Bethpage-Tribune_2004-06-18

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SERVING BETHPAGE, ISLAND TREES, OLD BETHPAGE, PLAINVIEW, SEAFORD AND PLAINEDGE
VOL 42 NO. 21 June 18-24, 2004 FORTY CENTS
NEW YORK STATE
DEPARTMENT OF
ENVIRONMENTAL
CONSERVATION
NYSDEC To Host
Bethpage Community Park Update
Environmental Investigation and
Remediation at Bethpage
Community Park. Public Availability •
Session June 24, 2004, 5:00 PM -
9:00 PM, Bethpage Community
Center, 103 West Grumman Road,
Bethpage.
Representatives from the New
York State Department of
Environmental Conservation, NYS
Department of Health, Nassau
County Department of Health and
the Town of Oyster Bay will be
available to discuss this project in a
public availability session. An •
availability session is a gathering of
program representatives and
members of the public in a casual
setting, without a formal
presentation or agenda.
Representatives will, be located
around the room with copies of
reports, maps and other material to
answer your questions and hear
your concerns. You may drop in at
any time between 5:00 p.m. and
9:00 p.m.
Site History: Grumman
Aerospace (now Northrop
Grumman) donated the land for the
Park to the Town of Oyster Bay in
1962. Prior to this land donation to
the Town of Oyster Bay, Grumman
Aerospace used portions of the site
as sludge drying areas, or settling
ponds, to dispose of liquid wastes.
The sludge came from the solids
settled out of the liquid waste. Once
dried, the sludge was removed and
sent offsite for landfill disposal. A
portion of the site was also used for
fire control training.
Prior to Northrop Grumman's
investigation of the Bethpage
Community Park, limited
environmental investigations within
the park found that contamination
was either non detectable or
detected at trace level
concentrations that were all lower
than the current applicable cleanup
levels. Northrop Grumman notified
the NYSDEC and the New York
State Department of Health
(NYSDOH) in early 2002 of elevated
levels of PCBs found as a result of
several rounds of testing in 1999-
2001 on a Northrop Grumman
access road immediately south of
the park. As a followup to the access
road sampling, Northrop Grumman
proposed, and eventually
implemented, a more
comprehensive investigation of
surface and subsurface soil inside
the Bethpage Community Park. The
results of this testing are described
in more detail in the next section.
Current Investigative Summary
Report: Northrop Grumman has
finalized a second report entitled
"Bethpage Community Park,
Investigation Sampling Program,
Field Report, December 2003." This
report is now available at the
document repository, located at the
Bethpage Public Library.
The "Bethpage Community Park,
Investigation Sampling Program,
Field Report, December 2003"
summarizes all the work that
Northrop Grumman has done to date
and is discussed briefly as follows:
1. Northrop Grumman Park
Sampling Program to Date -
Northrop Grumman's first round of
soil sampling in the park took place
in March 2002. Soil push-probe
samples were collected from 60
locations at varying depths. During
the week of May 13, 2003, Northrop
Grumman collected additional soil
samples from within the park and
installed groundwater monitoring
wells. This work was done to further
define the limits of contamination in
the park.
2. Surface Samples - Most
surface soil samples for both the first
and second round of sampling had
either a non-detect or a detection of
PCB concentration of less than one
ppm, the value used by NYSDEC to
remediate PCBs in a residential
setting. Chromium was also found in
some surface soil samples at
concentrations below the levels of
health concern. Special attention
was focused on testing in bare areas
because people are more likely to
come into contact with the soil in
these areas than in areas that are
well grassed. PCB concentrations in
three of these samples ranged from
0.09 ppm to 0.4 ppm, all below the
1ppm cleanup value. The second
round of soil sampling confirmed this
finding.
3. Samples at Depth -
Approximately one in ten deeper (at
least 8 feet) soil push-probe
samples had elevated levels of
PCBs and some metals, particularly
chromium, that exceeded
recommended soil cleanup
objectives for total PCBs and/or
metals. These particular
contaminants in subsurface soil are
not an immediate exposure concern
because people will not come into
contact with them under most
circumstances.
4. Groundwater - Newly installed
groundwater monitoring wells on the
downgradient (south) side of the
Bethpage Community Park have
detected volatile organic
compounds in groundwater. The
agencies are reviewing the available
data to determine the need for any
additional investigation in this regard
before finalizing the site
investigation phase of this project.
All public water in the vicinity of the
former Grumman/U.S. Navy
Bethpage facility and the
surrounding community is from the
Bethpage Water District (BWD).
These supplies are routinely
monitored and treated, if necessary,
to ensure that drinking water
distributed to the public meets
federal, state, and county
requirements.
Sampling Off-Site Properties
Near the Park - Soil samples were
collected in 1995 from eleven
residential yards southwest of the
park and tested for PCBs. PCBs
were either not detectable or less
than the one ppm cleanup value
used by DEC to remediate PCBs in a
residential setting. More recently,
based on the findings of sampling
""•B access road and the park,
au ;onal homes that included all
the homes to the south of the
Northrop Grumman Access road
were sampled in 2002 and 2003 by
the NYSDEC, NYSDOH and the
NCDH. The results indicated that
three homes adjacent to Stewart
Avenue exhibited surface soil
(Continued on page 4)
Happy Father's Day
Remote's
FOP YOU"
To all the So-So Dads out there, we say even
though you hog the T.V., we love you all so much.
Happy Fathers Day to all those Dads who do
so much, love so much, work so hard and still
manage to spend so much time watching T.V.!
You all are so appreciated and so loved.