Contaminated Greenhouse Site Now Ruled Safe: DEC

EAST PATCHOGUE, NY - The New York state Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) announced that an East Patchogue greenhouse located on previously contaminated property is now safe.

In 2006, the Bianchi/Weiss Greenhouses on Orchard Road was found to have high levels of Chlordane, a toxic pesticide harmful to the human nervous system. The chemical can cause gastrointestinal distress. Six years later, officials ruled that the previous and current owners had to pay over $7 million to clean up the 14-acre property, which was once the largest producer of gardenias in the U.S., according to a Newsday report.

Last week, the DEC reported that the site was reclassified as a Class 4, which means it no longer presents a significant threat to public health and/or the environment.

Officials say the site was reclassified after the owners excavated and disposed of the on-site soils that had high levels of the pesticide. They also installed a sump pump filtration system in one residential structure and stopped using the on-site irrigation wells.

In addition, the level of human exposure to the chemical was reduced by limiting the use and
development of the site to residential, restricted residential, commercial, and industrial uses. This meant that they prohibited constructing basements on-site, restricted the use of groundwater beneath the site without necessary water quality treatment and adhered to a Site Monitoring Plan.