EPA sets meeting on New Cassel/Hicksville Superfund site
The EPA has scheduled an August public meeting in East Meadow to discuss the agency's proposal to cleanup the New Cassel/Hicksville Superfund site.
Credit: AP/Pablo Martinez Monsivais
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency plans to a host a public meeting next month in East Meadow on its proposal to clean up contaminated groundwater on a portion of the New Cassel/Hicksville Superfund site, according to the agency.
The meeting is scheduled for 6:30 p.m. Aug. 10 at the East Meadow Public Library, 1886 Front St. It is part of the EPA's 30-day public comment period on the matter that began Monday.
“Community feedback is a key part of EPA’s process as we decide how best to clean up this portion of the New Cassel/Hicksville Superfund site,” said Regional Administrator Lisa F. Garcia in a statement. “EPA is proposing to install a system to treat the contaminated groundwater at the site. We encourage the public to join our meeting, ask questions and share their views on the proposed plan.”
Written comments on the proposal can be mailed or emailed to Aidan Conway, Remedial Project Manager, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, 290 Broadway 19th Floor, New York, NY 10007. His email is conway.aidan@epa.gov.
The New Cassel/Hicksville Groundwater Contamination Superfund site, about 6.5 square miles, includes residential, commercial and industrial areas within Nassau’s three towns: Hempstead, North Hempstead and Oyster Bay. The site is part of a 170-acre industrial and commercial complex.
The EPA said the contamination affects several drinking water wells. The groundwater contains what are called volatile organic compounds, or VOCs, consisting primarily of tetrachloroethene (PCE) and trichloroethene (TCE).
The New York State Department of Environmental Conservation asked the EPA to clean up the site in 2011. The EPA has been cleaning up the site in three separate areas, which it calls "operable units."
In its statement, the EPA outlined work done or planned in the three areas. Starting in 2013, the agency selected a clean up in a part of the site near the New Cassel Industrial Area called Operable Unit 1, or OU1. That plan includes "systems to pump groundwater to the surface and treat it. Work needed to plan and build those systems is underway."
The EPA is currently investigating the best way to address contaminated groundwater in an area in the eastern portion of the site, designated as OU2.
The cleanup outlined in the current proposed plan seeks to address the contaminated groundwater in a part of the site called OU3, which is south of both Old Country Road and OU1.
The agency's plan is to install deep wells from which the polluted groundwater will be pumped and sent to a newly constructed treatment plant, which would remove the contamination from the groundwater before releasing it back into the ground or a nearby waterway.
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