By Linda Delmonico-Prussen
The officials said at a Merrick School Board meeting last Tuesday that a system to suck the gasoline out of the ground is to be installed by Aug. 30. Actual cleanup of the spill should start in October.
The announcement follows a Herald report earlier this month that the cleanup had not gotten under way, despite pronouncements by the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation in January that the effort would begin by this summer.
Bruce Mackay, a health department spokesman, said cleanup could require one to two years.
Merrick School Board Trustee Martin Valk, who is an environmental attorney, expressed concern about the wildlife at Cammans Pond that the spill might harm. The pond is home to numerous Canada geese, swans and less-common species of bird such as egrets, along with fish that live in environments like Cammans Pond where fresh and saltwater mix.
Mackay responded to Valk: "It's a spill. It's not significant by any means."
Board member Susan Schwartz wondered about the DEC, which is overseeing the spill cleanup. This summer, the DEC installed a well to monitor the spill. "I realize the DEC is monitoring the well, but is Nassau monitoring the DEC?" Schwartz asked. Mackay said the health department would examine results of the DEC's monitoring results.
Valk also asked, "Is the Department of Health going to monitor what's happening in the canal" as a result of the spill? Mackay said that, with runoff from roads and spills from boats, the amount of petroleum in the canals shouldn't change tremendously.
Mackay, however, was reluctant to quantify the spill. "I don't want to say small spill because it's in our neighborhood," he said.
Merrick resident Salvatore Vassallo said, "We can't afford to be complacent about a small spill," and he asked, "When is someone going to clean this up?"
Nassau County Legis. David Denenberg (D-Merrick) said referring to the cleanup that was supposed to have already started: "I've seen no remediation," adding, "The real thing to do is push the DEC to see the remediation system goes in as soon as possible."
The Merrick Board of Education said work on the system would begin this week.
Denenberg replied, "Throwing it in and turning it on and seeing it works are two different things."
