After many years of what residents call evasive answers and incomplete information regarding the 93 acres of property recently sold, again, by Lockheed Martin, members of five New Hyde Park civic associations came out in full force Monday night at a meeting called by the civic associations to protest the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) issuance of an obscure legal notice for a Record of Decision (ROD) which would bring to a hasty close to the method of cleanup by Lockheed of the contaminated discharge basins on the property Lockheed property. (See Letters to the Editor for complete details)

The meeting started off with a very strong statement delivered by Julian Kane, a Hofstra University Environmental Geology Professor who filled the audience in with his water expertise about "on-site" recharge basins located since 1940 in the southwest corner of the site.

Kane stated, "Lockheed Martin is getting away with murder here and the DEC is apparently going along with them. The DEC has been fooling around for years with meetings and more meetings and we haven't had any substantial information from them in years. They proported to give out information, but it turned out to be not of the highest caliber."

Kane continued, "We haven't had any public hearings on this issue and we are now going to request public hearings because it is a different ballgame when you have a public hearing versus a public meeting. We must get a full Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) on what's going on in these 93 acres before the DEC and Lockheed sign off on this property."

Kane said, "We are not just dealing with nine acres that Lockheed will retain, (the DEC said that Lockheed must retain nine acres of the property to clean up) but we are dealing with a 93 acre parcel and they (Lockheed) should not be allowed to make an unconscionable profit from selling off what they say is the part less contaminated parcel of the 93 acres because undoubtedly there is contamination under the parcel they have sold as well. They should not be allowed to just keep up the pumping and treating the nine acres; they should not be allowed to walk away from this issue with their pockets full while they are leaving three drainage ponds that they claim cannot be cleaned up. Their ideas concerning those drainage ponds which still exist on the property and which the DEC has allowed them "carte blanche" to leave as they are. The arsenic, chromium, magnesium, mercury, etc.are all there and what does the DEC propose Lockheed Martin do in order to clean up those ponds? "

Kane said, "Their solution is to put a fence around the nine acres and put signs up so that no one will go near those ponds. We have 800 similar basins or sumps in Nassau County and 2200 in Suffolk and I take my students to show them the current status. We find the signs are ripped off, the fences are broken through and a sign and a fence is only an invitation to a youngster to get in and perhaps go swimming. It won't keep anyone out."

He went on, "Now while Lockheed is still on the property undoubtedly they will have guards patrolling the area, but what happens when they are finished with the area. We don't know. But, what we do know is that they are not going to come back and spend any time watching those fences around the three drainage pumps. So we all have to bear the burden of this."

Kane said, "The DEC and Lockheed both maintain that the drainage ponds do not constitute a health hazard and that what contamination is there won't go down into the water. I say that if you have a drainage pond and the water does not go very high after a storm or snow belt, where is it going? It has to go somewhere. These are soluble to us in parts per billion and they are hazardous. So what they propose for these three ponds is not just a joke, it is a tragedy and I don't think they should be let off the hook in selling the rest of that property of 84 acres. They should be forced to put up a bond equal to a profit they will be making to ensure that the full contamination cleanup will be done in both directions; west, north because water goes both ways through the aquifers."

Kane concluded, "This is my message geologically, morally, spiritually and economically, they are getting away with murder unless we can convince our legislators both in the Washington and in New York State to do something about this. The DEC is a state organization and how can it take such a stupid position. It is ridiculous."

The five civics in New Hyde Park, the public officials and all of those on the task force in both New Hyde Park and Great Neck are demanding that the DEC hold a public hearing before the DEC signs off on the "closure plan."

It was suggested at the meeting that residents get together and sign petitions, plus it was further urged that all residents call the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation Regional Director Ray Cowen in Suffolk at (631) 444-0345 to demand that a public hearing be held as soon as possible on this volatile subject.

It was also suggested that residents call New York State Senator Michael Balboni at 873-0736; Assemblywoman Maureen O'Connell at 222-0007; Assemblyman Thomas DiNapoli at 482-6966; Nassau Count Legislator Richard Nicolello at 571-6209 and Legislator Lisanne Altman at 571-6210 and urge them to contact the DEC to demand a hearing.

The evening was chaired by President of Lakeville Estates Civic Kathy Seyfried. Present was the President of Parks Civic Association James McHugh; President of Holiday Gate Civic Association Rhoda Greenstein; Vice President of North Lakeville Civic Marietta DiCamillo and Chairman of the Lakeville Estates Civic Environmental Committee Chairman Marianna Wohlgemuth.

