State: Gas plant site cleanup almost done

At a sometimes heated public meeting in Bay Shore Tuesday night, the state environmental agency delivered a clear message to homeowners living on or near a contaminated former gas plant site.

"We're on a glide path to completion here," Gardiner Cross of the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation told about 70 residents at a meeting at Bay Shore High School.

With about 14 representatives on hand from National Grid, the utility that now owns the site and is conducting the cleanup with oversight from the DEC and state health department, Cross gave a more than hourlong briefing.

While contamination remained from coal tar and fuel originating from the former Long Island Lighting Co. plant at certain depths way below the surface, Cross said groundwater-treatment efforts had been "highly successful." The plant operated from the 1880s to the early 1970s.

None of the contamination affects the drinking-water supply, officials have said.

Latest data from monitoring wells showed oxygen injection had helped naturally occurring bacteria dissolve the contamination at a steady rate through 2009 and 2010 in "dramatic progress" and that was expected to continue, he said. Shallow groundwater contamination -- where there had been the greatest risk for human exposure -- is now "almost gone," Cross said.

He acknowledged an ozone groundwater treatment station would need to remain "permanently" at the original plant site between Fifth and Clinton avenues north of the LIRR tracks and that ongoing tests are needed to determine how long other aspects of the cleanup will take.

But neither the state health department nor the DEC had been able to find any evidence of soil vapor intrusion from the contaminants into residents' homes. "We weren't sure at first, but the overall data now is very conclusive," said Cross.

Still, some residents weren't quieted and there was shouting and bickering as views differed.

"Perception is still a problem," said one resident, Bill Sullivan, who pointed out the stigma of the plume was hard for homeowners who wanted to sell and asked when it would be possible for the DEC to declare the site clean. Cross replied that he couldn't because that wasn't true.

More than 120,000 tons of contaminated soil had been removed but a lot of the contamination remained at depths that aren't possible to reach.

"Isn't this cancer-causing -- this is bad stuff . . . what's the solution?" said Lori Dunn, another resident. Steve Karpinski of the state health department said hundreds of samples from homes, businesses and schools in the area had convinced him there had been no human exposure.

"We have looked at all the potential routes of exposure. There's nothing to indicate levels harmful to anybody and there aren't any pathways to human exposure," he said. "I'm concerned that you're worrying too much about something that is not a problem."

Several residents said they felt the presence of the cleanup itself presented a blight problem. "Two blocks from my house there's a barbed-wire enclosed area . . . that's like a big skull and bones. It makes the place look scary," said Steve Kureczko, a Community Road resident.

Patrick and Denise McGarty, who live on the same road, said they now fear foreclosure after trying for 17 months to sell their house. Twice, the couple said in an interview, they had almost closed with a buyer but the plume had turned each buyer away.

"We're not even officially on the plume and I have no problem with the cleanup," Patrick McGarty said. "But the stigma this has created in the neighborhood . . . people won't even walk in the door."