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Army confirms fish safe from mercury at Totten

By John Tozzi

Investigators are now examining what remediation is needed on the landward part of the Coast Guard property.Tests of fish samples collected from Little Bay in September showed they had no more mercury than in 2003, a level consistent with samples from other parts of Long Island Sound, according to Helen Kim, the Army Corps' project manager for the Fort Totten restoration.”The levels were so low that we found in the biota sampling that they were almost non-detect,” Kim told a meeting of the Fort Totten Restoration Advisory Board at the Bay Terrace Jewish Center last Thursday.The state Health Department recommends eating no more than one meal a month of striped bass from the sound east of the Throgs Neck Bridge, or one meal a week of eel or bluefish. Children under 15 or women who are pregnant or breast feeding should eat no fish from the waters. Mercury in food can accumulate in the body and cause damage to organs.Concerns about mercury at the Civil War-era fort have lingered since the chemical was discovered on Coast Guard property there in 1985. Floor drains from Building 615, once a site where ammunition and search lights were made and maintained, emptied directly into Little Bay.Deposits of mercury remain in the sediment on the bay floor, but the Army Corps decided not to try to decontaminate the deposits because they pose little danger as long as they are not disturbed.Other mercury deposits found near newly excavated septic tanks at Building 615 will eventually be replaced with clean fill and paved over once they are excavated, Kim said. The interior of Building 615, now used by the Police Department, is safe, she said.Small parts of the 9.6-acre Coast Guard site need remediation because the soil is contaminated. Because of changes to state guidelines at the end of 2006, the proposal to restore that land needs to be adjusted, according to Restoration Advisory Board Chairman Robert LoPinto. The Army Corps expects to have a draft study ready in February.Reach reporter John Tozzi by e-mail at news@timesledger.com or by phone at 718-229-0300 Ext. 174.