According to a DEC assessment of the site "past activities contaminated the groundwater with high levels of tetra-chlorothene."

From 1969 until 1992, the site was owned and operated by the West Side Corporation – a dry cleaning company that used a building on the site to store and distribute laundry supplies.

According to DEC records, while still in business, West Side Corporation stored the chemical perchloroethylene (PERC) above ground in five 10,000-gallon storage tanks.

Studies have shown that long-term exposure to PERC can cause liver and kidney damage and may cause cancer.

According to the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences, PERC can enter the body when breathed in from contaminated air or when consumed with contaminated food or water.

Once in the body, PERC can remain stored in the body’s fat tissue.

When the land went up for sale in 1997, an in-depth study of the ground revealed that a spill of PERC had occurred at the site contaminating the surrounding soil and groundwater.

According to the DEC, the Jamaica Water Supply Company had used four wells surrounding the property for emergency water needs.

During routine monitoring of the wells – some time during the 1980s — contaminated water was found in the wells, which were then taken out of service.

Portions of Idlewild Park near the communities of Brookville and Rosedale are contaminated with lead, according to State findings. PRESS Photo by Ira Cohen

Officials said they plan to conduct a cancer incidence study in the area. But according to Senator Malcolm Smith, the Dept. of Health is still conducting a surrounding neighborhood cancer study.

Smith said that DEC officials recently conducted an air quality survey in the area surrounding the site and that results came back indicating that the air in the surrounding area was safe.

"Our concern is that this problem existed back in 1982," said Smith, who said he feared that any damage to area residents’ health might already have been done.

The homes tested near the site displayed a satisfactory level of contaminants, officials said. In other words, the test showed that air in and out of the investigated homes was safe to breathe, officials said.

The homes were tested in mid-September, after low levels of PERC were discovered in the basements of two houses located near the site.

At that time researchers found that the stored chemicals had spread 10 –15 feet underground in the area of 174th Street and Sayres Ave.

State officials have now also acknowledged a high incidence of a cancer nearby the contaminated site.

Smith told the PRESS that he has sought the help of a private environmental firm to investigate the site and surrounding area and come up with a final remediation plan.

According to Smith, the private consultant firm said of remediation of the site could take place within three to four months, as opposed to DEC estimates that indicate a clean up could take three to four years – a time frame Smith called "unacceptable."

Earlier this year, the PRESS reported on the discovery of a potentially hazardous radioactive substance found in a basement laboratory at the St. Albans Veterans Administration Extended Care Center.

Located on a 55-acre site at 179th Street and Linden Blvd., the federally owned building was once a naval hospital under the jurisdiction of the Department of Defense (DOD) and the basement laboratory located in Building 90 was used as a nuclear medicine lab during the 1960’s before it was turned over to the V.A. in the mid-70s.

In 1992, Army Corps of Engineers officials found the presence of Strontium-90.

"Strontium-90 bonds to bones and can harm bone marrow in sufficient concentrations," according to Mark Roberts spokesperson for the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, who told the PRESS that Strontium–90 has a half-life of 28 years and can act like calcium when it enters the body.

According to the Army Corps of Engineers, the contamination is contained within the unused Building 90 basement lab but severe precautions have taken place to ensure the containment of the chemical’s particles.

Work began on clean–up of the Strontium-90 on Sept. 11, and the equipment and flooring in the VA hospital basement lab is being removed and packed into drums, according to Luz Spann-Labato, Army Corps. of Engineers project manager for Formerly Used Defense Sites.

Because there is "only one place in the country," where radioactive Strontium-90 can be disposed of – Envirocare in Utah, the military’s depository for nuclear materials – the clean-up process has taken time, Spann-Labato, said.

The project is slated for completion before the holidays and a public meeting is scheduled for Dec. 8 to inform area residents about the clean up of the site.

The DEC has listed Idlewild Construction Waste Landfill as an Inactive Hazardous Waste Site.

The landfill is located in Idlewild Park, a parcel of land that consists of 100 acres near Rockaway Boulevard and is currently owned by the New York City Economic Development Corporation (EDC)

DEC records show that the site is 1,100 feet from 25 acres of land proposed to house the International Airport Center/Air Cargo Facility.

According to the DEC, the site was used as a construction waste landfill from 1970 to 1976 and was also allegedly used as an illegal dumping ground for hazardous wastes from September 1970 to October 1972.

DEC records indicate that soil and groundwater sampling was conducted in December 1992 as part of a Phase II investigation and samples revealed levels of lead in excess of Extraction Procedure Toxicity (E.P.T.) which was limited to the southeast corner of the landfill.

At one time, the entire 100 acres of landfill was listed as a suspicious site, DEC officials said.

In June of 1994, a study "bifurcated" the site into two parts, a southeastern portion and northwestern portion. A further DEC study revealed that only 15 acres of the southeastern region of Idlewild Park were contaminated with high levels of lead.

The region was given a Class 3 rating, which means that the contaminants do not present a significant threat to the public health or the environment.

DEC officials suggested that the city "initiate a program to further delineate and remove the soil found contaminated with lead."

DEC records also stated "the soil and groundwater contamination is throughout the entire landfill (all 100 acres), but only 15 acres of the southeast region contains hazardous levels of lead. However, it is not known whether the groundwater contamination has affected nearby wetland."

As for health risks, DEC officials wrote in their latest report on inactive hazardous waste disposal sites, "on-site groundwater is contaminated with heavy metals in excess of drinking water standards; however, groundwater in the area is not used as a source of drinking water. The parcel of land is covered with clean soil preventing exposure to contaminants in subsurface area."

A national outcry to clean up toxic and potentially hazardous sites lead to the creation of a "superfund," according to Michael Livermore of the New York Public Interest Research Group (NYPIRG).

Because many states could not afford to pay for expensive and extensive clean up of contaminated sites, the federal government passed the environmental Bond Act in 1986.

This "Superfund" allocated over $1 billion to New York State to clean up toxic sites and 400 sites have been cleaned since.

But the Superfund is "close to out of money," and should be totally drained by the end of the fiscal year, Livermore said.

In March 2000, the Department of Environmental Conservation released a list of 790 known or suspected toxic sites that are on hold for clean-up until more funds become available, according to NYPIRG.

What it means for sites including the former West Side Corporation in Jamaica, Idlewild Park and a handful of others throughout the borough, according to Livermore, is that there are no more funds available to clean the sites.

Residents concerned about toxic sites in their neighborhood now have a place to turn.

Toxics Targeting, a not for profit company based in Ithaca, New York, maintains a database of toxic and potentially toxic sites throughout New York State.

For a fee, the company will send a report to those interested in data on the environmental condition of any site in the state.

Toxics Targeting Computerized Environmental Reports contains government and other information compiled on 17 categories of reported known or potential toxic sites.