Islip to hold public meeting on Superfund status of LI MacArthur airport

The Town of Islip will hold a public meeting on the new status of Long Island MacArthur Airport in Ronkonkoma as a state Superfund site in March, Supervisor Angie Carpenter said.

At a news conference at the airport on Wednesday, she said there would be a "community information session" with town and state environmental officials at the airport on March 2 at 5:30 p.m. Public water there is safe to drink and there is currently no public health risk, she emphasized. 

“There’s been much in the news lately about the fact that this airport was declared a Superfund site and that’s something that’s been coming for years. It has to do with the foam that we are required to have to put out fires, God forbid there should be one. And it has not in any way impacted the drinking water. There’s no health hazard whatsoever,” Carpenter said.

“We’re working very, very closely with the [Department of Environmental Conservation], with the Department of Health, with the Suffolk County Water Authority, our environmental consultants that we have on board and have had on board for many, many years.”

Airport officials also formally dedicated an $8.4 million ground transportation center at Wednesday, which, along with $26 million in new grant money, joins a total $100 million invested in capital improvements at MacArthur over the last seven years. 

The announcement about the meeting comes nearly a week after state Department of Environmental Conservation officials confirmed to Newsday that the airport had been listed as a state Superfund site because "significant" chemical contamination was found in groundwater and soil.

The $26 million in planned improvements comes from federal and state grants. Construction began in January and is expected to wrap up in about a year.

Around $14 million of the funding will pay for HVAC climate-control systems, the air purification system, new energy-efficient plumbing fixtures and a new backup generator, while bringing safety equipment into compliance with current building codes and replacing electrical systems such as lighting and signs, officials told Newsday on Tuesday. 

Some of the other $12 million will go toward replacing three baggage carousels in the main terminal. Those funds also will cover a new roof for the main terminal — replacing one installed in 1984 — and pay for upgrades to doors and vestibules to more efficiently regulate temperature. 

“It’s no secret that airports across the country must actively compete for airline service and destinations, and we work hard to do this on Long Island every single day. But this effort has become even more challenging with labor shortages, economic uncertainties and higher fuel prices,” Carpenter said. “As of July, however, we are back to pre-COVID, pre-pandemic levels with the number of average daily seats available to Long Island customers.”

While there is a lower flight frequency out of the airport, town officials said planes using the facility are now bigger in size. The airport is at 1.2 million passengers annually, officials said.

By Brianne Ledda

brianne.ledda@newsday.com@brianne_ledda

Brianne Ledda covers the Town of Islip for Newsday. She previously covered Southold and Greenport for The Suffolk Times and is a graduate of Stony Brook University.