The cleanup of the Navy-owned portion of the Grumman industrial site in Bethpage is nearing final stages, the Navy recently reported to a advisory panel of community members.

During a Feb. 17 meeting of the Restoration Advisory Board (RAB), Jim Colter, the Navy's project manager for the remediation of the site, told the committee of community residents that a significant portion of the cleanup has been completed.

"We're in the home stretch," he said, addressing the RAB at the Bethpage Communty Center on Grumman Road.

The Navy-owned portion of the Grumman industrial site primarily consists of 105 acres which were polluted by past government-contracted defense manufacturing operations by Grumman for the Navy. The site has been the subject of ongoing environmental remediation for several years, and is on the brink of being given to the county for the purpose of private redevelopment for commercial use.

Nassau County Legislator Edward Mangano (17th L.D.), a Bethpage resident and member of the RAB committee has promised that Nassau will not accept the property without assurances that the land, which was polluted by past manufacturing operations, is fully cleaned up.

The 105 acres are adjacent to the larger Northrop Grumman campus, much of which is also in the process of redevelopment. Northrop Grumman, the corporate entity formed by the 1994 merger of Northrop Aerospace Manufacturing and Grumman has been working in conjunction with the Navy on the cleanup of the 105 acres since the early 1990s, and the parties' combined spending on the effort have totalled several million dollars, according to Colter. Their work has been overseen by the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation.

According to Colter, the cleanup of the 105 acres, which was primarily contaminated by Volatile Organic Chemicals (VOCs) from cleaning solvents, has consisted of the following components:

1) Excavation of soils by Northrop Grumman - Northrop Grumman identified over 250 areas of concern when it pulled out of the 105 acres of Navy property in 1998. Through soil sampling, they determined where excavation of contaminated soil was needed. In those areas, they removed the polluted soil, and replaced it with clean fill.

2) Cleanup of historic disposal operation sites by Navy - As part of its Installation Restoration Program, the Navy investigates and restores waste disposal sites which are no longer operational. The Navy identified three such sites on the 105 acres. The Navy has cleaned up two of those areas, and is in the process of treating the last, most contaminated site, through an air sparging/soil vapor extraction remediation system. That system will continue for another 9 months. In the beginning of 2001, additional soil excavation, for the purpose of removing more contaminants, will take place.

3) Drywells - Northrop Grumman has taken the lead on the investigation of several drywells that were contaminated within the 105 acres. Once they have proposed the cleanup strategy that is satisfactory to the Navy and DEC, the Navy will implement the cleanup program for the drywells.

4) Groundwater - A pump and treat remediation system, which is a joint effort of the Navy and Northrop Grumman, is in place. A monitoring system for groundwater in surrounding neighborhoods is forthcoming.

The Navy is mandated by Congress to consult with the RAB, a committee of local community members which has been meeting since May 1999, on a quarterly basis, to update them on the progress of the site cleanup. As a private entity, Northrop Grumman is not mandated by Congress to meet with the RAB, and therefore did not make a presentation at the Feb. 17 meeting. However, Navy officials noted that the corporation has been a highly cooperative player in the cleanup.

Naval Air Systems Commander Judithanne Hare noted that many other private polluters refuse to pay for cleanups at Navy-owned contractor operated facilities, pushing the entire financial burden onto the Navy. In this case, she said, Grumman has agreed to conduct and pay for their share of the cleanup, and this has expedited the process. "If that had not happened, the Navy would have had the entire burden for its property alone," she said, noting that due to limited government funds, this would have made the cleanup process slower.

Still, some community residents are dissatisfied with the way the cleanup is being handled. Betty Seiden, a South Farmingdale resident who attended the RAB meeting, believes the cleanup level is not strict enough to be fully protective of the groundwater. She wants the property cleaned up to meet residential development standards, which is the most thorough cleanup available. "I believe they're not cleaning it up enough to give us full protection," she said, noting that the less contaminants that are removed, the more that end up in groundwater acquifers throughout the local communities.

It was revealed at the RAB meeting that there is a plume of groundwater contamination that emanates from the 105 acres in a southeasterly direction (with the flow of groundwater). It extends as deep as 300-400 feet, and as far as Hempstead Turnpike. Seiden fears that contamination eventually reaches drinking water wells, although local water officials have assured that drinking wells are consistently monitored to detect and prevent such occurrences.

According to Colter, the site is being remediated to meet commercial/industrial cleanup standards, because the property will be developed for those needs, and a residential cleanup is more expensive.

The local community will soon have another opportunity to learn about the cleanup of the Navy-owned portion of the Grumman industrial site. The DEC is in the process of finalizing a Feasibility Study, which will provide a comprehensive analysis of environmental investigations and cleanups at the site to date. Following public comment on that document, which is expected to be released within a few weeks, the state regulatory agency will issue a decision on how the remainder of the cleanup should proceed.