HUFFINGTON
08.12.12
by that point, but that students
weren’t using it yet.
Several surface soil tests
showed levels of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (or PAHs)
that exceeded state public health
and environmental guidelines.
There are over 100 chemicals
classified as PAHs and the Environmental Protection Agency
considers several of them to be
probable human carcinogens.
They can be found in things like
cigarette smoke, vehicle exhaust,
tar and even meat that’s been
cooked on a grill. PAHs make
their way into the body in three
ways: people breathe them, ingest
them, or make contact with them
through their skin.
In November of 2001, LBG
wrote to the DEC on behalf of the
school district to say that it had
determined the fill didn’t present
a public health or environmental
threat. But the letter also noted
that more testing was needed to
confirm that conclusion.
During the course of its work,
LBG also found that some tarlike petroleum had made its way
into the soil near the school’s
tennis courts, which was another
area where the district had permitted Whitney to dump debris.
Bogin says the district paid to
have that material carted away,
which prompted them to sue
Whitney for breach of contract
in 2003. Although the Briarcliff
district later won a judgment for
$298,000 against Whitney, they
were unable to collect because
by that time, the company had
gone out of business.
It was also in 2003 that the
school board signed a consent order
with the DEC, agreeing to pursue
additional ground water and soil
testing of the field in conjunction
with an ongoing agency investigation. But according to school documents, the district stopped funding
work on the project the next year.
Eventually, the district’s former lawyer asked LBG in a letter
if there would be any problem
with reconstructing the practice
field. The project manager advised
against it. The district went ahead
though, covering up the monitoring wells and dumping clean soil
over the contaminated fill.
Emily DeSantis, a spokesperson
with the DEC, said in an email that
the scope of LBG’s work, and any
plans to remediate the field, were
never formally approved. She also
said that the district didn’t tell the
SUDDEN
DEATH