i inrnTV ikihi icthi a i	EPA REGION 2
LIBERTY INUUo I KIAL	congressional dist.03
MMI ...	Nassau County
FINISHING	Farmingdale
NEW YORK
EPA ID# NYD000337295
Site Description 	
Liberty Industrial Finishing (Liberty) site covers approximately 30 acres of land in a former industrial
park. The property is generally bordered on the north by railroad tracks, on the east by Main Street, on
the west by Ellsworth-All en Park, and the south by Motor Avenue. Since the late 1930's, industrial
operations at the site have included the manufacture of aircraft parts and trailers, and metal plating and
finishing operations, including anodizing, electroplating, dying, and painting. Numerous industrial and
light industrial businesses have leased and continue to lease space at the site. The waste disposal basins,
northwest disposal area and Building B basement are the major areas of contamination. In 1977, New
York State found Liberty in violation of the wastewater discharge limits of its permit. Liberty was
ordered to clean up the site in 1978, but did not comply. In 1984, Four J's Company acquired title to the
entire Liberty property. Approximately 20,200 people live within 1 mile of the site. About 90,000 people
draw drinking water from wells within 3 miles of the site. The site is located approximately 1 mile south
of the Bethpage State Park; Massapequa Creek is half a mile south of the site and is used for recreational
activities.
Site Responsibility: This site is being addressed through
Federal, State, and potentially responsible
party (PRP) actions.
NPL LISTING HISTORY
Proposed Date: 10/15/84
Final Date: 06/10/86
LIBERTY INDUSTRIAL FINISHING
1
April 2002

-------
Threats and Contaminants
Groundwater and soils are contaminated with heavy metals including cadmium and
chromium and volatile organic compounds (VOCs) such as dichloroethene, trichloroethene,
and tetrachloroethene. There are no private drinking wells in the vicinity of the site. People
living near the site obtain their drinking water from local water utilities; the water utilities
routinely test their supplies to ensure compliance with State and federal drinking water
standards.
Risk characterizations conducted as part of EPA's initial remedial investigation (RI) and
supplemental RI concluded that the site does not pose current-use risk to site workers, nearby
residents and those who frequent Ellsworth Allen Park and Massapequa Creek. It should be
noted, however, that the risk characterizations did indicate that certain parties could be at risk
under different exposure scenarios that could exist in the future (e.g., commercial/industrial,
recreational, and construction) or for anyone that might install a well at the site and use it as
a potable water supply. Threats posed by elevated concentrations of polychlorinated
biphenyls (PCBs) in soils adjacent to current and former electrical transformers were
eliminated in the Spring of 1996 through a removal action described below.
Cleanup Approach 	
The site is being addressed in two stages: immediate actions and a long-term remedial phase focusing
on cleanup of the entire site.
Response Action Status 	
Immediate Actions: Several cleanup efforts have been undertaken by the site owners
and operators. Unknown amounts of contaminated soil and sludge were removed from the
basins in 1978 and 1987. Another cleanup occurred in 1980 following a fire in one of the
tenant facilities.
A removal site evaluation (RSE) completed by the EPA in February 1994 indicated that PCB-
contaminated soils should be subj ect to an immediate removal action. As a result of the RSE, in August
1994, the EPA signed an Administrative Order on Consent (AOC) with nine potentially responsible
parties (PRPs) to undertake the removal action; EPA also issued a Unilateral Administrative Order
(UAO) to six PRPs to perform the same cleanup activities and to participate and coordinate with the
recipients of the AOC. The work, which was initiated in October 1994, included the sampling, analysis
and removal and off-site disposal of PCB-contaminated soil and materials from electrical transformer
areas, as well as the removal and off-site disposal of waste materials in abandoned drums and
underground storage tanks.
f\	Entire Site: The Four J's Company conducted a limited investigation to determine the
extent of the contamination in some portions of the site pursuant to a 1984 State consent
order. The study was deemed to be inadequate; at the State's request, EPA assumed the role
of lead agency for the site and initiated an RI in August 1991 to define the nature and extent of
contamination. The initial RI report was completed in January 1994. This initial RI report defined much
LIBERTY INDUSTRIAL FINISHING	2	April 2002
m

