Park discovery proves need for stricter dumping regulations

Long Island has lots of dirty secrets. We’re talking about old sand mines opened 60 or 70 years ago when regulations were lacking, and which were filled up and covered over long ago. No one really knows how many there are, where they are or what’s in them now.

The latest was discovered in Roberto Clemente Park in Brentwood, beneath the same soccer field where authorities two years ago found tens of thousands of tons of contaminated fill. The existence of the old mine and landfill farther below that fill strengthens the already rock-solid argument for new and tougher state regulations on dumping and sand mining, even amid worries the landfill could complicate the ongoing case against six individuals and four companies charged in the massive illegal dumping scheme.

Local old-timers were aware of the sand mine. The Town of Islip rediscovered it when officials started checking records after the current scandal exploded. It operated as far back as the early 1940s and later was filled. An environmental consulting firm doing tests at Clemente discovered charred materials and wood, metal piping, glass bottles, brittle plastic and textiles below the level of the most recent dumping. But monitoring wells found no groundwater contamination, which is another way of saying we got lucky — this time.

Islip is creating a plan to continue to monitor groundwater and possible emissions of methane, a potent greenhouse gas, from the old landfill. But its very presence underscores the importance of the tougher regulations being crafted by the state Department of Environmental Conservation. The agency must get these rules right so the cleanliness of our air and water isn’t a matter of luck in the future.