Mayor de Blasio in playground clash with Environmental Protection Agency over Gowanus cleanup

JENNIFER FERMINO

The de Blasio administration is in a playground fight with the Environmental Protection Agency.

The EPA wants the city to stick a bulky wastewater tank right underneath a popular Brooklyn park as part of the $500 million cleanup of the heavily polluted Gowanus Canal.

If the EPA proposal goes through, the Thomas Greene Playground - including its beloved Douglass-Degraw pool - will be forced to close for several years for construction.

The EPA says the two tanks are needed to hold raw sewage when the city's pipes overflow on rainy days. Currently, there are no tanks and the sewage ends up in the canal.

http://www.nydailynews.com/blogs/dailypolitics/exclusive-mayor-de-blasio-playground-clash-environmental-protection-agency-gowanus-cleanup-blog-entry-1.1842316