For over 50 years, residents of Greenpoint, Brooklyn, have been living on top of an astonishing 17 million gallon oil spill that contaminated the waters of Newtown Creek, left behind from the oil refinery industry in the 40's and 50's, and seeped into the surrounding land. Many residents are claiming that they and the people around them are sick with cancer as a result of the spill, yet little has been done to rectify this situation.

Thirteen's Emmy Award-winning series, NEW YORK VOICES, investigates the Greenpoint oil spill and offers an in-depth look into the health issues believed to be related to the massive spill. This program will premiere Friday, May 4 at 10 p.m. on Thirteen.

NEW YORK VOICES joins chief investigator Basil Seggos from RiverKeeper, an environmental watch group, on a tour of Newtown Creek. Seggos discusses the damage caused by the 17 million gallons of oil (50 percent more than the amount that saturated Alaska's coast from the 1989 Exxon Valdez spill), and the danger this kind of pollution poses to the surrounding areas, homes, businesses and people of Brooklyn and Queens. Riverkeeper is suing ExxonMobil, among others, to hold the corporation responsible for the spill and enforce a long over-due clean-up.

Greenpoint residents are frustrated with the lack of attention given to the spill. They believe there is a strong connection to the alarming trend among family members and neighbors who are sick with cancer and the oil vapors and toxic soil found under their homes. The New York Health Department has known about the spill since 1978 but they have never conducted an official health study. NEW YORK VOICES speaks with long-time Greenpoint residents, including Dorothy Swick, who had vapors pumped out of her home on Hausman Street, during the same time that her husband was being treated for cancer; Laura Hofmann, who is conducting an unofficial health study by collecting data and information from community members; Christine Holowacz, community activist and plaintiff in one of the civil suits, and Tom Stagg, born and raised in Greenpoint, who strongly believes that there are too many people in his neighborhood who are either ill or have cancer for it not to be related to the spill.

NEW YORK VOICES also interviews Assemblyman Joseph Lentol and Barry Wood from ExxonMobil.

Please visit www.thirteen.org/nyvoices for more information.

For press information, visit www.thirteen.org/pressroom