Navy postpones Grumman cleanup meeting
The U.S. Navy has postponed a meeting with the Restoration Advisory Board that was scheduled for Tuesday night. The RAB is comprised of citizens overseeing the Navy’s cleanup of the former Grumman industrial site in Calverton.
“We need to adjust next week’s RAB meeting and would like you to assist in helping us decide how to move forward,” Addison Phoenix, the project manager for the Navy, said in a letter to the members of the RAB.
“As I’m sure you are aware, the Environmental Protection Agency published final Maximum Contaminant Levels (MCLs) for several PFA chemicals in the Federal Register,” Ms. Phoenix wrote. “As a result, we will be unable to discuss any PFAS-related topics next week.
“At this time, we are waiting on the Department of Defense to issue policy on how we will be incorporating the MCLs into the cleanup program.”
Word that the meeting would be moved angered some RAB members.
“It is unclear what exactly DoD needs to decide since the EPA is a federal agency and therefore the DoD needs to utilize the new standard,” RAB member Adrienne Esposito wrote in a letter on behalf of the RAB members. “This situation is enormously disturbing.”
She added that the RAB is requesting that the Navy provide a new date in “an expeditious manner.”
The EPA announced the first-ever national regulations for so-called “forever chemicals” in drinking water late last month. The new regulations establish a national limit on certain polyfluoroalkyl substances, known as PFAS, allowable in drinking water.