-------
of the contamination at the site, such as in soils on the western portion of the property, in the extensive
network of in-ground and below-ground features, and in the Upper Glacial (shallow) aquifer. However,
because the Magothy (lower) aquifer, the Massapequa Creek, and the majority of the soils on the eastern
portion of the property were not fully characterized during the initial RI, EPA determined a supplemental
RI/FS should be conducted for these areas. This supplemental RI/FS was recently completed in April
2001 by several of the PRPs at the site.
Because community interest in the site has always been high, after EPA released the initial RI report, the
Agency had extensive discussions with the community, local officials, and PRPs on future land use and
preliminary remedial alternatives for the western site soils. After a consensus about the future land use
could not be reached by the community, local officials and the PRPs, EPA decided that for the purposes
of identifying appropriate remedial alternatives, the future land use would be commercial/industrial.
In July 1997, EPA released for public comment an FS report and a Proposed Plan for the remediation
of the contaminated soils on the western portion of the site. In October 1997, after a careful evaluation
of the public comments received on the July 1997 Proposed Plan, EPA announced its decision to
postpone the selection of a remedy for the soils on the western portion of the Liberty site to allow time
for the Agency to assess further the impact of the soil remedy on the scope and duration of the future
groundwater remedy. EPA also announced its plans to conduct additional sampling of soils on the
western portion of the site as part of the supplemental RI activities. By taking these measures, EPA
would be better able to assess the impacts that various soils cleanup levels would have on the costs and
time frame for the restoration of the contaminated groundwater, as well as evaluate the overall costs of
cleaning up the site. Field work for these supplemental investigations was completed in the Spring of
2000. In September 1997, EPA announced that it would move forward with an expedited interim
groundwater action to prevent the significantly-contaminated portion of the groundwater contaminant
plume from continuing to migrate from the site. This interim groundwater action is being implemented
by three PRPs under a Unilateral Administrative Order.
The supplemental RI/FS report which describes the nature and extent of contamination in site soils,
groundwater, and contamination in pond sediments in Massapequa Creek downstream of the site, and
an evaluation of alternatives for comprehensive site cleanup was released in April 2001. A Proposed
Plan that outlined the Agency's preferred long-term comprehensive remedy was released in July 2001.
EPA selected the long-term comprehensive site remedy in a March 2002 Record of Decision for the site,
including excavation and off-site disposal of 73,100 cubic yards of contaminated soils, construction and
operation of a conventional pump-and-treat system to address on-site and off-site groundwater, and
excavation and off-site disposal of 2,600 cubic yards of contaminated pond sediments. As part of the
soil remedial component of this comprehensive site remedy, nearly half of the site property, or 15 acres,
will become suitable for the recreational uses being planned by the Town of Oyster Bay.
Site Facts: In September 1978, Liberty Industrial Finishing entered into a Consent Agreement with
the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (NYSDEC) to clean up the site. It failed
to comply with the Agreement. Subsequently, in April 1985, NYSDEC issued a Consent Order to Four
J's Company, then owner of the site, requiring it to conduct a study of site contamination. The Four J's
Company's study plan was determined to be inadequate because it did not address all on- or off-site
contamination. In March 1987, NYSDEC issued a second Order, this time to 55 Motor Avenue Co.,
which manages the site, to remove contaminated soils and sludges in disposal basins at the site. Under
the second Order, contaminated soils and sludges were removed from the recharge basins, and other
disposal areas at the site.
LIBERTY INDUSTRIAL FINISHING
3
April 2002

-------
Cleanup Progress
(Time Critical Removal Action Complete)
The removal and off-site disposal of PCB-contaminated soil and materials from electrical transformer
areas, as well as the removal and off-site disposal of waste materials in abandoned drums and
underground storage tanks has greatly reduced the threats to the public and the environment posed by
the site. Materials removed from the site included approximately 15,500 gallons of oil/water/waste
material from underground tanks, 9 drums of transformer oil, 5 transformer carcasses, 190 cubic yards
of soil, 10 cubic yards of concrete and debris, and 40 drums of waste material. This work was completed
in 1995.
(Cleanup Currently being Implemented)
On March 31, 1998, the EPA Regional Administrator authorized the implementation of the interim
groundwater action. Pilot testing of various innovative, in-well circulation technologies for the interim action
began in December of 1998 and was completed in May of 1999; results were used to design the full-scale
interim groundwater treatment system. Construction of this innovative treatment system was completed
in January 2001. Due to various operational difficulties, this treatment system is presently being converted
into a conventional pump-and-treat system.
LIBERTY INDUSTRIAL FINISHING
4
April 2002

-------