By: Sandra D’Arcangelo, Regional Director
Coalition of Nassau County Civic Associations
Grumman Plume Committee, Chair
NYS Dept.of Environmental Conservation (DEC) has classified this site a Code 2 . “ The disposal of hazardous waste has been confirmed and the presence of such hazardous waste or its components or breakdown products represent a significant threat to the environment or to health. www.dec.ny.gov/chemical/8663.html
With the current plan, the plume has advanced to the Southern State Parkway and is now several miles wide continuing to hit different water companies wells. We need to re-evaluate the effectiveness of the Bethpage Plan, but continue remediation, even with what has been considered an inadequate plan, while a better one that has been approved by the EPA under the Uranium Standard is implemented. Due to the huge volume of hazardous material, we can’t slow down and wait for more meetings. Any further public meetings must include concrete accomplishments since the previous one. We have three massive plumes merged into one, Grumman/Navy/RUCO (Hooker Chemical). After years of remediation we are still talking about “Hot Spots” and many “Areas of Concern”. Due to the type of products produced by Navy/Grumman there should be more hazardous waste identified and plans fordecontamination as well as remediation. The Bethpage site is just one of many hazardous sites on Long Island. Cleanups must be much more effective. We must also prevent toxic wastes from hitting our beautiful bays and estuaries that we live and play in with our families. Our goal should be to end the blending of our water and treat to non-detect across Long Island. Future prevention, must be our first line of defense.
This is our water, Long Island’s water. Water pollution doesn’t stop at a particular water company’s wells. It is our most precious asset and it is being polluted, over pumped and wasted by everyone. Monitoring for all hazardous substances VOCs, radionuclides, metals, nitrate, etc. is the first step.
