Cancer-Causing Chemicals Still Lurk Under NYCHA's Jacob Riis Houses, 19 Years After Detection

By Greg B. Smith, The City

August 5, 2024

Nearly 20 years after highly toxic chemicals were found lurking under the Jacob Riis Houses in the East Village — and four years after specific cleanup plans were recommended — not one cubic yard of toxic soil has been removed from the site, an investigation by THE CITY has found.

Public housing tenants first learned about toxic contamination underneath the Riis Houses in 2005. The NYCHA development is built on top of what was once a 19th century manufactured gas plant notorious for spewing noxious substances.

Dozens of soil samples collected in 2005 by an environmental consultant hired by Con Ed, the plant’s original owner, registered elevated levels of cancer-causing chemicals lingering below the surface — in some cases just two inches from the surface — decades after the plant had shut down.

The contaminated structures included Building #4 in the northeast corner of Riis, where the basement floor is made of dirt. Surface level tests there registered elevated levels of benzo-anthracene, a carcinogenic material found in coal tar, a byproduct of gas plants, as well as in tobacco smoke.

In 2020, Con Ed put forth a plan in which it would remove 5,000 cubic yards of contaminated soil around several Riis buildings and cover the dirt floor of Building #4 with a wall-to-wall concrete slab to protect people from the toxic materials.

But today, Building #4’s basement floor is still dirt. The 5,000 cubic yards of surface soil remain where they were — and residents are still unprotected from what lies just below.

Further complicating the situation at Riis: broken underground pipes near Building #4 are releasing steam up through the contaminated soil. During several recent visits, THE CITY witnessed steam pouring out of every imaginable opening around the building, like geysers in Yellowstone National Park.

Residents too have complained about the billowing steam, and last year NYCHA was even forced to relocate a tenant away from its path.

In July, the state Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) for the first time released a “decision document” finally green-lighting the cleanup recommendations made four years ago. That plan calls for hiring a firm to craft a plan spelling out the details of contamination remediation before anyone is hired to do the basement floor capping or soil removal.

Assemblymember Harvey Epstein (D-Lower Manhattan), whose district includes Riis, is furious that the promised remediation has progressed at a glacial pace.

“NYCHA knows about it, the city knows about it, the state knows about it, and it’s really distressing for the residents that nothing continues to happen and their health is potentially at risk,” he said.

Epstein also believes that the stalled cleanup has fueled residents’ lack of faith in NYCHA and other government entities — and that mistrust exploded into anger during the arsenic-in-the-water debacle of 2022.

That Labor Day, NYCHA announced tests had found elevated levels of arsenic in the water and ordered residents to stop drinking or showering with water from their faucets. But a week later, NYCHA reversed course and said the tests were erroneous and there was no arsenic in the water.

Since then, two Riis tenants have registered elevated levels of arsenic in their blood. The 2005 environmental report documented extremely high arsenic levels in below-ground soil tests around the northern half of Riis, including one sample next to Building #4 collected within two inches of the surface.

“We know anecdotally that numerous people have complained of high levels of arsenic,” Epstein said. “They’ve gotten numerous reports of medical issues with this community — and we have a constitutional obligation to give people clean air and water — and we’ve seen no movement in cleaning up the conditions that affect the New Yorkers living Riis Houses.”

Toxic Gas Legacy

Once abundant along New York City’s waterfronts, manufactured gas plants burned coal to generate the gas that then powered the city’s lights. About a dozen such sites are located across the city, and all are currently the subject of environmental cleanup because of the contaminants left behind, in particular highly toxic coal tar.

Riis Houses is the only NYCHA development built on top of a former manufactured gas plant. Its 2,500 residents have since lived on what is essentially a toxic waste site, with contaminants lingering in the soil below, particularly in the northern sections above E. 11th St. where the massive gas holder tanks and the coal-burning plants once stood.

In the early 2000s, the state Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) ordered Con Ed to document the scope and location of the residual underground contamination. Con Ed’s hired consultant, TRC Environmental, then performed extensive testing all over the development.

The results released in a 2005 report were clear: a wide variety of cancer-causing toxins existed at different depths from 12 feet below to within two inches of the surface.

A basement under a Jacob Riis Houses building had exposed ground with toxic pollutants. Credit: Obtained by THE CITY

The highest concentration of toxins were in the northeast section under and around Building #4, the only Riis building with a dirt basement floor, an examination of the test results by THE CITY shows.

In grassy spots adjacent to Building #4, tests registered concerning levels of highly carcinogenic benzene at 220 micrograms per kilogram, far above the maximum acceptable level of 60.

“[Manufactured Gas Plant]-related odor” was detected nine feet below, visible “oil like material” at 11 feet and visible tar-like material at 17 feet

The most common toxin under and around Building #4 was benzo-anthracene, a byproduct of coal tar that has been deemed a “probable human carcinogen.” Fifteen of 17 soil samples taken from within 2″ of the surface registered benzo-anthracene at levels of 1,600 to 44,000 micrograms per kilogram, well above the 224 ug/kg deemed acceptable under New York state standards. Four of those toxic samples were taken from the still uncapped dirt floor.

Flower-Killing Steam

During several visits to the Riis Houses, THE CITY witnessed steam pouring out of yellow bollards at the entrance to Building #4, from multiple holes in the ground next to the corner of the C line of 1225 FDR Drive and even from a resident’s garden.

On a visit in May, THE CITY watched NYCHA resident Amelia Rodriguez rip up withering hydrangeas killed off by steam percolating up from the soil of her garden. Rodriguez said that this was her second attempt at growing flowers outside her building. The steam leak killed off her first garden next to the C Line.

