For Release: Monday, June 22, 2009

Public Invited to Meeting on Remediation of Island Trees H.S.

Public Availability Sessions Scheduled for July 9, Public Comment Period Ends on Aug. 6

The New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC), in conjunction with the New York State Department of Health (DOH), and the Nassau County Department of Health (NCDH), will hold two public availability sessions on July 9, to present the preferred remedy for the cleanup of remaining lead contaminated soils at the Island Trees High School.

The public availability sessions are scheduled for Thursday, July 9, from 2--5 p.m. and from 7--10 p.m. at Michael F. Stokes Elementary School Gymnasium located at 101 Owl Place, Levittown, New York.

Public availability sessions are intended to provide an opportunity for community members to speak one-on-one with program personnel to discuss concerns regarding the site. Various displays and hand-outs will be available. Staff will be present and available throughout the entire duration of these two public availability sessions so community members can attend these events at any time that is convenient for them.

A DEC Administrative Law Judge (ALJ) will be present to receive oral or written comments. Any residents that want to make comments concerning this site, but cannot participate in these sessions may submit their written comments to DEC anytime between June 22 - Aug. 6, 2009. Oral and written comments carry the same weight, but DEC is offering this opportunity to make formal oral comments so that community members can voice their concerns in a meeting setting.

Elements of the proposed remediation include:

Encapsulation of the entire pipe and branch tunnels and portions of the access spaces with concrete to cover areas of residual lead contamination.
Placement of a geotextile fabric over all of the access spaces as a dust mitigation measure for any possible future entry to these areas.
A deed restriction and annual inspection of the encapsulated areas. If, at some point in the future, the property is no longer used as a school, the lead-impacted soils would have to be addressed at that time.

It is expected that remedial work will be undertaken by the Island Trees School District during the summer of 2010.

Public Health

Measures are currently in place to prevent students, staff and other members of the community from contacting lead contaminated soils in the High School. Access to these areas is restricted by two locked doors, with the keys held by two different individuals. Additionally, the pipe tunnel and branch tunnel soils are covered with double-layered polyethylene sheeting and the soils in the access rooms are restricted by plywood barriers over the entryways. The two locked doors, plastic sheeting and plywood barriers prevent exposures by minimizing the generation and migration of dusts, and preventing direct contact with lead contaminated soils.

Site History

An indoor rifle range was operated at the Island Trees High School from 1957 until at least the 1980's. A decision was made to close the range in June of 1994. In the summer of 1999, the top five-inches of sand was removed from the former rifle range, and placed on the floor of an adjacent pipe tunnel. In June 2000, renovation of the rifle range began to convert it to the existing Art Complex.

Sand sampling was performed in July 2004 in the pipe tunnel and branch tunnel. The concentrations of lead in these samples ranged from 210 to 175,478 milligrams per kilogram (mg/kg). The lead cleanup objective that has been used at this site is 400 mg/kg.

In February 2006, 95 additional soil samples were collected to define the extent of the soil contamination in the entire pipe tunnel area. In April 2006, the District entered into an "Order on Consent" with the DEC requiring the development and implementation of a soil removal work plan.

In August 2006, approximately 76 tons of lead contaminated soils were removed from the tunnel area. A vacuum truck was employed to remove the contaminated soils into special containers. The air from the vacuum truck was filtered with a filter capable of removing very small sized particles from the air stream to prevent dust emissions. Samples of soil collected in the tunnel areas after these removal activities showed concentrations below the 400 mg/kg soil cleanup objective for total lead.

During the soil removal, indoor and outdoor dust monitoring was conducted under a Community Air Monitoring Plan (CAMP) and other measures were implemented to ensure that no dust migrated to adjacent areas. Wipe sampling was conducted after the soil removal to confirm that adjacent areas had not been impacted. Roof ducts over this area of the building were cleaned after the soil removal as a precaution.

In March 2008, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) - with input from DEC, NCDH, and DOH - conducted additional sampling of dust on surfaces throughout the High School. Most of the samples were focused on surfaces which contained large accumulations of dusts indicating they had not been cleaned for extended periods of time. Elevated lead levels were detected at various locations throughout the school where historic dusts had accumulated. It is not atypical to find elevated levels of lead in any area with years of dust accumulation, because lead is present throughout the environment. A thorough cleaning of the school was performed in the summer of 2008, as recommended by the EPA.

As a further precaution, the District had the High School's air ventilation system completely cleaned. This was completed in October 2008. Test results of the ventilation system taken after the cleaning was completed were within acceptable levels.

