Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton applauded the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) for its announcement recently that it has finished the short-term cleanup at the Stanton Cleaners site in Great Neck and completed the installation of ground water and soil treatment systems that will continue to operate until the contamination is cleaned up.

"The completion of the short-term cleanup work at the Stanton Cleaners site is a significant milestone - for the people of Great Neck and for the Superfund program," Senator Clinton said. "The cleanup efforts at the site stand as a great example of the work that the Superfund can do and the debt that polluters should pay to the community. Communities deserve the comprehensive cleanup that the Superfund program is capable of delivering and I am pleased that the cleanup is continuing with the help of the program."

"But while the completion of short-term cleanup work at the Stanton Cleaners site is a sign of significant progress, we still have a long way to go and we still need to do everything we can to protect the Superfund program," Senator Clinton said.

Senator Clinton pointed out that the EPA has severely curtailed its Superfund work in the last three years. "Under the Bush Administration, the EPA has cut cleanups in half, cleaning up about 45 sites per year as compared to a pace of nearly 90 sites per year during the late 1990s. In addition, President Bush opposes the effort to reinstate the Superfund fees, which expired in 1995. As a result, the Superfund is now bankrupt and taxpayers rather than polluters, are being forced to finance 100 percent of the cleanup costs at abandoned Superfund sites. It's simply not fair to ask taxpayers to bear this burden. The administration needs to change course to restore the 'polluter pays' principle and replenish the Superfund."

According to EPA, today marks an important milestone in the cleanup of the Stanton Cleaners Ground Water Contamination Superfund site in Great Neck with the announcement that it has finished the short-term cleanup at the site and completed the installation of ground water and soil treatment systems that will continue to operate until the contamination is cleaned up. The Stanton Cleaners site, located at 110 Cutter Mill Road in the Village of Great Neck Plaza, is home to an active dry cleaning business. Past disposal practices caused the soil and ground water at the site to become contaminated with tetrachloromethane (PCE), causing drinking water, soil and indoor air contamination. The site was listed on the National Priorities List (NPL) of the nation's most hazardous waste sites on May 6, 1999.