Greenpoint is about to get a $19.5 million cash infusion to help mitigate some of the damage caused by the gallons upon gallons (up to 30 million, actually) of oil that seeped across the neighborhood during its former life housing Brooklyn's refineries.
The funds, the result of a settlement with ExxonMobil, will be dedicated to implementing green infrastructure and projects around Greenpoint, the Times reports. The question, though, is which projects will receive funding—96 proposals were put on the table, and financing all of them would cost around $65 million. Exxon, a corporation with a market value of around $392 billion, can now kick its feet over a desk crafted from 2,000-year-old redwoods and watch as Greenpoint residents scuffle over the crumbs it has tossed over: Proposals range from installing a green roof on the Greenpoint Reformed Church ($5,000) to a program educating local residents on the ways diet and exercise impact the environment ($750,000).
“Even though $19.5 million seems like a lot of money, it’s a drop in the bucket when you think about the reversal of the environmental destruction that has happened in Greenpoint,” Richard Mazur, executive director of the North Brooklyn Development Corporation, told the paper. “The whole point is to start cleaning up some of the problems. The whole point is these things have to have a positive impact.”
ExxonMobil has been pulling spilled oil out of the ground since 1979, and has thus far extracted around 12 million gallons, which it recycles and sells for $60,000 a year. The profits are handed over to local schools and organizations.
Previously, Exxon paid $25 million toward clean-up efforts. All the strategically placed cocktail bars in the world still won't change the fact that Greenpoint remains artisanally-themed cesspool.
