ah greenpoint

Posted by spooneybarger Tue, 02 May 2006 13:16:00 GMT

We have one hell of a warehouse fire raging today, which as G points out, makes a nice companion to the enormous pool of oil underground. You can learn more about that here. A good read esp this anecdote:

Although a majority of the oil pool appears to be underneath the uninhabited industrial part of Greenpoint, a part of the pool overlaps a residential area. Dorothy Swick is the owner of one of the houses built over the oil pool. “Six years ago my neighbor, who is a cop, decided to get rich,” said Swick. The inventive neighbor bought equipment and started drilling. For unknown reasons he decided stop the work after he reached the depth of 23 feet. Fumes rose above the area and negatively affected the health of many residents. Unfortunately neither Swick nor other neighbors were able to seal up the hole. The State Environment Authorities installed special devices to rid the area of the fumes. The project of fume monitoring lasted a few years. “It was only until a few years ago that the hole was sealed up completely, and the monitoring devices were removed from the yards,” said Swick.