NY1 Exclusive: Hundreds Of City Schools Use Dirty, Dangerous Heating Oil

By: Grace Rauh

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The Bloomberg administration says dirty heating oil costs lives and harms the health of New Yorkers, but according to a list exclusively obtained by NY1, the city is actually burning it in 427 public schools. NY1’s Grace Rauh filed the following report.

All New Yorkers have seen black smoke pouring from buildings that pollutes the air and, according to the Bloomberg administration, is having a severe impact on the health of New Yorkers. The smoke is caused by the burning of dirty heating oil.

The health risks are so bad that the city's commissioner of Environmental Protection, Cas Holloway, said in a statement back in January, "The facts are clear: dirty heating oil costs lives."

Three types of heating oil. Number 6, on the left, is the dirtiest kind and Number 4, in the middle, is the second-dirtiest.

The problem is that the city itself is burning the very oil it is warning New Yorkers about. In all, 427 schools burn the two worst type of oil. The dirtiest type of oil is used in 239 schools.

The city has proposed banning the worst of the two oils by 2015. The other type of dirty oil would be phased out by 2030.

“2030? Are you serious? Let's get real. In fact, this is 2011, so you are talking about 19 years to phase out this dirty heating oil? Totally unacceptable,” said Manhattan Councilman Robert Jackson.

Schools using the worst oil can be found in all five boroughs, including P.S. 87 on the Upper West Side, P.S. 69 on Staten Island and P.S. 22 in Flushing, Queens. Parents say they are concerned.

“I am going to have my child checked out, see if she's okay. If she isn't, well, the city will have to be responsible for it,” said one parent.

“The parents have a right to know about this. I had no idea about it. It's a shame,” said another.

“Schools, you'd want them to be the cleanest, burning buildings and have the cleanest furnaces, since air quality is such a big issue in the city, especially with kids and the asthma,” said a third.

According to the city's Health Department, the health risks from any single boiler that burns dirty heating oil is relatively small. They say it is the total emissions citywide that reduce air quality.

The city's Department of Education says it is converting boilers at 159 schools within the next three years, so they will be able to burn cleaner fuels.

The city has not made it easy for New Yorkers to find which schools are burning the dirtiest types of heating oil. NY1 was only able to obtain the list through a Freedom of Information Act request.