A threat to groundwater
Long
Island Advance January 17, 2008
After
reading an article in the Jan. 2 edition of
Suffolk
Life regarding Suffolk County Executive Steve
Levy’s directive to purchase three parcels of property
to expand Southaven Park, a park which Levy refers to as
the “Jewel of the county,” we here in Yaphank are a
little confused. We agree with and applaud your decision
to buy these parcels with the goal to help protect our
precious groundwater along with the fragile ecosystem in
which it exists, and we thank you for your concern in
that regard.
But after
having recently read the Capital Budget Review issued by
Suffolk County, we have to wonder if your concern for
this ecosystem is genuine. This document seems to fly in
the face of what we have been told by county officials
about lead contamination from the Suffolk County Trap &
Skeet Gun Range located in
Southaven Park, which is the core of the very same
ecosystem that you, Mr. Levy, claim to be so concerned
about. Time after time, at various public meetings
about this range, county officials have insisted despite
objections from concerned residents that there is no
threat to groundwater whatsoever from the lead and
target debris generated by the shooting range. Yet
printed on page 391 of this official Suffolk County
document, in direct reference to this lead and clay
debris, it reads:
“This
material has been determined to be hazardous waste and
poses a threat to the groundwater.”
So,
Mr. Levy, why have we been told that there is no threat
when this document clearly states otherwise? With recent
nationwide headlines touting the dangers of lead, over
250 tons of this toxic material remain embedded in the
wooded areas of this range today. Now that you have
reopened this range, over half a ton more per week of
this “hazardous material” is dumped into this fragile
environment. What good does it serve, Mr. Levy, when
you, the person who claims to have the best interests of
this ecosystem at heart, are the very person responsible
for continuing to poison it with tons of hazardous
material because you insisted upon re-introducing the
very thing which most threatens this fragile
environment? Why is the rest of the county so concerned
about lead contamination and yet you don’t seem to care
about it at all?
John Del
Buono
Yaphank
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