Dear supporters,
Thank you for standing with us and continuing to support this important effort.
We want to share an update regarding our ongoing concerns about the safety and transparency of the Steam Plant demolition on Roosevelt Island.
Recently, in community conversations, someone noted: “Well, this is not the first old building to be demolished…”
That is absolutely true.
A relevant example is Goldwater Hospital, constructed in the same year as the Steam Plant (1939) and demolished in 2013 to make way for Cornell Tech Campus. However, that demolition followed a markedly different process. It included comprehensive safety and environmental oversight measures such as:
- A Community Air Monitoring Plan (CAMP)
- City Environmental Quality Review (CEQR)
- A full Environmental Impact Statement (EIS)
- Public Town Hall meetings and Community Engagement
All of this information was made publicly available. These measures are especially important because buildings from this era were commonly constructed using materials now known to contain hazardous substances such as asbestos, PCBs, and lead-based components.
In contrast, it remains unclear whether environmental testing for the Steam Plant has been completed—and if so, why the results have not been disclosed.
We first requested this information on December 2, 2025. More than 100 days later, the New York City Department of Buildings and the Department of Housing Preservation and Development have not released the findings.
What makes this especially concerning is what was documented at Goldwater Hospital. Official Remedial Action Plan and Construction Health and Safety Plan identified numerous hazardous site contaminants, including benzene, chromium, ethylbenzene, fuel oils, lead, mercury, PAHs, PCBs, toluene, and xylene. These findings demonstrate the type and scale of environmental risks that can exist in structures of this age.
This raises a critical question: If a similar building required this level of transparency, environmental review, and public engagement—why are those same standards not being applied here?
Your support is helping bring attention to this issue and push for the transparency and safety measures our community deserves.
Please share this update and the petition with neighbors, friends, and colleagues — continued public attention is essential to ensure accountability and making sure the community is part of the conversation about the future of the building.
We will continue to keep you updated.
Thank you again for your support,
Architectural Community Alliance of Roosevelt Island (ArchRI)