The toxic Dewey Loeffel landfill located near the Village of Nassau is under consideration for Superfund status, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency announced Tuesday.

Fish in Nassau Lake continue to have high PCB levels.Superfund status would allow the EPA to make the responsible parties cleanup their contribution to contaminating the site.  The announcement begins a 60-day comment period in which the public is encouraged to voice their opinions regarding the proposed action. 

Some 46,000 tons of cancer-causing PCBs, oil, solvents and other hazardous materials were dumped into the Dewey Loeffel Landfill until the state ordered it closed in 1968, according to the Times-Union. The site was used by companies such as General Electric, Bendix Corp, and Schenectady Chemicals.

In 1980, a series of tests conducted by the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation revealed that the waste had spread into local waterways and aquifers. The DEC began to clean up the site under the state's own Superfund program but 30 years later the fish in Valatie Kill Creek and Nassau Lake remain contaminated with PCBs.  This finding led the DEC to nominate the site to the federal Superfund program last fall.

For instructions about submitting comments, go to: http://www.epa.gov/superfund/sites/npl/pubcom.htm or contact Ildefonso Acosta, Region 2 NPL Coordinator at (212) 637-4344 or acosta.ildefonso@epa.gov.