By JOSEPH KELLARD
The DEC identifies the LIRR as being potentially responsible for the site's contamination under the provisions of the DEC Voluntary Cleanup Program. The LIRR and New York State Department of Health are working in concert with the DEC on the investigation, expected to begin this week.
Substations, single-story brick buildings next to transformer yards that once housed mercury rectifiers, power the third rail that provide electricity for the trains. During the 1980s, the mercury rectifiers were removed from substations and replaced with non-mercury-containing solid-state equipment. The DEC contends that operation and maintenance of the mercury rectifiers in the past may have affected the Island Park site and the surrounding environment.
In April and May 2000, the LIRR completed an interim remedial measure to excavate and properly dispose of mercury-contaminated soil found onsite. About 10 cubic yards of earth was removed from beneath the Island Park substation.
The site assessment revealed that the contaminated soil, collected from the bottom of the excavated area where the rectifiers used to be, contained an unexpectedly high concentration of mercury.
The preliminary investigation, initiated by the LIRR, sparked the more thorough investigation into the nature and extent of the soil and possible groundwater contamination in the area. The work involves the use of a Geoprobe, a drill rig used to take soil and groundwater samples, and is expected to begin on Wednesday, Jan. 22, and take five to seven days to complete, according to Sam Zambuto, spokesperson for the LIRR.
"It's a temporary sampling procedure, rather than the alternative, which in some cases when you're sampling groundwater involves building a well that is expensive and takes more time," Mark Lowery, a regional spokesman for the DEC, told the Herald.
The investigation in Island Park is one of three to be conducted at LIRR substations; the other sites are in Manhasset and Massapequa. These investigations have been implemented under the provisions of the Voluntary Cleanup Program, established in New York to address the environmental, legal and financial issues associated with redevelopment and reuse of contaminated properties.
In May 2002 the DEC and LIRR signed a voluntary cleanup agreement to conduct detailed environmental investigations at the three substation sites. "Under the terms of the agreement, if something is found that warrants remediation, then the railroad would be required to prepare a remediation work plan for cleaning up whatever contamination has been found there for the Department of Environmental Conservation and the Department of Health Approval," Lowery said.
Separate reports of the investigations for each site will be generated after results have been analyzed and confirmed, after which the DEC will determine whether remediation of the sites are necessary, a process that can take up to two months, Lowery said.
