually this waterway will be cleaned up.
Born in Greenpoint and lived there during the 60's - early 80's. We used to joke that Greenpoint was the only place where you could smell your way home.
I lived there same time. you never forget that smell.
At 9:17 it made me giggle when you showed a stock photo of the Exxon/Mobil refinery, in Billings, MT. A long way away from New York City.
In the 1980s I lived in LIC a few blocks north of Queens Plaza, in the summer with the windows open and the wind coming from Newtown Creek area made my eyes water. By the late 90s it had stopped.
Interesting. I used to deliver to Empire Merchants, a large liquor distributor, right on the banks of this waterway in Brooklyn(next to Kosciuszko Bridge). I'd often watch little boats rolling through, which seemed to be monitoring the water conditions.
Thanks for that, I often park my rig near the creek in maspeth and always wondered what was the story behind it
Big 🌊 OBLAST Rig
This is BBC quality.
What a breathtaking video. Thank you so much.
As a former resident of Greenpoint, this video makes me very sad. The Newtown Creek was a part of my daily life for many years. I had heard stories about it for years, but always thought that the Gowanus Canal was much worse. The sewage though... Seriously, the sewage! My wife and I had a running joke where we would rate the poopiness of the outdoors when one of us ventured to leave our building. Some days were very poopy!
Let's understand that although industry has been reprehensible for their dumping, our civil leaders should not escape blame. Back in the 70's I was doing some work on a friend's boat docked in Paerdegat Basin. This is the southern coast of Brooklyn and empties into Jamaica Bay. The color of the water was light to bright green, like pea soup. The surface was effervescent. It bubbled. How much? Fizzy not like a warm Pepsi but your field of view would spot more than a dozen bubbles breaking surface at any second. For some reason I can't recall, this is 40 years ago, I had to lean over the side of the boat to do something. I really hadn't thought much about the bubbles...WHOOOA! The bubbles were methane. The bottom of the boat concentrated the gas escaping from the water around the sides of the boat. Foolish me, I inhaled while leaning over to do whatever and almost fell in when the vapor, hit me. The building at the north end of basin belonged to the city's Department of Sewers. I checked Google Maps, the building is still there but the water no longer appears to be pea green.
@@bob1505 I haven't been to Gowanus Canal in a few years, but not long ago, it had a similar green hue to what you describe. I would describe it as Prestone Green, because it has an iridescent quality and is nearly fluorescent. Apparently when Whole Foods moved to the area, it was a Superfund site and they spent $4 million cleaning it up.... noy enough tho!!!!
@@n8spectacular Grew up in Brooklyn, left many years ago. Now I see new High rise development in both Gowanus Canal and Greenpoint areas and high cost.
@@whereisthedollar Yeah, my wife and I left as soon as the pandemic lockdown was in full swing. I agree with you on the rising rent. Many of our neighbors were priced out. We had a rent stabilized apartment. I could have stayed there until death...lol!
@@n8spectacular That was it Nate. Prestone Green... with bubbles!
As a water managing expert, I am always amazed at how inefficient and moronic the reactions to clean-up efforts are made. You could save a lot of dredging, removal and manual clean-up, by aeration and biological treatment. It's relatively simple if you deal with hydrocarbons and organic matters.
@Beady Eye Well if you deal with the creek it's simple, if you can get common funding. Aeration can be easily placed on the bottom of the creek, all you need is access to 3phase power, biologicals can be easily added to the creek.
You talking about groundwater, that's lot more challenging, especially when it comes to Aeration, mixing and distribution.
OMG YES IVE BEEN SAYING THIS FOR YEARS
I agree with that👍🏻
@@jantschierschky3461 You're making a hundred year old problem seem like laundry day pal LMFAO definitely not that simple
@@gorgeousgino3260 actually pretty simple. You give nature a helping hand, she knows how to fix it
Back in 2019 I was part of the crew that did the light show that was the official opening of the 2nd span of the Kosciusko bridge. I spent 7 days/nights on barges putting together that show. 5 of those nights were in the creek. It was so nasty that after we were done I threw away my boots and all the socks I had used. I never saw anything alive in that water. Our rescue swimmer warned that if we fell in, he wouldn't come in after us.
Lol I wouldn't either ,your on your own
ExxonMobil did not exist until 1999 when Esso and Mobil merged. It did NOT exist in 1966. It always makes me wonder what other things might be not quite as stated when such obvious errors appear in the documentary. Standard Oil of New Jersey used the Esso name with various complaints and challenges from other pieces of the dismantled Standard Oil Company. "Ess" and "O" for SO or Standard Oil. In random reorgs and branding Exxon became the overall corporation with Esso under it, I remember all the shuffling but not the exact order or hierarchy over the years. I know Exxon existed when Nixon was president, there was an SNL skit involving Nixxon Oil.
