By Linda Delmonico-Prussen
The New York State Department of Environmental Conservation, which first uncovered the spill in December 2001, had said cleanup of the spill would get under way by this summer. To date, however, the agency continues only to investigate the spill. That has local leaders such as Merrick School Board President Diane Seaman concerned.
"Why are they still monitoring? And why haven't they started cleaning?" Seaman told the Herald this week.
At an Old Lindenmere Civic Association meeting in January this year, DEC geologist Joseph Haas II warned that the gasoline plume would eventually reach the pond if were not cleaned up.
Hass said, "Our plan is to clean it up before it moves much further." Within six months, he said, workers would be ready to "start sucking the gas out."
Now, more than six months later, "A remediation plan is still being developed," said DEC spokesperson Bill Fonda. In January, Fonda had said the DEC hoped to develop a cleanup plan within three months.
Likely, Fonda said, an environmental firm will conduct the cleanup both at the Sunoco station and on grounds of the Levy-Lakeside school.
Now in place 25 feet from the pond sits a monitoring well to measure the amount of methyl-tertiary-butyl-ether, or MTBE, flowing into the pond. Fonda said the level of MTBE "doesn't exceed surface water standards."
Fonda would not speculate whether the amount draining into Cammans Pond was considered safe for area wildlife, but said the readings at the monitoring wells "are 50 parts per billion at 25 foot depth from the surface." He explained that surface water standards are 8,000 parts per million. If they were to exceed such surface levels, Fonda said, the monitoring unit would automatically notify local fisheries.
The fisheries would then catch sample fish, send them to a DEC laboratory for testing and report the findings to the New York State Department of Health. The Health Department would issue an advisory if necessary.
The source of the spill, whether it be a leaky tank or overfill, still
has not been determined. Fonda said, "On July 25, additional investigative work on possible sources of the spill" would take place, and the Herald found workers at the Sunoco station drilling and taking soil samples from the ground that day.
DEC officials stressed during the January meeting that the spill did not threaten students at Levy-Lakeside because it lies beneath a layer of "clean" water, so fumes from the spill cannot seep into the school. They also said that residents do not receive their drinking water from local wells.
A second area of fuel-oil contamination was found on the school property in January. According to Fonda, the DEC investigated the area and found it "not to be a risk to the school or population."
When asked why the Sunoco spill was not cleaned up within six months and an investigation was still ongoing, Fonda said investigations take time.
Dr. Ronald Smith, superintendent of the Merrick School District, said that Miller Environmental, the group hired by the DEC to look into the spill, has kept district officials updated throughout the various stages of testing, and that he expects to receive testing results and an action plan from the firm in the near future.
The spill is to be discussed at the Merrick School Board meeting on Tuesday, Aug. 13.
