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EPA Selects Plan to Clean Up Fulton Avenue Site

Release Date: 10/31/2007
Contact Information: Elizabeth Totman (212) 637-3662, [email protected]

(New York, N.Y.) The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has announced a plan to clean up a portion of the Fulton Avenue Superfund site in Garden City Park, Nassau County, New York. The cleanup will entail the installation of systems to remove contaminants from ground water, the injection of a chemical (referred to as an “oxidant”) to treat contamination in the ground water, and extensive ground water monitoring. Site cleanups are sometimes divided into different phases, or operable units, so that cleanup of different aspects of the site can proceed separately and the overall remediation of the site can be performed as expeditiously as possible. This portion of the cleanup has been designated as Operable Unit 1.

“EPA is eager to get going with this part of the cleanup because now we can address the polluted legacy left behind at this site,” said Regional Administrator Alan J. Steinberg. “We’ve made sure through all of the sampling and analysis of the site, with the input of the surrounding community and stakeholders, that we are using an appropriate approach to clean up this portion of the site.”

The area of contamination being addressed includes a former fabric-cutting mill. Along with milling operations, extensive dry cleaning of fabrics, primarily using tetrachloroethene (PCE), was done at the facility. The chemical seeped into the soils, got into the ground water below the buildings, and spread. Contaminants were removed from a drywell on the mill facility to prevent further ground water contamination.

In the mid to late 1980’s, the Nassau County Departments of Health and Public Works conducted several site visits and investigations in and around Garden City Park and documented various potential environmental concerns. Surface and subsurface samples taken within the mill facility and nearby areas revealed a variety of contaminant releases impacting public supply wells. The presence of contaminants in the wells led EPA to place the site on its National Priorities List (NPL) in 1998. The NPL is a list of the most contaminated sites in the country. EPA expects that full restoration of the aquifer will happen after an investigation and cleanup related to Operable Unit 2 for the site, which includes other ground water contamination.

For more information on the Fulton Avenue Superfund site, visit: https://www.epa.gov/region02/superfund/npl/fulton/. For more information on the Superfund program, go to: https://www.epa.gov/region02/superfund/.

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