Brooklyn Water #2: Newtown Creek Flambé?

Could Newtown Creek actually catch fire? Nah. But the blogger that captured this compelling image on the Brooklyn side of Newtown Creek--at the epicenter of the awful Greenpoint Oil Spill--brought up the Cuyahoga River and brought back memories of the days when Burn, River Burn was a very real thing. (The Cuyahoga River in Cleveland was so polluted and had such oil slicks floating atop it that it actually went up in flames, most notably in 1969. This was also the era when Cleveland went bankrupt and Mayor Ralph Perk was famously photographed pointing a blowtorch at his head and setting his hair on fire, earning the nickname "The Hair-On-Fire Mayor.")

God, the good old days. They don't make news like that anymore.

In any case, as far as we know, Exxon is still refusing to continue pumping spilled oil out of the ground, in what is widely interpreted as a reaction to pending legal action. Their practice of releasing partly treated water back into Newtown Creek is also under, um, fire.

Related Posts:
State Finally Sues Exxon Over Greenpoint Oil Spill
Is There More Oil Under Williamsburg?