The New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) will hold a public information session to discuss a work plan prepared by the Northrop Grumman Corporation to investigate soil contamination at Bethpage Community Park. The session will be held at the Bethpage Community Center, 103 West Grumman Road, Bethpage on Tuesday, April 29, from 2 to 4 and 6 to 9 p.m.

The work plan will be available for public review by April 22 at the Bethpage Public Library; Town of Oyster Bay Department of Public Works, 150 Miller Place, Syosset; and the DEC office in Stony Brook.

While no formal presentations will be made at the information session, representatives from DEC, the state and county health departments, the Town of Oyster Bay and the Northrop Grumman Corporation will be available to answer questions pertaining to the plan. The Department of the Navy has also been invited to participate.

The impending investigation is intended to characterize the overall surface and subsurface environmental condition in areas of the park that are not yet reopened. When complete, the investigation will provide sufficient information to allow evaluation of remedial alternatives for the contamination found in the park.

Town of Oyster Bay Supervisor John Venditto ordered the park closed on May 3, 2002 after soil samples revealed the presence of polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) in some areas of the park. Oyster Bay reopened the park's ice skating rink to public use in November 2002. Investigation of contamination in residential areas south of the park is ongoing and will be the subject of future informational efforts.

Northrop Grumman Corporation detected elevated levels of PCBs in a 1999-2001 plant closure investigation of an access road immediately south of the park and notified DEC and the State Department of Health. At that time, Northrop Grumman proposed to undertake an investigation of soil in areas of the park where the former Grumman Aircraft Engineering Corporation had disposed of liquid wastes and solid fill in the 1950s and 1960s. Northrop Grumman's most recent sampling of park soil took place in March 2002. The upcoming investigation will follow up on results from that sampling effort to better define the extent and depth of soil contamination within the park.

Under the guidelines of the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act corrective action program, completion of the investigation will be followed by selection of an appropriate remedial alternative, and an opportunity for public review and comment on any potential remedial activities that may be proposed.

The Grumman Aircraft Engineering Corporation (subsequently purchased by Northrop Grumman Corporation) donated the land for the park to the Town of Oyster Bay in 1962. The 18-acre park is located on the west side of Stewart Avenue near its intersection with Cherry Avenue. The park is currently owned by the Town of Oyster Bay and includes a swimming pool, playground, baseball field and picnic area.