Riverbank has been closed for 18 months because of industrial contamination but is to reopen sometime next year, Ms. Goldstein said.

Fire escapes must be installed; leftover industrial contamination eliminated.

The opposition campaigned here on a pledge to curb industrial contamination.

Leftover industrial contamination must be eliminated.

Partly built by gulag labor in Soviet times, industrial contamination is a big problem in the area.

There is similar uncertainty about what lies under the ground after years of possible industrial contamination by General Motors, and that, too, must be resolved.

He said that while the contamination was severe "as compared with other industrial contamination of the Soviet Union, it is not outlandish."

They are also examining the possibility of industrial contamination.

Mr. Kennedy and other antipollution advocates said that industrial contamination of the city's waterways was far from isolated.

Partly built by gulag labor in Soviet times, industrial contamination remains a serious problem in an area hard to police.