Dan's Papers - October 10, 2008 - In Sag Harbor, Let The "Big Dig" Begin

The Sag Harbor National Grid "Big Dig" has begun on Bridge Street, the site where the huge blue gas ball once loomed overhead. The adjacent former military barracks buildings, owned by George Schiavone, have been taken down and daily supplies - like the three huge blue pumps to remove the toxic tar-like substance below the site - have arrived. The site is littered with heavy equipment in preparation for the arrival of the enormous tent in which perhaps as many as 50 trucks a day will carry level 2 toxic waste out of Sag Harbor. This reporter received a couple of letters from Sag Harbor resident Julie Moses, who is keeping a diligent eye on National Grid, a London based company. In one letter, Moses stated that, at a similar dig in Queens, N.Y. (Sunnyside Yard-Amtrak site) there was a "One day exposure" of similar "level #2 Hazard Waste."

That information was confirmed by another letter from State of New York Health Officials. In response, Sag Harbor Mayor Greg Ferraris said he was aware of this situation and that the town has taken action to insure the safety of its citizens. The Mayor stated that Village Board of Trustee member Ed Deyermond was the town expert on the National Grid project. Deyermond was aware of Moses' concerns, but seemed to not share her fears. He stated, "There is a CAMP or Community Air Monitoring Program in place at this site. National Grid (NG) uses an advanced air monitoring system to monitor dust & vapor emissions. There is a meteorological component as well as six fixed monitoring stations that communicate to a central computer area as well as a number of portable monitoring stations to be deployed as necessary or as needed."

Now what should happen if somehow a situation like the one in Queens should arise? Deyermond stated in an e-mail, "Should data indicate that vapor or dust is above these limits, the job is shut down and mitigation procedures are put in place until the issue is resolved."

Now what about the water that will be pumped into the bay? In his E-mail, Deyermond explains, "As for the water discharge, three agencies, the US Army Corps of Engineers, NYSDEC and the NYS Dept. of State are responsible for the permitting processes that will apply. Specific effluent limits have been established by the NYSDEC (Division of Water) for discharge into Sag Harbor Bay which is a class SA water body. Sampling will be done weekly to insure compliance with their directives, tolerances and limitations. After eight weeks, if all continues to be in order, sampling will revert to a monthly schedule."

Responding to my questions about what the village has done to Assure residents that they are being given valid information, Trustee Deyermond responded in an e-mail, "The village will continue to monitor the entire operation including all the various meter readings, and measurement levels and provide them to village consultants such as The Woods Hole Group, or the village's testing lab for wastewater treatment purposes "EcoTest" to insure independent verification."

When pressed about how diligent the village officials will be, Deyermond stated, "Residents and visitors can be assured that village representatives are on-site virtually every day to insure that this project goes according to plan."

What happens if something occurs in the water purifying process, which may pump up to 1 million gallons of water and diluted toxic waste into the Sag Harbor Outer Cove? Deyermond said there were, "High alarm levels in the system, overflow alarms and standby generators are in place to warn the engineer of potentially hazardous issues, should one come up."

This is where the concerns of citizens like Julie Moses come into play. Mayor Ferraris stated he is confident nothing will go wrong when it comes to the safety of the Sag Harbor residents. But Moses asks, how do we know that "we will not be exposed?" The mayor and Trustee Deyermond simply believe that the citizens won't be. They are confident in the procedures in place. Deyermond explained he personally went over the options until he was convinced that the best possible procedures were in place to do the job safely. But the fact remains that 50 trucks a day will leave Sag Harbor with contaminated level 2 hazardous waste. That waste is contained in soil that will be dug out and loaded onto trucks, within the confines of special tents. Also, water containing tar-like fluids containing state regulated levels of toxins (including small levels of cyanide) will be pumped into Sag Harbor Outer Cove at a level (using National Grid's number) of up to 1 million gallons a day. The project has started and will hopefully end before Memorial Day 2009. But in these eight months ahead, as Moses warns, "The potential for error is always hanging in the background."