In the summer 2008, the District's consultants collected composite soil samples throughout the basement. Several of these samples were collected in the pipe tunnel area that had been previously remediated. All of the soil samples collected outside of the pipe tunnel area contained concentrations below the 400 mg/kg cleanup objective for lead. Two composite samples from the main pipe tunnel and Access Rooms 1 and 3, which are within a restricted access basement area, contained elevated levels of lead. The composite sample from the first 85 feet of the main pipe tunnel and Access Space 1 detected 1,412 mg/kg of lead. Six additional composite samples were collected by the District's consultants to further evaluate this result. Of these six samples, one from the first 45 feet of the main pipe tunnel detected 21,207 mg/kg lead and another from 45 feet to 85 feet of the main pipe tunnel detected 1,529 mg/kg of lead. Four composite samples from Access Space 1 were within the cleanup objective.

To further evaluate the residual lead levels in the first 85 feet of the main pipe tunnel, 12 additional discrete or grab soil samples were collected by the DEC, NCDH and consultants for the District in August 2008. Visual observations indicated the presence of some brass bullet casings. Three metal shards were observed that may have been fragments of lead slugs. The consultants for the District and the NCDH collected split samples from each of the 12 sampling locations. Five of the 12 NCDH samples detected lead above the 400 mg/kg cleanup objective: 3,330 mg/kg, 874 mg/kg, 673 mg/kg, 541 mg/kg, and 422 mg/kg of lead. The results from the samples collected by the District's consultants also showed elevated levels of lead in some of the samples. There were considerable differences in the sampling results from both sets of samples.

The DEC has concluded that the residual lead that is present in the first 85 feet of the main pipe tunnel is not uniformly distributed in the sand. Although most of the lead contamination in the main pipe area was remediated by the 2006 soil removal, there are pockets of lead contamination in this portion of the pipe tunnel that will require supplemental remedial measures.

Remedial Alternatives

In May 2009, consultants selected by the District prepared a Remedial Alternative Report (RAR). Soil samples were collected at 176 locations from six earthen floor access rooms off the main and branch pipe tunnels to further delineate the areas that require remediation. Eleven of those sampling locations exceeded the 400 mg/kg cleanup objective for lead. This new data plus the existing data were used to define the areas requiring remediation.

After a preliminary evaluation of alternatives, the following options were selected for detailed evaluation:

Alternative One - No further action
Alternative Two - Capping
Alternative Three - Excavation.

The RAR evaluated each alternative according to seven evaluation criteria. Remedial Alternative Two - Capping -- has been recommended as the preferred remedial alternative.

Preferred Remedy

If selected, the Capping Alternative will entail the installation of a concrete cap that will cover the soil in the entire main pipe tunnel, the branch tunnels, and portions of the access rooms. All existing polyethylene sheeting that is currently covering both the main and branch tunnels will be carefully removed in order to allow the placement of pea gravel and/or concrete aggregate into existing depressions to level these areas before installation of the concrete cap. For this portion of the cap, the concrete will be poured into forms that include a welded-wire frame for improved structural capacity.

For the portions of access rooms that are proposed for capping with concrete, a spray applied concrete coating (e.g., shotcrete/gunite) would be used due to significant slopes in portions of the areas proposed for capping. This process entails pumping in a high-strength, durable concrete mix that will be applied over a steel wire mesh.

Following the concrete capping of portions of the dirt floor in the access rooms, all of the access rooms would be then covered with a geotextile fabric to eliminate the generation of silica related dusts during the infrequent use of these areas by maintenance staff. The remedial work would be done under appropriate dust preventative measures and air monitoring. The District would continue to restrict access to the remediated pipe tunnel area. A deed restriction with annual inspections and certifications would be required.

The primary advantages of this alternative over the excavation alternative are:

The potential for dust migration to nearby areas would be much lower than under the excavation alternative.
The remedy offers a cost-effective method, which has lower capital cost than the excavation alternative.
There are greater possibilities of budget and schedule overruns with the excavation alternative.
It would take significantly less time to implement this alternative, thereby minimizing disruption to school activities.

The primary disadvantage of the preferred remedy is that the residual lead contamination under the cap will have to be addressed in the future after the useful life of the school is over.

The remedy is protective of public health and offers a durable remedy that will protect the public from potential exposures to the residual soil contamination during the remaining useful life of the school.

Public Availability Sessions

Meeting participants will be given the opportunity to ask one-on-one questions and provide comments on the proposed remedial alternatives report. Written comments also may be submitted through August 6, 2009, to Attn: Ms. Katy Murphy, DEC, Division of Solid and Hazardous Materials, 50 Circle Road, Stony Brook, NY 11790-3409. All comments received during the comment period and at the formal comment period at the July 9 meeting period chaired by a DEC Administrative Law Judge will be considered before a final remedy for the Island Trees High School Pipe Tunnel Area is finalized.

Copies of Remedial Alternatives Report are available at the Island Trees Public Library, 38 Farmedge Road, Levittown, the Island Trees High School Main Office, 59 Straight Lane, Levittown and at the DEC's Stony Brook Office, SUNY at Stony Brook, 50 Circle Road, Stony Brook, New York. Copies of this document is also available on the Island Trees School District's website at www.islandtrees.org/. Information is also available by calling Bill Fonda at (631) 444-0350.