Dry cleaner designated as a Superfund site

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The New York State Department of Environmental Conservation last week designated Busy Bee Dry Cleaners, at 1818 Merrick Road in Merrick, a Superfund site because a chemically contaminated groundwater plume there had “migrated off-site” to the south and southeast, according to a DEC public notice.

The notice, dated October 2019, stated: “Further investigation is needed to identify the nature and extent” of the contamination and “address any potential human exposures.”

The site has for decades been contaminated with tetrachloroethene, a common dry-cleaning product, also known as PCE, and its byproducts, trichloroethene and cis-1,2-dichloroethene, in excess of DEC standards, according to the department notice.

A state Department of Health official stressed, however, that there was no immediate threat to people’s health.

“There are no immediate public health concerns” at the site, Jeffrey Hammond, a Health Department spokesman, said in an emailed statement, “because the site contaminants in the soil are below the surface and largely covered by pavement, and the impacted groundwater is not used as a public water supply.” There was also nothing to indicate that soil vapor was seeping into surrounding buildings, Hammond added.

Busy Bee is in a strip of shops and eateries on the south side of Merrick Road, between Beach Street and Babylon Turnpike.

The DEC added it to the Registry of Inactive Hazardous Waste Disposal as a Class 2 site, because, the DEC notice stated, it “presents a significant threat to the public health and/or the environment.”

The owner of Busy Bee declined to comment, as he had not yet reviewed the DEC’s notice.

The dry-cleaners opened in 1967, and although this is the first time Busy Bee has been named a Superfund site, the designation follows decades of contamination concerns.

The Nassau County Department of Health first found traces of PCE in the soil beneath the shop in 1992, the Herald reported in 2012. As part of a remediation plan with the county, the owner hired a private engineer to install a soil vapor extraction system from 1994 to 1996.

In 1998, the county referred the case to the DEC — a typical move for long-term projects, a DEC spokesperson told the Herald in 2012. By 2001, Busy Bee’s owner entered into a voluntary agreement with the department to clean up the contamination, agreeing to finance and execute the site’s remediation.

In accordance with the agreement, Busy Bee’s owner hired Roux Associates to install monitoring wells at the site and on neighboring residential roads — including Montauk Avenue and Alice and Bernard streets. (The DEC stopped making these types of arrangements in 2003, but continued the program for business owners who had pre-existing agreements.)

That work began in 2004, but in 2006 the DEC determined that PCE levels at the site were still above department standards following the cleanup.

The Herald reported in 2012 that the project was moving into the remediation stage. In 2014, the DEC installed a new air sparge/soil vapor extraction system, which uses injected air and vacuums to treat the groundwater. That system was upgraded in 2017 and still operates today.

The voluntary agreement between the DEC and Busy Bee’s owner ended in 2018, a DEC spokesperson said.

Several dry-cleaners in the Town of Hempstead are listed as remediation projects on the DEC’s website, suggesting that the use of PCE was common among businesses like Busy Bee. “It’s not uncommon to find it in groundwater,” a DEC spokesperson said in 2012. “Past practices that may have been deemed acceptable have now led to current problems.”

When asked how much money was put into the cleanup efforts in 2012, Busy Bee’s owner said, “It’s been a very large cost.”

As is standard with Class 2 sites, the DEC will conduct a comprehensive investigation of the current extraction system’s effectiveness and the full nature and extent of contamination. The investigation will include areas beyond the Busy Bee property, a DEC official said.

When it is completed, a feasibility study will identify potential cleanup options, the official added. The draft cleanup plan, called a proposed remedial action plan, will be available for public review and comment before being finalized.

Site-related health questions can be directed to state Department of Health Project Manager Jacquelyn Nealon by calling (518) 402-7860 or emailing BEEI@health.ny.gov.