I think it's meant to point out the current responsible company rather than including your worthy but dull paragraph. I doubt many people care.
@@julianshepherd2038 i care and now i know where esso came from.i remember esso stations
The Image at 4:55 reminds me of the "Chocolate River" in Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory... The River Medlock in Manchester UK has the same problem, but it is also being clean up, there are fish in it again. I hope that none of that nasty water is seeping into the graves at the Calvary Cemtery. Thanks for posting to help keep history alive...
Your videos are so amazing! I love all of the details that you include so we can understand what is going on. I’ve even learned something in almost ever video. Thank you for doing these videos!
The gentrification of Long Island city is hilarious given that the entire area is an industrial waste zone
I don’t know why I’m fascinated with the history of pollution in streams and rivers. Guess we should remember the mistakes of the past so we don’t repeat them in the future.
The past? We are still doing this at this very second.
The future is humanity will continue to hang out near bodies of water and pollute the hell out of that water.
Lol ok there Mr I’m Morally Superior on You Tube. In order to get what you have right now, things were going to get messy.
@@chrisconley8583 we NEED to pollute our rivers and streams with fossil fuel based forever chemicals. If we don't, then Funko pops would cost and extra $6.
Got it. Be civil! It’s amazing that you would have to say that. I remember growing up in NY and the Hudson being clean water. Now its totally brown and has been for many, many years!
Thank you from McGuiness and Meeker, a New Town local!
They call it natural gas because it is pumped out of the ground. When it is manufactured from coal it is called coal gas or town gas. Its the same stuff methane, but when natural gas was discovered it was rebranded to get mire sales.
The only reason I challenge this as the most polluted waterway is that Snooki once swam in the Hudson River, which would make that far more toxic
Growing up in Elizabeth NJ a city sitting next to Staten Island , I saw a lot happen, buried 55 gallon drums they said they didn't know were there exploded! They had all kinds of chemicals that when mixed became very unstable. This was right along the Author Kill River, which separated NJ and Staten Island. My grandfather used to crab off partly sunken barges in the kill before they banned all fishing, I think it's why he developed Alzheimer's 😢 . Then the Refinery tank that exploded in linden or Rahwsy (I don't remember what city) some worker had a lite cigarette working near a massive fuel tank with nothing but vapors in it! The explosion blew out windows for Miles! Where I lived it sounded like a boulder fell on the roof of the house!!! After the chemical explosion the city was driving little trucks with loud speakers in then telling people to remain inside doors and windows closed!! The toxic cloud drifted over Staten Island away from Elizabeth, I think NY sued NJ over this. I was young so I don't remember all the details. I do know some of the kids still swam in the kill I would never touch that Water! If you put your hand in your fingers it would disappear after 1/2" in the water it was so dirty!!! The barges my Grandfather used were right behind the original Singer Plant he worked at . I think my exposure to this part of NJ growing up made my Immune system very strong? I'm getting old now people can't believe I don't get sick and lived as long as I did after all that! But I did move to PA in the 80s maybe getting away had something to do with it?
been waiting for this one
Its still clean compared to some "rivers" across the world. But I wont be swimming in it. Such a shame we as humans can be so dirty.
My grandfather worked at a slaughter house in Queens next to the creek back in the 1930s, and he recalled how the animal waste would be dumped into the Newtown creek at that time period it was business as usual so sad. Also, he would say that the smell at the creek was horrible. My grandfather passed away back in the 1980s, I enjoyed the stories of his work experience from that time. He even worked building the Brooklyn train system when there was no union at the time and even worked building LaGuardia Airport. Love you grandpa RIP.
Took an NYC Water Taxi tour on it about 10 years ago. Halfway down the English Kills when the engines reversed to turn around, the water and channel bottom got churned up. It was visually and olfactory horrendous. Like someone pooped out a magic marker doused in sour crude oil.
Interesting video! Very sad and frustrating tho 💧 🌳
Btw, just discovered your channel! Nice job buddy 👍
Cheers from San Diego California
I’m a Chicago transplant living in Queens. I bought an inflatable kayak and I take it on the creek on nice days. Mainly I stay long Dutch Kills cuz I don’t wanna encounter any of the barges. I once got some of the water on my arm and it did burn 😂. It’s surprisingly serene but incredibly dirty and I can’t imagine anyone swimming in it. Though I hear the Gowannus Creek is much worse in terms of stench.
Great video
I grew up in Queens
67-00
Vegas now
Will watch more
I have a guess about tourism in New York
😎👍❤️🙏🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸
I love your channel, but there were a lot of errors in this video, especially in regards to manufactured or coal gas vs natural gas. I would suggest more background information before posting something like this.
I am living in Baytown, Texas, the site of the second largest oil refinery in the nation. It is of course, an Exxon Mobil plant. There are signs all along the bay here warning people, especially pregnant women not to eat the fish out of the water.
