Environmental leaders in Coney Island say an ecological disaster is being done by the city to build the Coney Island ferry.

They are opposed to the location where they’re building it now, Coney Island Creek at Kaiser Park. Chunks of the park are closed off with signs. 

A specific image causing an uproar is an excavator crane with dredged sediments leaking out of the bucket. They say it is inappropriate handling of the polluted and highly toxic sediment at the bottom of this creek. 

They’re calling on the state’s Department of Environmental Conservation to revoke the permits issued to the New York City Economic Development Corporation for the dredging. 

A spokesperson for the New York City Economic Development Corporation tells News 12 in a statement that they are taking this issue very seriously and that  “NYCEDC mandated Skanska launch an investigation into the incident and work performed by their subcontractor, Mechanical and Marine Construction Corp. As a result, Skanska has informed us the subcontractor is no longer working on the dredging project." 

Activists say they want this project to stop right now because they’re worried about the health repercussions. They say they’re not against the ferry idea, but they want to see it on the ocean side next to all the amusements. 

News 12 reached out to the state Department of Environmental Conservation and they responded with a statement saying, "On Nov. 9, DEC issued a Notice of Violation to EDC for failure to implement measures to minimize any potential adverse environmental impacts during permitted dredging activities."