The following letters were delivered to the EPA at their public comment meeting regarding the Liberty Industrial Site held at the Farmingdale Library in August. They are being reprinted in this paper at the request of the Concerned Citizens Association of Farmingdale.

For the past 15 years, the residents of Farmingdale have been living with the shadow of a toxic dump identified by the Federal Government. During the WWII era, contaminants were dumped at the Liberty Industrial Finishing Site located at 55 Motor Ave, just east of Allen Park. These contaminants are spreading from Liberty towards Massapequa via an underground plume of water. The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has been studying this site and its effect on our groundwater since 1984 and they are finally ready to present their cleanup remedy to the residents of Farmingdale.

On Wednesday, Sept. 13, the EPA is hosting a public meeting at the Farmingdale Library from 7 to 10 p.m. The purpose of this meeting is to review their cleanup plan for the contaminated soil and water at Liberty. Their preferred remedy will actually leave some contaminants on the site! Your health, your children's health and your property values may be at risk. Changes to the EPA preferred remedy can be made if public comments or additional data indicate that such a change will result in a more appropriate remedy. The final decision regarding the selected remedy will be made after EPA has taken into consideration all public comments. The EPA is giving us this FINAL chance to speak up to get a cleanup that is fully protective of our health and our children's health.

Please make an effort to attend the September 13 meeting at the Farmingdale Library between 7 and 10 p.m. This is Farmingdale's last chance to get this toxic waste out of our town.

Mike Grello

President, Concerned Citizens Association of Farmingdale

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I have lived in Farmingdale for 14 years, in a home situated approximately one mile south of Liberty, less than a mile north of Pond A, west of Woodward Parkway and east of the Massapequa Preserve. According to my research, that places me almost directly above contaminated Plume A. I am very disturbed to realize that the details surrounding Liberty have escaped my notice for these 14 years. I asked myself why didn't I know more of what was happening at Liberty when I realized that during this time I have been busy raising a family, cleaning my house to protect my family from germs, cooking nutritious meals to keep their bodies healthy, educating them about keeping the environment clean by not littering and teaching them about the world around us during our frequent walks in the Massapequa Preserve. Sometime during the years, I heard mention of Liberty Superfund Site and EPA mentioned in the same sentence, but assumed my government was doing its job protecting the environment and the health of its citizens.

Upon reading the EPA's July Proposed Cleanup for Liberty, I am not convinced that your preferred remedy for cleaning the contamination from the property is sound. I believe that it is too risky to leave any known contaminants on the property, even if they are buried under a proposed cap. That's like sweeping dust under the rug and hoping the rug doesn't move. What should happen if a source of water, up gradient of the "cap" should begin travelling south. I'm not a geologist, but common sense tells me that there is a strong possibility that water can make its way right under that capped land and carry the existing contaminants further south in another newly formed underground plume. What happens when the "cap" deteriorates and allows the contaminants to "escape." I believe that the only effective way to deal with the contaminated soils on the property would be to remove all the contamination as proposed in the SL3 remedy.

Thank you for giving me the opportunity to comment on the Proposed Plan for the Liberty Superfund Site.

Jo Wider