We’ve really made a mess out of a beautiful country
I work there now, Greenpoint and starr avenue.
The broadway stages take up so much of that area facing the oil storage areas
If you haven't already you should do a similar video on the fox River in Wisconsin
When it’s hot and humid at low tide, you can smell it half a block away! And there are expensive condos built with windows overlooking it!
Been working in Long Island City, Queens since 1993. By far, the smelliest part is where it backs up by Hunters Point Avenue.
I’ve been living in Hunter’s Point for a long time yet I’ve never seen that branch of the creek. I guess nothing takes me over there. Now I’m at least curious.
A dolphin was spotted in the creek as far as Grand St this past winter. Same thing happened about ten years ago.
Two words: New River. Where clouds of toxic waste bubble under the border and into the parking lot you're standing in.
I live right near there, and have lived in the area for 20 years now. On some days, when the wind is blowing, the air reeks like a cesspool. And I don't mean just on the block. I mean you can smell it 20 blocks away. Bizarrely they recently made a walking park along the creek. It's one of the most depressing, ugly parks you'll ever come across.
@@TTM9691 The nature walk is actually quite beautiful. Nice to see the creek improving, albeit slowly.
Where exactly were you 20 blocks away? I'm often near the creek and even on it's worst days there is no smell even a block away. It's only noticeable right at the banks.
I'm not trying to sugar coat this at all. The smell can be terrible, a mix of sewage, chemicals, and the usual low tide rot, but it doesn't travel far.
Hi! big fan, could you possibly do a video on the oldest house in North America, a 1640s building in Brooklyn called the Wycoff house, and maybe other oldest houses/ structures in the Americas?
Thank you.
P&W Coal train delivery comes everyday to NYC to that plant
Definitely do north and south brother islands
It is NEWTOWN, not New Town.
Try looking into the tar creek superfund site in oklahoma
those silver onion domes are the sewege treatment plant. i worked there for like a month. before i got canned for missing days. have taken my boat up the creek once. there is a car crushing barge, i wonder how many bodies were disposed of thjere. car coes up a ramp on one end out comes a spew of minisule shreds and shards.
Haha thought the thumbnail was showing a pic of the chicago river on st paddy's day
In 25,000 years the area will be as pure as the garden of Eden the earth will be fine.
Its proximity to some of the highest real estate prices, makes it worthy of cleaning up.
It’s not unclear at all where to point the finger, if your business is creating products using toxic chemicals, it is entirely your responsibility to safely and responsibly use, store, and dispose of those chemicals. People needed oil, they didn’t need the water in their cities to be polluted by deteriorated and neglected manufacturing systems. Unchecked and negligent pollution is not a necessary part of the manufacturing process. It’s fully the fault of the corporations producing the products.
It's not the companies' intention to spill oil, nor was it the ideal move for both independent Brooklyn and the city to route sewage and sewage overflow to the creek system. During the development of Queens, much of the creek's watershed, its swamps and tributaries, were drained dammed and covered. We can say the city's problems are rooted in the pursuit of profit and happiness, but it won't stop them from festering- or being created.
Until Rachel Carson’s book Silent Spring came out in 1962, chemical pollution wasn’t in the public consciousness. We do much better now.
The country's largest oil spill was by BP's deep water horizon oil platform. I was a senior in high school when it happened.
The fact that this creek isn’t listed on most disaster lists is a problem. Because no one know how much oil is in the soil and most estimates are as large as deep water horizon. The oil is still leaking out from the soil to this day. The river still stinks.
Thought that was the Chicago river on st Pat's Day in the thumbnail
I thought Exxon and Mobile only merged in 2000, not the 60s.
Correct
I think just passed that location and said how peaceful it was.
So what should we do fill it in ?
*THANK GOD FOR THE MANDATORY PANDERING RED ARROW IN THE THUMBNAIL* as overused by every other channel since about 2002 or so.
Gosh, no one else has used yellow letters & graphics, too. EXCEPT ALL OF THEM.
Need to cover the Gowanus Canal, which is possibly more toxic than Newtown. A Superfund site as well.
i recently ate mussels from the creek. they were very good
muscles*
Your insane
@@eddiew2325😂
I don’t think we still gasify coal or oils to create natural gas, at least in the lower 48. Hawaii might still use gasification but LNG is becoming more common and cheaper than manufactured gas.
I think if they ever dredged the NC, glowing fish is the least shocking thing they would find.
I always felt our GC smelled worse. RIP Buddy Scotto.
Wait... But why do they feel the neet to colean up rainwater? It shouldn't affect the treatment plant.
interesting fact,
when Rockerfeller oil corporation was divided, he still own all the individual companies and made more money during that process than when it was only one company
I've had the misfortune of being near the creek in the summer, and the stench is unbearable 🤢
People like to shit on Cleveland and the Cuyahoga River because it was the "river that caught fire" when this thing exists. At least Cleveland has worked to correct its mistakes.
