Photo from The New York Times.

The Times ran a story on the debate surrounding the possible designation of the Gowanus Canal as a Superfund site, talking to local residents, politicians, and representatives from the Environmental Protection Agency.

The proposed designation has put Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg, who has championed a greener New York, in the odd position of opposing the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation, which requested the Superfund listing for the canal.

City environmental officials say they would welcome a cleanup, but not the stigma of a Superfund designation, which authorizes federal officials to pursue parties responsible for the pollution, and have them pay for the removal of hazards. They object to that process because it can extend the cleanup period into decades.

They also argued that the Superfund designation would give the Environmental Protection Agency veto power over the city’s own Gowanus plans, including rezoning 25 blocks of industrial land to allow for residential and commercial development and spending $175 million to diminish odors and prevent sewage discharges that have contributed to the canal’s pollution.

“Everything would have to be looked at fresh,” Daniel Walsh, director of the mayor’s Office of Environmental Remediation, said of a Superfund designation. “There’s no way to predict what would happen.”