Safe disposal of cars sought after Sandy

The Long Island Pine Barrens Society and nearly 20 other civic and environmental groups have petitioned the state Department of Environmental Conservation to reassess the threat posed by thousands of cars wrecked by superstorm Sandy, and to speed up action to have them removed.

“We understand these cars may remain in place for six months to a year, prolonging the threat to drinking water, and we reject the Department’s assertion that cars dumped on pavement pose no threat to groundwater contamination,” the groups said in a letter to DEC Commissioner Joseph Martens in Albany.

The DEC and Southampton Town officials already have begun legal action against property owners who allowed storm-damaged cars to be stored on grassy property, but the state agency says storing cars on the concrete airport runways owned by Riverhead Town in Calverton poses no immediate pollution threat.

Cars are being removed from an active sand mine area in Speonk because of action by the town and the DEC, and the state agency is investigating a car storage site in Bellport to see whether any violations of environmental law have occurred, according to DEC spokeswoman Aphrodite Montalvo.

The petition signers, including those from the Group for the East End to the East Moriches Property Owners Association, argue that allowing those cars to be stored on Long Island for up to a year does not provide storm relief to their owners, but only benefits insurance companies, auto wreckers and salvage operators.

Above: Cars damaged by superstorm Sandy are being stored on these 53 acres of town-owned land in Calverton. (Nov. 20, 2012)