A proposed Superfund listing for the Gowanus Canal generated such unprecedented interest and controversy, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) extended the traditional public comment period on the project, a rare act.

The extended period finally came to an end July 8, though the debate will no doubt rage on across Brooklyn as residents await the EPA's decision.

For federal officials weighing public comments this summer, none matter more than those submitted, on the final day of the three-month deadline, by the city of New York.

The city's exhaustive 436-page report is itself a measure of the significant time and resources the Bloomberg Administration has invested in the issue. And over hundreds of thorough, detailed pages, the city roundly rejects the Superfund listing, arguing instead for a Superfund Alternative approach that will supposedly be faster, more efficient, and won't drive private development from the canal neighborhood.

"The city believes that its Alternative Cleanup Plan will get the canal clean sooner and more efficiently than Superfund, and avoid the well-known stigma1 that may come with a Superfund designation," the city stated in the report summary.

The summary goes on to say that the powerful, one-size-fits-all Superfund approach does not fit the unique and complex environmental realities of the Gowanus Canal.

The report said the city's alternative plan, which involves voluntary payments from polluters, a continued partnership with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, and funding from Congress is tailor-made for Brooklyn's polluted waterway.

"Such an approach would be particularly appropriate here," the report states. "The city's substantial remedial capacity, and willingness to enter into binding agreements with EPA to ensure cleanup of the canal, are additional reasons for the EPA to consider the [Superfund Alternative] approach in this case."

In an interview after the city submitted its comment, the city's point man on the project, Cas Holloway - who serves as chief of staff to Deputy Mayor Ed Skyler and as a special advisor to the mayor - said the city will be ready to act, should the EPA choose its plan over listing the canal site.

While the city awaits the EPA's decision, "we'll continue to put the steps forward to be in a position to [implement] the alternative plan if the EPA chooses the Superfund Alternative, and we hope they will," Holloway said.

An EPA spokesperson said once the agency is finished reviewing the city's comments, as well as all other public comments, it would submit an official response.

The spokesperson said there is no timeline for the response, though the EPA is working hard to make one "as soon as possible." The earliest the EPA could place the canal on its Superfund list is this September.