One of the things that has astounded us about the Roebling Oil Field, the development site with oil at N. 11th and Roebling Streets in Williamsburg, is the difficulty of getting public information and of the curious role that the Department of Environmental Conservation has–or hasn’t–played in responding to community concerns. As we have noted, there are at least a half-dozen test wells in the the area. We received this comment from a reader, but thought it merits being an item. Here is what the reader, who is buying a condo across the street and would like to know what’s under the ground, wrote:

We have been in contract since March on the property across the street. Well before we even figured there was a problem. Since then, we have been doing some homework. DEC (not DEP in NYC) has done some testing and has drilled wells on the sidewalks (you’ll notice the little circles with triangle covers). The results of soil samples and other test have not been posted yet. Of course they are trying to find the source of this oil, perhaps a local oil tank is the possibility (under our building??? who knows). But I must say information is incredibly difficult to obtain. We have applied for public information through Toxic Targeting and have called the Health Department which have been seriously interested and good at getting us what little answers exist.

One would think that the Department of Environmental Conservation and other agencies would have moved faster to investigate the problem in the first place (the Roebling oil surfaced in October and the test well were drilled in April, and reports of oil in the vicinity under a neighboring development date back years). One would also hope that they would now be moving with alacrity to disseminate the findings so that readers like this one don’t have to guess about very real health and safety issues.

The Roebling Oil Mystery raises very interesting questions about the integrity of the DEC’s oversight in general and a very relevant policy question about whether there should be an up-to-date, user-friendly database that regulators maintain so that existing residents know of any threats that exist and potential buyers can, at least, make informed decisions.

Related Post:
Another Gusher at the Roebling Oil Field