Also present were the following officials: Mayor of Village of Lake Success Robert Bernstein; New Hyde Park Village Trustee Florence Lisanti; North Hempstead Town Councilpersons Angelo Ferrara, Doreen Banks and Anthony D'Urso and North Hempstead Town Supervisior May Newburger.

It was explained by Seyfried at the meeting that the Senator Balboni and Assembly representatives DiNapoli and O'Connell were at a meeting in Albany and that there was a Nassau County Legislative meeting being held in Mineola that prevented both Nicolello and Altman from being present.

Anyone wishing to help with collection petitions on this issue or to help in any way to facilitate a public hearing may call Marianna Wohlgemuth at 326-1243; Marietta DiCamillo at 354-6253 or Kathy Seyfried at 437-6958.

History of Property Formerly Owned by Sperry

Michael Currie, a member of the North Lakeville Civic Association, New Hyde Park was the first speaker and outlined the history of the property. Currie holds a bachelor degree in physics and is a practicing engineer.

Currie said he wanted to give a history of how this all started. He then drew a triangle on an easel identifying Lakeville Road, Marcus Avenue and Union Turnpike.

He explained that the original property was a triangle, but the Triad Park office buildings now occupy the east portion of the property. But the Sperry people owned and operated the manufacturing plant in that area as well.

Currie said, "The pollution was created under the entire complex. Sperry moved into the area in 1940 with the sole purpose of doing a lot of manufacturing to make various products. The reason why there was so much pollution is that the original building had as its floor wood blocks packed together that stretched the entire length of the interior building. This was built this way so that all the machinists standing all day long would not suffer from feet and leg exhaustion because they would instead be standing on wood. However, the wood had lots of little crevices and it was porous. Included in the equipment were lathes, bandsaws, drill presses, training facilities, painting facilities all spread out all over the properties with people using that equipment in those days 24-hours-a-day. They made parts for airplanes, spot lights, etc. to help the Army and Navy during WWII."

Currie continued, "The building you don't see anymore was torn down in the late 1960s and the early 1970s. If you know anything about the manufacturing process that were used everywhere in this country you would know that anytime you used a lathe you were constantly spraying oil on the material you were cutting; when you were using a bandsaw you would use a different kind of oil as you cut through the heavy metal to try to keep it cool and the blade from getting dull; when you were using a drill you are using oil. Now, you have oil all over and you have to get rid of the oil and the only way to do that is to dump it in a tank that is a degreaser which uses a different kind of chemical usually acetone, trichlorethylene, zylene all nice chemicals, but what do you do when finished with them?"

Currie said, "Well, in 1940 or 1950 nobody knew there was a problem with those chemicals so when you were finished with them they were deposited in the nearest receptacle in the ground. Similar to so many people who when changing the oil in their cars dumped that oil into the nearest drain, who knew any better."

Currie further stated, "This is not a problem because somebody did something wrong in 1940; this is a problem because now that we know that the problem exists, we have to find a way to get rid of the problem that still exists in the ground. That's the real reason we are all here to discuss this night."

He further explained, that as the years went by there were many concentrated areas used for dumping in smaller areas of the facility; there was a collection of all the painting materials into one area; all the plating materials into another, etc.

Currie said, "In general these dumpings were all over the place and if you talk to anyone working there in 1950, 1960 or 1970 they will tell you the same stories. They were not doing anything they thought was wrong they were just getting rid of all the waste and at the closest place possible. That has affected our ground water. The ground water below that property feeds the main aquifer for Manhasset Lakeville; Great Neck; Garden City Park; Western Nassau Water Authority. All the water districts in this area operate through the same set of aquifers. There is one main aquifer that has the largest volume of water which is about 250 feet down and the pollution has been there since 1940. It had time to go down 250 feet. So what the DEC has been trying to do for many years is clean it up."

Currie explained what really started the cleanup process, "In 1988 there was an accident on the property when two chemicals were mixed together which created a flash chemical fire in the face of one of the workers and because it was a Saturday the local hospital was not opened so they took the worker to Long Island Jewish Hospital and when you go to a public hospital they write an incident report which went to any number of public agencies that required them to come and inspect the property and it was discovered at that point that there was something in the ground that had to be cleaned up."

Currie went on, "That brings us to about eight years ago when the DEC got involved and tried to figure out how to clean it up."