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The federal Environmental Protection Agency will conduct a groundbreaking study of Newtown Creek, the site of the nation’s largest oil spill, analyzing the area’s soil, water and air in order to assess the spill’s health and safety impacts.

Newtown Creek is a waterway that separates Brooklyn and Queens, and in 1978 became home to the site of the nation’s largest oil spill. The size of the spill was estimated at 17 million gallons, one and a half times larger than Exxon Valdez. Oil has been found across 55 acres, seeping into the Creek and settling under homes and businesses in the area.

Currently, oil continues to visibly seep into the creek. Testing conducted a few months back by Riverkeeper, an ecological watchdog group dedicated to keeping the Hudson River pollutant-free, found the levels of hydrocarbons and carcinogens in the soil in Greenpoint to be higher than expected, keeping the residents of those communities at perpetual risk.

As a result, the state Department of Environmental Conservation and ExxonMobil conducted their own studies and also found elevated levels of cancer-causing benzene and potentially explosive methane gas near homes in the surrounding community.

“This EPA study is a terrific first step toward cleaning-up and resurrecting Newtown Creek, which for decades has been a toxic blight on the Greenpoint community,” said U.S. Sen. Charles Schumer (D New York). “The next step should be testing for toxic vapors in the areas around the Creek so residents of Brooklyn and Queens will know whether or not the ground they live above is also contaminated.”

Under the congressionally mandated study, which comes as a result of advocacy and legislation championed by various publicly elected officials, the EPA will examine the extent to which the newly discovered vapors threaten the health and safety of residents. The agency will also analyze the effects on soil and groundwater in the vicinity of the spill, how far contaminants from the spill have spread into New York Harbor and whether Exxon is using the most effective methods to clean up the Creek.

“While the oil companies lag in their cleanup responsibilities, the health and safety of Newtown Creek’s residents hang in the balance,” said U.S. Rep. Anthony Weiner (D-Kew Gardens). Hundreds of homes and businesses are affected by this terrible oil spill. The public has the right to know what effects this oil spill is having on our community and local environment.”

Residents surrounding the Newtown Creek area suffer from asthma, emphysema and bronchitis at rates that are 25 percent higher than the rest of New York City, yet no formal assessment of the public health and safety impacts of Newtown Creek’s pollution has ever been performed. Two class action lawsuits filed on behalf of Greenpoint residents are currently pending.

Various media outlets have reported that the Attorney General’s office was getting ready to file suit in recent months, but according to Brad Maione, spokesperson for the attorney general’s office, that is not yet the case.

“The attorney general’s office received a referral about this case from the DEC after they were unable to reach a satisfactory conclusion,” Maione said. “It will certainly take some time to review all the issues around this case.”

To date, 8.7 millions gallons of oil have been cleaned at Newtown Creek but estimates indicate it will take at least 25 more years to finish the job. ExxonMobil, the company primarily responsible for the Greenpoint spill, entered into a consent agreement with New York State in 1990 to clean up the Creek, but progress has been sluggish, as the consent order lacked enforceable deadlines, metrics to measure progress and penalties for non-compliance.

“Denying, delaying and dumping are exactly what ExxonMobil does best,” said Councilman Eric Gioia (D-Sunnyside), who represents the areas on the Queens side of the spill. “They are a corporate villain of the worst kind. They’ve polluted our land, profited handsomely, and now they hide behind corporate lawyers, counting their money and laughing all the way to the bank.”

ExxonMobil reported profits of more than $36 billion in 2005, the largest annual profit ever recorded by an American company.