NYS Assemblyman Joseph Saladino’s well-known legacy of the Grumman Plume is rapidly making headway among all involved parties.
During its decades of operation, Northrop Grumman produced alarming levels of toxic waste at its site—and now, according to a state order, the engineering giant must participate in cleaning up after itself.
The NYS Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) finalized a consent order requiring Northrop Grumman to address elevated levels of groundwater contamination originating at its Bethpage site, DEC Commissioner Joe Martens recently announced.
Under the order signed by DEC, Northrop Grumman will be obligated to participate in the cleanup of groundwater originating at the site and cooperate with the U.S. Navy on a remedial design and action work plan the Navy submitted to DEC to cleanse contaminant hot spots recently identified in the large groundwater plume known as Operable Unit 2 (OU2).
In addition, the order requires Northrop Grumman to continue to operate the on-site containment system to extract and treat groundwater to contain the source of the OU2 plume. The company is also required to perform regional monitoring of the plume and monitoring of outpost wells to detect the movement of contaminants in the groundwater.
“This consent order is a significant step forward to ensure that the responsible parties take action to identify, contain and clean up the groundwater contamination,” Martens said. “The Bethpage Northrop Grumman property is a complex site with unique challenges.”
The new consent order is the latest step taken by DEC to ensure that the parties responsible for the pollution take the necessary steps to protect public health and the environment at this site. Northrop Grumman has installed and operated systems to prevent additional groundwater contamination from migrating off the site and to control any vapors that might migrate. The level of contamination in the groundwater plume near the site has been reduced. In September 2014, the U.S. Navy identified hot spots of contamination in the plume and is working to address them. In addition, impacted drinking water is being treated to ensure it meets all standards.
A large part of the former 600-plus-acre Northrop Grumman Bethpage facility site is a State Superfund site. Contamination of the property occurred as a result of disposal of wastes generated by industrial operations, including chromium, polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) and volatile organic compounds (VOCs), which consist of chlorinated solvents used to clean or degrease machinery or fabricated parts.
The State Health Department, in consultation with the U.S. Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry, is working to examine if there are any health impacts associated with exposure to groundwater contamination in the Bethpage and Calverton areas of Long Island. Consistent with a health consultation of this type, the contaminants evaluated are volatile organic compounds, specifically, tetrachloroethene, trichloroethene and subsequent breakdown products. A health consultation report will be developed and released to the public when it is complete.
As required by a law signed by Governor Andrew Cuomo last year, DEC has selected HDR Inc., of Mahwah, NJ, to evaluate options for intercepting , monitoring and remediating the main groundwater plume emanating from the former Naval Weapons Industrial Plant operated by the U.S. Navy and the Grumman Aircraft Engineering Corporation facilities in Bethpage. HDR’s report will focus on utilizing hydraulic containment and state-of-the-art remediation practices to remove the contaminants without requiring wellhead treatment, which the law characterizes as a measure of last resort.
The remedial measures in place will seek to stop the migration of the plume before it reaches public water supply wells, while also protecting natural resources, including the fresh water bodies, tributaries, wetlands and Great South Bay. The report will include estimates of the cost, scope and timetable for the project.
