Mid Hudson Times Nov. 21 2018

T IMES MID HUDSON Vol. 30, No. 47 3 NOVEMBER 21 - 27, 2018 3 ONE DOLLAR Girls’ basketball preview Small Business Saturday Page 32 Page 11B SERVING NEWBURGH AND NEW WINDSOR W inter A rrives E arly Radiation leak? City releases letter from 1992 detailing allegations By KATELYN CORDERO [email protected] A letter released by Newburgh City Manager, Michael Ciaravino, reveals an allegation from 1992 reporting radiation levels near leaking drums in a landfill in Stewart Airport. “An individual identified radiation levels near some leaking drums in a dump like areas at a Stewart Air Force Base compound in New York. The radiation levels about 20 mR/hr, were identified with an old civil defense type survey instrument,” read the letter. The letter was addressed to the Department of the Air Force, USAF Radioisotope Committee from March 4 1992 from L.J. Callan, Director Division of Radiation Safety and Safeguards. The Air National Guard released two documents in response to the letter. One from May 8 1992 from the Federal Projects Sections of the Bureau of Eastern Remedial Action Division of Hazardous Waste Remediation to the Air National Guard. This letter states that it is the recommendation for the landfill to be left off the New York State registry of inactive hazardous waste sites. The conclusion was based off score sheets from the EPA from 1991, a site inspection report from 1989, a Tectonic Engineering Consultants Environmental Site Assessment in 1989 and the investigation of buried pesticide containers in 1986. Continued on page 4 Carl Aiello A premature blast of winter last week didn’t keep people away from Downing Park on Sunday. Water forum leaves unanswered questions By KATELYN CORDERO [email protected] The Department of Defense and the U.S. Air Force broke their silence on Thursday with a forum on water contamination. The New York State Department of Health and the New York State Department of Environment Conservation were invited to the meeting but were instructed not to take part in the discussions. This meeting takes place about two years after the discovery of PFOs (Perfluorooctane Sulfonate) in the Washington Lake Reservoir which led to the declaration of the Superfund Site. The contamination originated from the aqueous firefighting foam (AFF) used by the Air National Guard leaking into a retention pond, that seeped into Washington Lake through Silver Stream. This has forced the City of Newburgh to move its drinking water to the Catskill Aqueduct and temporarily to Brown’s Pond while the aqueduct undergoes maintenance. Tables were laid out at the Newburgh Armory Unity Center for members of WWW.MIDHUDSONTIMES.COM the community to speak with officials while a closed door meeting took place with Maj. Gen. John Henderson, Assistant Secretary of the Air Force, Installations, Environment and Energy, Robert McMahon, Assistant Secretary of Defense for Sustainment to represent the air force, City Manager, Michael Ciaravino, State Senator elect James Skoufis, Senator Chuck Schumer, the Town of New Windsor board, and other community members and officials. Continued on page 4