Remedia highlights odor control role in Gowanus brownfield cleanup

Remedia says its Hydrocarbon Stabilizer helped crews remove buried coal tar at 318 Nevins Street in Brooklyn’s Gowanus neighborhood while avoiding odor events near homes and businesses. The project matters because deep urban cleanups can stall if contamination work creates nuisance emissions in dense neighborhoods.

Why it matters: - The 318 Nevins Street cleanup shows how deep brownfield work in dense neighborhoods can depend on controlling odors at the source. - The project was next to occupied homes and businesses in Brooklyn’s Gowanus neighborhood, where odor releases could have stopped the work under state cleanup rules. - The site sits over migrated coal tar from former gas-plant activity, a common challenge along the Gowanus Canal. - The cleanup supports redevelopment under the Gowanus rezoning by addressing contamination that must be managed before restricted-residential reuse.

What happened: - Remedia released a case study on Sept. 29, 2026 describing its role at 318 Nevins Street, a site in the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation Brownfield Cleanup Program. - Remedia Hydrocarbon Stabilizer was specified to control odors while crews drilled out and removed coal-tar contamination buried as deep as 35 feet underground. - The work took place in Brooklyn’s Gowanus neighborhood, just east of the Gowanus Canal. - Crews removed remaining coal tar in May 2025 after full-scale in-situ solidification and earlier field and lab testing.

The details: - The roughly 2.3-acre property has been used over time as a lumber yard, coal and coke yards, a motor freight terminal, a telephone facility and a food commissary. - Coal tar migrated onto the property from the former Fulton Municipal Works Manufactured Gas Plant, about 325 feet to the north. - Investigators found coal tar in 42 of 63 deep test borings, mostly 20 to 35 feet below the surface and below the water table. - NYSDEC’s October 2023 Decision Document identified coal tar, coal-tar compounds known as PAHs, naphthalene, arsenic, lead, and chlorinated solvents TCE and PCE in soil vapor as contaminants of concern. - Soil testing found coal-tar compounds such as benzo(a)anthracene, benzo(a)pyrene, benzo(b)fluoranthene, benzo(k)fluoranthene and chrysene at levels as high as 200 ppm, compared with a residential cleanup standard of 1 ppm for most of them. - Naphthalene reached 5,800 ppm in soil and 8,000 ppb in groundwater, versus a groundwater standard of 10 ppb. - Arsenic and lead reached 160 ppm and 2,900 ppm in soil, compared with cleanup standards of 16 ppm and 400 ppm. - Groundwater also contained PFOA and PFOS at up to 362 and 178 parts per trillion, both above the 10-part-per-trillion drinking water limit. - NYSDEC selected a cleanup plan in October 2023 that included excavation, a protective cover system, vapor controls and in-situ solidification. - From January to April 2025, crews solidified about half an acre of coal-tar-affected ground. - Some treatment columns hit buried concrete foundations and rebar 8.5 to 11 feet below ground, which left some coal tar untreated beneath the obstructions. - The state-approved fix called for about 85 drilling locations using a 48-inch steel casing and 42-inch auger to lift the tar-soaked soil out. - Remedia Hydrocarbon Stabilizer was applied directly into the drill casing, above and within coal-tar zones, during active drilling. - The stabilizer was also sprayed on augers, core barrels and other drilling equipment while they were staged or out of service, and equipment was fully decontaminated at the end of each workday. - The work ran under a downwind community air monitoring station and handheld detectors, with work stoppage required if site-boundary limits were exceeded. - Remedia describes Hydrocarbon Stabilizer as a water-based liquid that uses patented RTL Technology to mitigate petroleum and other organic contaminants through catalytic conversion. - The product is more than 87% water and inert ingredients, non-flammable, and not classified as a carcinogen. - The Safety Data Sheet filed with NYSDEC says Hydrocarbon Stabilizer is essentially odorless, not classified as a carcinogen by IARC, OSHA or NTP, has no CERCLA reportable quantity, is fully TSCA-listed, is not on California’s Proposition 65 list, and carries an HMIS rating of Health 1 / Fire 0 / Physical 0. - The engineer of record was Impact Environmental Engineering & Geology, PLLC. - All technical details cited in the release come from documents filed with NYSDEC in the DECDocs repository for Site C224350.

Between the lines: - The case study frames odor control as a practical prerequisite for completing source removal in tightly packed urban neighborhoods. - The release positions Hydrocarbon Stabilizer as a field tool for work where crews need to handle contaminated soil without creating new exposure or nuisance issues. - The cleanup also shows how multiple remedies can be layered together, with solidification handling some contamination in place and drilling plus stabilizer addressing the obstructed areas.

What's next: - The broader cleanup still needs to address metals, PAHs, soil vapor and groundwater before the site can move toward redevelopment. - Remedia is pitching Hydrocarbon Stabilizer for other dense brownfield sites where coal tar or petroleum contamination sits near occupied buildings. - More information is available in Remedia’s announcement.