4 MARCH 14, 2019 RIDGEWOOD TIMES WWW.QNS.COM
More concerns over Glendale cleanup site
BY MARK HALLUM
MHALLUM@SCHNEPSMEDIA.COM
@RIDGEWOODTIMES
State agencies briefed the public
on Monday about a Glendale
superfund site that will have
another round of remediations in the
near future aft er the toxic PCE has
been determined to be no detriment to
public health.
The Department of Environmental
Conservation and the Department of
Health held a meeting on March 11 in
a small room of the North Forest Park
library where residents complained
that they were not properly notifi ed
of the contaminants beneath the soil
in their community.
But DEC claimed there was little
chance the public could be breathing
the chemical since it is deep
underground and a study of 10 homes
in 2006 showed no sign of PCE in the
air – an admittedly small size – but that
30 year project would fl ush the soil of
the contaminant.
“We should have had fl yers coming
to our house, we should have been
informed by you people,” one attendee
said. “Nothing.”
“This is why there’s nobody here
tonight, nobody knows,” another
person said, with many attributing
QNS for learning about the meeting.
With most of the contamination up
to 100 feet below the surface at the
deepest parts, DOH does not consider
soil vapor intrusion to be an issue for a
few reasons: because although the PCE
is concentrated in the ground water,
there is a layer of clean water between
Map courtesy of NYS Department of Environmental Conservation
the chemical and the surface; homes
are not at risk because the foundations,
unless there are crack in the pavement,
will seal out the vapors; and there is no
risk of people ingesting PCE because
the surrounding communities are
on the municipal system which is
supplied from upstate.
But Robert Nardella, 78, however,
maintained concern about his home
aft er the presentation because of the
claim by DEC that the underground
plume had migrated west at a
shallower level and pointed out that
some residents may have dug wells
on their property over the years as
a means to water their lawn or fi ll
above-ground pools to get around
water restrictions.
“Why is it being addressed again?”
Nardella told the Ridgewood Times. “I
was confused as to why this is coming
up again when they did everything
to minimize our concerns, you know,
saying there was no more vapor and
that it’s going deeper and deeper into
the ground.”
Nardella was also concerned about
his home, which was built in the early
1930s which just have wood fl oors
over dirt in the basement, off ering
no protection from possible soil
vapor intrusion.
“There are still many homes next
to that site that have dirt over a wood
fl oor, mine included,” Nardella added.
“If there are any vapors coming up, I
don’t have any protection.”
Another woman was still doubtful
that there was nothing to worry about,
as the two agencies said.
“It’s very disturbing, I moved to the
neighborhood in 2002,” she said. “Why
do we bother with another 30 years
and spending millions if it no big deal
and just going to go away.”
The site at 75-09 Woodhaven Blvd.
may have come under contamination
in 1967, when the property was used as
a knitting mill, according to a DEC fact
sheet. The DEC believes the knitting
mill may be to blame for the PCE
contamination, and since late 1990s a
Home Depot has sat at the location.
“It started in 1967, I think and
we’re fi nding out two weeks ago? It’s
outrageous,” another attendee said.
In 1997, before the Home Depot was
built, a volunteer program conducted
an excavation to remove some of the
soil and air sparging, a method of
digging wells into the ground to air
out contamination, was performed in
the 4,000-square-foot area, the DEC
fact sheet.
DEC and DOH will be remediating
by a method that pump chemical
oxidizers into the ground through
9 injections valves to expel PCE
from the soil through nine more
ventilation points and will impact the
contaminant’s chemical structure
across a 14,400-square-foot area
south of Seither Stadium, according
to information from the DEC fact sheet
and the presentation.
DOH Public Health Specialist
Arunesh Ghosh acknowledged that
the 10 homes surveyed in 2006 is
a small sample, but insisted that
it was an accurate depiction of air
quality in homes when paired with
other monitoring projects of the
ground water lead the agency to
believe there is no danger to the health
of residents.
“As far as inhalation – soil vapor
intrusion – that’s the one thing that
potentially, maybe, might be possibly
a concern here,” Ghosh said.
The DEC said it’s goal is to return the
site to its pre-contaminated condition if
feasible but at the very least minimize
any risk to the public.
Middle M
MEDIA ADVISORY
M
IA A
A
Village
IS S
S
P reparatory
Charter Y
r Y
S chool
will
c onduct
t i t s
g monthly
yd o f
y B oard
f T rustees
M eeting
on Wednesday March 20 ru th , 2019
Details are as follows:
WHO: Middle Village Preparatory Charter School
WHAT: Monthly Board of Trustees Meeting
WHEN: Wednesday March 20 th , 2019 1
TIME: 6:00 PM
WHERE: Multi-Purpose Room at Middle Village Prep
Door # 10
68-02 Metropolitan Avenue
Middle Village, NY 11379
All meetings of the Trustees and all committees and subcommittees
are conducted with the New York Open Meetings Law
( N.Y. Public Officers Law §§ 1 00-111).
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