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Press DEC For C. Point Cleanup
The organization, the Northeastern Queens Nature and Historical Preserve (NQNHP), which has offices in Fort Totten in Bayside, also told Padavan that a study it commissioned “clearly shows the leaching of toxic material from the landfill site into the tidal waters.”
“Although the plan recognizes deeply buried toxic metals, PCBs and industrial waste and solves this problem with a plastic barrier relatively close to the surface of the landfill, there was no attempt to deal with the leaching of this material into the tidal waters or the long time health impact to future residents.” The letter, signed by NQNHP chair Lucile Helfat, declared: “We want assurances from the DEC that all the environmental impacts are mitigated, not just immediately below the foundations of the new development, but also the removal of the leaching of the toxic materials in the tidal waters. “We believe that the removal depth of the toxic materials is not deep enough to eliminate the leaching and future health impacts. We don’t want another Love Canal in College Point.” The DEC has been contacted on the same environmental issue by the area’s three other lawmakers–Congressmember Joseph Crowley. Assemblymember Nettie Mayersohn and City Councilmember Tony Avella. The three Democratic lawmakers contacted the state environmental agency, the federal Environmental Protection Agency and the city Department of Environmental Protection, urging each of them to give priority attention to the serious environmental hazard in the residential area. Padavan sent a copy of the NQNHP letter to Acting DEC Commissioner Denise M. Sheehan, “seeking assurances that pollution levels in the soil and groundwater at the site will be addressed prior to the [townhouse] development moving forward.” Further, Padavan requested that the removal depth of toxic materials be increased. Adding his criticism to the way the DEC handled the situation, Padavan said he didn’t think the agency had been as cooperative with the NQNHP as it could have been and I’m hoping the findings in this study will mitigate that. “There are obviously still concerns about the levels of pollution at that site. We need answers!” Helfat said that the DEC also botched up informing her organization about its Remedial Action Work Plan which was not formally mailed to our state agency. Instead, it had been mailed by Community Board 7 to the home of its Executive Director Joan Vogt without whom we would not be aware of this project. Helfat added: “The DEC has kept our Commission totally out of the loop on this very important issue.” The study commissioned by the NQNHP was done by Professor James M. Cervino of Pace University. The area of the study is in the vicinity of 5th Avenue and 12th Street. Cervino, of Global Coral Reef Alliance, a non-profit environmental group, said in his report that there is a discharge of contaminants coming from a stationary fixed point and leaching into DEC wetlands on the north coast of MacNeil Park. Cervino said the discharge is originating from questionable landfill immediately east of the park, part of an approximately 8.5-acre tract, with City Planning approvals dating from 1987 to build 86 two-family units at the site. Another 220 units of housing are proposed to be built nearby, he said. The complete landfill parcel is approximately 25 acres, he added. The landfill consists mainly of dumped destroyed building material, structural concrete, steel, shipyard machinery, industrial trash, toxic chemical wastes, gravestone and possible cemetery waste and other unidentified refuse, from a legacy of over 40 years of uncontrolled dumping that would be illegal today. The builder is College Point Associates Inc., a subsidiary of Oak Tree Capital Management.
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