Cleanup on Famously Filthy Gowanus Canal Could Be at Risk, Officials, Neighbors Worry

More than a century of sludgy toxins like tar and oil have polluted the nearly two mile-long Gowanus Canal, earning the Brooklyn waterway a place on the EPA Superfund list. The federal government is still a decade or more from finishing the cleanup of the canal, but with the EPA under threat by President Trump’s proposed budget cuts, cleanup could be at risk. State and local officials are urging the Trump administration to reconsider the proposed cuts, which would slash funding for Superfund programs by roughly 30 percent. The White House has argued a streamlined EPA can cut through red tape and work faster. Andrew Siff reports.