2012 PETITION
Demanding that Governor Andrew Cuomo intercede with the actions of the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation and cause the immediate halt of the Spread of the Highly Toxic NAVY / GRUMMAN GROUNDWATER CONTAMINATION PLUME to public water supply wells.

The massive groundwater contamination plume (estimated at 3.5 miles long and 1.6 miles wide) flowing from the Northrop Grumman/Navy site in Bethpage, New York is severely impacting the USEPA designated "Sole Source Aquifer" that supplies drinking water to over 260,000 residents south of the contaminated site. The Massapequa Water District draws its public water supply from this Sole Source Aquifer. The New York State Department of Environmental Conservation has allowed this highly toxic plume, a known health risk, to infiltrate and contaminate several public water supply wells north of the Massapequa Water District. Without containment it is only a matter of time before this highly toxic plume contaminates our public water supply wells. The DEC must immediately cause the Principal Responsible Parties for this contamination, the Navy and Grumman, to contain this plume and stop it from entering any other public water supply wells. Concurrently with full containment of the plume the DEC must immediately require that the principal responsible parties provide full treatment of the contaminated water to meet the current EPA and New York State Department of Health requirements.

Relying solely on wellhead treatment, the DEC has ignored the public's determination that this plume migration must be stopped. Ever changing more stringent Department of Health requirements have supported the fact that wellhead treatment is a potential health risk and that the DEC wellhead treatment approach has proven to be ineffective and costly to implement for this particular plume. The NY State Department of Health code mandates that wellhead treatment be used as a measure of last resort when dealing with contaminated water sources. The prime contaminants are TCE, PCE, CIS-DCE, Freon 13 and 1, 1-DCE which are all known and or probable carcinogens. New York State law requires that this plume be subject to a cleanup (6 NYCRR Sec. 375-1.8(d) and the site be restored to predisposal conditions, to the extent feasible [Sec. 375-2.8(a)]. To date, the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation has not complied with the law by failing to require off-site cleanup of the groundwater. If allowed to continue on its present path, this toxic plume will also contaminate the Great South Bay. We the consumers of the Massapequa Water District, some 46,000 in total, are concerned residents and demand that you, as Governor of the State of New York, take immediate and decisive action to ensure that this plume is stopped from its migration and does not enter any more public water supply wells.

PLEASE SIGN OUR PETITION TO GOVERNOR CUOMO...