fulfilling
a
green future...
Gowanus Bay Terminal
a proposal for Red
Hook
04/11/13 v.01
As we embark upon the long awaited cleanup of the Gowanus Canal bottom,
new opportunities surface for Red Hook. Maximizing involve ment in
Gowanus Canal Superfund activities would create an increase in Maritime
Industrial Development and Port Commerce, a local jobs training program,
direct and indirect high quality jobs, a nd a new
Gowanus Bay Park and Vessel Museum & Maritime Center.
As the preferred location of the EPA to facilitate Superfund cleanup
activities, GBX•Gowanus Bay Terminal would create some of the most
monumental benefits for Red Hook in decades.
-TERMINAL DESCRIPTIONAs a private eco-industrial terminal, GBX has a mission to create a sustainable industrial
environment or ‘industrial eco-system’ they call ‘inecsy™’.
It consists of 13 acres upland, 33 underwater land, with bulkhead, pier & filling rights, zoned
M3-1, use group 17&18, has deep water marine docks, is mostly open paved land, and it is
located within the Mayors IBZ [Industrial Business Zone].
The terminal functions as a multi-user industrial facility, handling and storing natural &
manufactured aggregates, portland cement, rock salt, scrap metal and reclaimed lumber. In
addition, the terminal serves as an industrial depot for ships, barges, tugs, sea freight
containers and commercial coach buses. With over 30 small to medium sized businesses, GBX
is home to start ups with as few as two tour buses, up to one of the city’s biggest liquid bulk
barging companies.
GBX intends to expand the terminal and bring employment opportunity to the local
community in a manner consistent with its zoning and historical uses, while respecting the
environment, the surrounding neighborhood and the waterfront.
JOB TRAINING WITH EMPLOYMENT OPPORTUNITIES
In advance of the project, the EPA would provide specialized training for remediation of dredged materials as well as
non-specialized training for many other jobs. Such training would be offered to Red Hook residents including those who
have been previously incarcerated. The training will allow individuals to perform the specialized work for the project as
well as use their new skills to attain industrial sector jobs outside of superfund activities.
GOWANUS CANAL DREDGE DEWATERING & REMEDIATION
Dredge material would be taken from the Gowanus Canal
and transported via water next door to GBX where it would
be dewatered. The extracted water would be purified and
returned to the Gowanus which would begin improving
water quality immediately.
After dewatering, the dredge from the Red Hook portion of
the canal, that with the lowest level contaminants, would be
remediated/recycled and beneficially reused in what’s called
a Confined Disposal Facility (CDF). This work would provide
green jobs for those trained with new specialized skills.
Q. Can a CDF be designed in such a way as to
protect the neighborhood from storm surge?
A. Yes. By creating a large land mass with a grade above the
flood plain, a storm surge’s wake can be reduced
dramatically thereby reducing surging water’s impact on
surrounding lands. Such techniques are now being
incorporated on waterfront edges around the City (The East River Blueway Plan - www.eastriverblueway.org).
As GBX is presently seeking to raise-the-grade of its upland property above the flood plain, the EPA would be
required to match the higher elevation in the creation of a CDF.
...for more information go the EPA’s website which has the Proposed Remediation Plan
& Remedial Investigation:
http://www.epa.gov/region2/superfund/npl/gowanus/
inecsy™
ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT & EXPANSION OF MARITIME TRANSPORTATION
Bringing environmental remediation to Red Hook will provide a critical step toward fostering a new green, industrial
business community that exists in harmony with and in support of local residents. Potential Superfund activities are in
line with GBX’s vision of creating its ‘industrial eco-system' or ‘inecsy™’’, with new ‘green’ business development and
jobs, where environmental practices are implemented1. Building a CDF at GBX would create new space for economic
development that is uniquely viable for expansion of maritime transportation and innovative green industry operations.
Maritime commerce would expand as filling the terminal would move GBX’s bulkheads further south into the Bay
enabling deeper draft vessels to call upon the facility. This in conjunction with increased barging would remove
hundreds of thousands of trucks from our road system and the pollution they create. All resulting developments from
constructing a Superfund CDF at GBX would create more high quality job opportunities of varying skill levels for the
residents of Red Hook.
1
All equipment will run on biodiesel thereby further reducing the carbon footprint of the facility.
WATERFRONT PARK & MARITIME CENTER
 PUBLIC WATERFRONT PARK: New space at GBX would mean a new Park along the Gowanus Bay. The "Gowanus
Bay Park" would be a Crow’s Nest for the community to observe this rebounding industrial waterway as well as
experience nature and amazing deep red sunsets. Within the Park there would be educational installations
about maritime commerce and related upland activities, both historical and present-day. It would also include a
Tidal Salt Marsh as once existed on the Gowanus Bay.

BROOKLYN WATERFRONT GREENWAY CONNECTOR: The new “Gowanus Bay Park” would connect directly to
the Brooklyn Waterfront Greenway. Here a greater part of Brooklyn’s waterfront enthusiasts would be able to
share the experience of the working waterfront at Gowanus Bay.