The water was so green and murky
The thumbnail for this video looks like the Chicago River, when they dye it green for St. Patrick's Day. 😅
Oooh! Are you gonna do a video on the Schuylkill River, here in PA? You go swimming in that, you'll come out with a few extra fingers and diseases that science hasn't discovered, yet!
The area frequently smells like a chemically pancake syrup or the air is filled with cement powder from the processing facility
"dis charting one point two billon gallons annually!"
A very interesting topic and video, but the music is really distracting.
The most?? Not sure but one of the many
Can I get a medal? I swam in that multiple times falling off my boat
😂😂😂 where's your boat? And why do you have such trouble staying on board? 🍻
Yeah right it was the Indians Energy Center that started the pollution. 😂That's crazy even to have it come out of your mouth. Love your Channel
Can you please tell me what an Indian's Energy Center look like and what it consisted of. I've never heard of anything like this before😮
3 eyed fish ?
This is just human nature, unfortunately. When we find something useful, we USE it until it’s gone, destroyed or polluted to uselessness. We can never escape our own greed. It’s built into our species to “Want it all”. Maybe someday we can outgrow that part of ourselves. Hopefully before we doom ourselves.
12:00 is it fair to say that the Nixon administration passed the clean water act when Nixon in-fact vetoed it?
We still depend on the same industry that once stood along that creek. Its only been moved. Though its not nearly as dirty today as it was back then. Still, a lot of it didn't change. It moved overseas where there is less concern about the environment.
I don't like the damage many industries did to the environment in NYC. But I do find it sad most of that industry is gone. NYC is a very sterile city, not in a sense of being clean, but it feels dead in many ways. Everything is built from stainless steel and glass. Nothing is made there. Only people able to build anything are large corporations, so a lot of it ends up looking the same. You see less and less small scale business and development.
Time for another superfund project
you can always tell a non NYer by how they say Kosciuszko lol
Right? I was genuinely getting confused about what bridge he was talking about. Then got annoyed when I figured it out.
Ahhh your good. i fish and eat in this river daily
Lol, time for a tox panel!
Are you kidding me? Supply is always to blame. It is always the responsibility of the process creator to control the process, thus ensuring that that the process was carried out correctly.
Water needs to move ! It needs to go back to its natural course or put powered pumps in the creek to help clean it .
It smells the worst in summer
Debris has a silent 's'
I used to walk by this creek on my way to work and it was fucking gross. Also *Newtown
Everyone eats the sausage, but nobody wants to know how it’s made…
Doesn't everyone know how sausages are made? It's not a complicated process.
@@cleverusername9369 I think pressmasterflash means that nobody wants to know (Think about.) what body parts and other stuff goes into big company processed sausage,
@@cleverusername9369 no. Not everyone does. And depending on your manufacturing process, it could exceed simple.
I’ve met a few people who make sausage, not one of them was a clean person lol
My grandpa used to taste test the sausage RAW to see if there was enough seasoning
@@somethingsomething404 “clean” is a relative term…
1:25 ?? such a nonspecific claim
It's The Kazz Zi Ass Ko Bridge
bro you are my ninja 4 life
Is this the waterway John Alite was found in by police?
Clean it up humans
Bizarre that all that industry is still allowed there. Should be all heavily planted out parks.
Jump in that water, you're most likely gonna come out with extra toes and fingers
fun fact did you know that water is perfectly safe and drinkable? dont let the appearance fool you
@@eddiew2325reference?
Even without the chemicals it's brackish, salty water.
And to think. The native Americans never did anything to harm the land. And natural gas is clean and safe
Why have our water been allowed to be messed up?.
💵💰💲
Because the rich guy calling the shots doesn’t have to smell that or see that, they live elsewhere
I vote we rename it the New Jersey Creek
The polluted water is why the bagels are so good.
By far the dirtiest waterway in NYC. Even the Bronx River is cleaner, and that's saying something .
I like the flavor of putting that water on my BBQ as I also make mixed drinks using that water! I also like to BBQ the fish & shellfish from the creek as it has a flavor that can be found nowhere Else! I also like to stay at the New Town Creek mental institution on its bank
Everybody loves steak, but nobody wants to know how it got to the table. 😂
I knew a girl who thought there was 2 kinds of fish. “The ones with faces and families” and then the kind you eat
@@somethingsomething404 I accidentally turned a friend vegan for about a year. I have butchered my own meat for decades now. She came over to visit while I was butchering a half a pig. The sight of the pig cut in half lengthwise made her so sick she couldn’t eat meat. She eventually got bored of the vegan options and started to eat meat. But now she has to know that it’s all ethically sourced.
That's not water. Not even piss.