New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo announced that he is filing a lawsuit against major oil companies to clean up a massive oil spill that has contaminated Newtown Creek and the surrounding lands. The lawsuit will be filed against ExxonMobil, BP, Chevron, Keyspan and Phelps Dodge to move faster to clean up the oil spill or face fines.

Newtown Creek is the industrial waterway that separates Brooklyn from Queens. In 1950, an explosion released nearly 17 million gallons of oil (more than the Exxon Valdez oil spill in 1989) into ground around Newtown Creek. The oil spill was not discovered until 1978.

The New York Times reported that the lawsuit brought by Cuomo is more aggressive than the 1990 agreement with Mobil Oil (ExxonMobil's predecessor) to remove all the oil. While ExxonMobil insists that it has fulfilled its part of the deal, environmental concerns with the creek and surrounding neighborhoods remain.

Residents who live near the creek and the environmental group Riverkeeper have previously filed lawsuits to force the oil companies to clean up the creek. Mr. Cuomo hopes that the state lawsuit will help push the oil companies to move the cleanup forward.

In a statement, NYLCV applauded the lawsuit.