THE MAKING OF A VESSEL MUSEUM: In an unprecedented
event, GBX would provide the M/V Loujaine, a 500’
commercial bulk carrier, as a historic attraction vessel
turning this mighty ship into a museum. Similar to
Manhattan’s Intrepid, the M/V Loujaine would be the most
apropos relic in providing a portal to commercial shipping
and this historic working waterfront; it would house a
variety of unique spaces including open areas for cultural
events and “Cabin Kiosks” for our non-for-profits and local
art galleries, retail stores & restaurants where they’d strut-
their-stuff before the thousands of visitors the Vessel
Museum would attract.
M/V Loujaine
The quiet lady M/V Loujaine has served New York City since her birth in 1966, from transporting general bulk cargos, to regular trips to the Norcem
Cement Terminal in L.I.C., and the last quarter century as a floating cement silo at its still home on the Gowanus Bay. As a silo vessel, owned and
operated by NYCEMCO, the M/V Loujaine has provided New York with its most premium cement - allowing the highest strength concrete buildings to
become a reality. New Heights have been achieved because of the void in premium cement that the M/V Loujaine has filled. In Manhattan, structures
like: Trump Word Tower - with the 1st use of 12k psi pour-in-place concrete, was the tallest residential tower in the world upon completion; the Time
Warner Building - this dual tower structure stands proudly on Columbus Circle, and was the most expensive private building project in US history,
considered by some as the most spectacular modern high-rise in the City; 731 Lexington Ave. - Bloomberg Tower; IAC Interactive - a very unique Frank
Gehry design seen on Manhattan's west side; Beekman Tower - another Frank Gerhy design and now NY's tallest residential building; The US Mission 1st color exposed self-consolidating concrete tower in the city; WTC Building 7 - the first to be rebuilt after 911 is considered the strongest building in
Manhattan, WTC Transportation Hub, WTC Memorial Museum and WTC Freedom Tower phase 1 - 16k psi concrete/the strongest and most advanced
pour-in-place concrete in NY and possibly the world. In Queens, Queens West Building 4, 6 & 7, NY Tennis Center and NY Times Building. At home in
Brooklyn, 100 Jay St. Tower, Owls Head Pollution Plant, Coney Island Aquarium, Keyspan Park, Atlantic Center 1 & 2, the Brooklyn Marriot, Brooklyn
Cruise Terminal, Home Depot, Lowes and Ikea.
For generations to come, GBX would become a significant asset to the local Red Hook community and Brooklyn.
-REINTERPRETTING GBX’s HISTORIC ROLEThe filling and handling of bulk materials at GBX has historically served the greater good of the
public. As part of the Erie Canal contract, GBX was partially filled to create the terminal in the
shape we see it today2. Such was a transfer point for the grains men of the time to distribute
their product to other markets around the world. In more recent times, the terminal was even
used to handle all of the material debris from the 1st WTC disaster, while after 911 it was used
to store approximately 500 destroyed vehicles. Today we have another opportunity to make
history as a partner to the Gowanus Superfund project, by turning dredge into land, by
expanding a port facility and taking thousands of trucks off the road, by creating good green
jobs, and by creating a unique Vessel Museum & Maritime Center located within a new
waterfront Gowanus Bay Park. GBX will again service the public good in the cleanup of the
Gowanus Canal and in the growth of a new green industrial and cultural center3.
2
GBX’s shape of 1922, while it was designed to service multiple smaller vessels with the
use of finger piers, is not suitable for today’s commercial vessels. Current ships are
much larger and more efficient, and require deeper drafts and open docks where they can
load/unload quickly. A new dock that would be created by the Superfund CDF would provide
the open space and deep water modern vessels need.
3
Note that filling was not limited to a single event at GBX; prior to 1922, GBX was a
basin with a breakwater berm along its southern pier & bulkhead line running east from
the tip of what is now Columbia Street to the Henry Street Basin. At that time, most of
Gowanus Bay ran all the way up to Bay Street from which the roadway got its name. When
filled in 1922, the Henry Street Basin remained up to Bay Street. In circa 1945, when the
then Port of New York Authority (today Port Authority of NY & NJ.) took over the
facility, GBX’s Henry Street Basin was filled southward to Halleck Street and everything
north of Halleck Street up to Bay Street was transferred to the Parks Department to what
we call Red Hook Park.
We believe that bringing all possible Superfund activities to Red Hook is
the right choice for Red Hook residents, the greater Brooklyn community
and for the EPA. Maximizing GBX’s role would minimize costs and
pollution while leveraging the greatest return on this monumental federal
investment. New facilities built at GBX would be used for the most
innovative green industry operations that would create a continuous
source of new high quality jobs, while helping the City to achieve
PlaNYC sustainability goals.
Navigating through shallow obstacles in this precedent setting
voyage would propel us to achieve great change for Red Hook
and Brooklyn; we encourage everyone to get on board in
fulfilling a green future…
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