“I’ve moved the garden twice,” she said. “I’m trying another spot around the corner.”

A year ago, the leak even forced NYCHA to relocate the tenant of Apt. 1C, an elderly man who was confined to a wheelchair, because the pipe leak was turning his unit into a steam bath.

A tenant in 2D one floor above where the steam was pouring out of the ground installed a meter that continuously registers purple for excessive heat when the clouds of steam rise to that floor.

In Apartment 6C, NYCHA resident Cheryle Davis still worries about her living conditions due to her medical history. Davis was working as a civilian employee at One Police Plaza shortly after the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001. Soon after, she says she began experiencing shortness of breath and was subsequently diagnosed with asthma.

“I’m concerned about that because [steam] is coming in here and it’s bothering me,” said Davis, 64. “I have a respiratory problem. You know I made it this far. I don’t like stuff that’s flying around out there to get me sicker than I am.”

NYCHA workers installed pipes in the ground to try and divert steam from entering a Jacob Riis Houses building, July 2, 2024. Credit: Alex Krales/THE CITY

In June, Joel Kupferman, an environmental attorney who has been raising concerns about toxins at Riis for more than a year, used a laser thermometer to test the heat emanating from the sidewalks around Building #4. The device registered temperatures ranging from 137 to 183 degrees.

Kupferman is particularly concerned about the potential for toxins seeping from the uncapped dirt basement of Building #4.

“It means that they’re being exposed — especially because of the steam — to all those chemicals that are listed. They’re coming into the building and the elevators pull that air up into the floors above,” he said.

The state Department of Labor’s Public Employee Safety & Health (PESH) unit opened an inspection into health conditions at Riis Houses’ Building #4 July 10th in response to a complaint. Asked about the status of the inquiry, a spokesperson for DOL Wednesday wouldn’t disclose the source or nature of the complaint, stating that “the Department of Labor cannot comment on an open inspection.”

In May, a contractor hired by NYCHA began addressing the steam problem, digging up and replacing the underground heat pipes next to Buildings #3 and #4. But Kupferman worries that the pipe reconstruction has potentially exacerbated the situation by disturbing the soil.

The state Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) continues to recommend capping Building #4’s dirt floor with concrete, but insists there is nothing to be concerned about, asserting that they’ve performed multiple tests and detected no concerning level of toxic vapors emanating out of the dirt basement floor.

But the state hasn’t checked on whether any vapors have filtered up from the soil into the basement or tested the soil in and around Building #4 since 2020, long before the steam leak.

“DEC determined there were no site-related impacts to indoor air and additional sampling was not required,” DEC officials said in response to THE CITY’s questions, noting that the concrete floor was only an “additional protection.”

NYCHA officials, meanwhile, say they’ve taken several steps to minimize exposure to the public of contaminants during the steam pipe repairs outside Building #4 in response to concerns that the work is disturbing the toxic soil.

Housing Authority spokesperson Michael Horgan said contractors were required to place all soils directly into dump trucks and cart it away for proper disposal, not leave piles of soil unattended at the development.

And NYCHA set up monitors around the work testing for both excessive levels of dust and exposure to the potentially carcinogenic chemicals known as “volatile organic compounds” (VOCs) that have been documented in the soil.

Most of the air monitor data collected over 19 days between May 20 and June 21 registered no exceedances of VOCs or dust levels, but in five cases there were issues, a review of the reports by THE CITY found.

On May 21 and June 13, monitors registered dust exceedances above acceptable levels. Workers sprayed water to bring the levels down both times, according to the reports. And on June 14, monitors registered VOCs at “action levels” above what’s acceptable. Work was stopped for 15 minutes until the monitors registered acceptable levels.

Also the monitors themselves had occasional issues. On May 22 the upwind station’s battery died, halting the recording of data. The next day the problems continued, with the upwind monitor moved to the downwind spot for part of the morning, temporarily halting all upwind monitoring.

Horgan said NYCHA has also responded to two tenant complaints about the steam in February and in May, sending a hired firm to test the steam leaks for toxins. He said those determined “no airborne health hazards were found to be present.”

The steam line replacement between Buildings #3 and #4 is finished, while the steam between #4 and #5 has been “isolated and re-routed into a temporary overhead line while we replace the underground steam line,” he said. That job is expected to be done by the end of this month, he said.

Both NYCHA and state environmental officials insist that below-ground contamination at Riis is not a threat to the health of the development’s residents. Aracadis of New York Inc., another environmental consultant hired by Con Ed in 2020, noted that some of the soil test results were considered typical for what’s found underground all over Manhattan, what experts call the “background levels” of toxicity common in urban environments.

But the report also noted some of the test results “indicated that surface soil surrounding Jacob Riis Buildings Nos. 2, 3, 4, 5, and 6 contain elevated concentrations of PAHs (polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons) … greater than the reported Manhattan background levels.”

Experts say toxic substances from manufactured gas plants (MGPs) that exist below ground do not necessarily translate into health risks for the public above. But best practice suggests that once their presence is known, it’s best to eliminate the risk entirely by removing or adequately capping them.

Jack Glass is vice president for environmental health safety at ALC Environmental, a certified hygienist who’s worked at several manufactured gas plant sites in Manhattan other than Riis.

“Simply saying I found it does not tell me there’s a problem,” he said, adding a qualification: “All exposures to all chemicals should be as low as possible. You don’t need any of those things in your system, so it’s important to get rid of them as soon as possible.”

This press release was produced by The City. The views expressed here are the author’s own.