Some are questioning the integrity of the company hired to investigate the toxic plume in Bethpage.

The company, Tetra Tech, has a checkered past, according to Sen. Charles Schumer.

Last May, two Tetra Tech supervisors were sentenced to eight months in prison for falsifying records in the Hunters Point Radiation cleanup in California. The workers admitted to breaking Navy testing protocol by switching contaminated and clean soil samples, and then filling out government documents with inaccurate information.

Schumer is calling for an amendment to the National Defense Authorization Act, also known as NDAA. It would require that the Navy's testing receives an independent, second testing by a different contractor.

Adrienne Esposito, of Citizens Campaign for the Environment, agrees. She says the independent testing will assure the truth about radium in groundwater.

Maria Isernia has lived in Bethpage for the past 30 years and fears the health effects of an underground plume of pollution. Isernia and fellow residents say a push for an independent tester is a step in the right direction.

Schumer says the NDAA bill is on the floor of the Senate this week for consideration.

Tetra Tech did not return News 12's calls for comment.