Bethpage's Navy-Grumman Plume To Be Contained In $406M Agreement

BETHPAGE, NY — The United States Navy and Northrop Grumman came to terms with New York state on a $406 million deal to fully contain and treat the toxic water plume lurking beneath Bethpage, Gov. Andrew Cuomo announced Monday.

The agreement will advance the Department of Environmental Conservation's (DEC) plan to clean up the groundwater plume associated with the Northrop Grumman Bethpage Facility and Naval Weapons Industrial Reserve Plant sites in Bethpage. The Navy and Northrop Grumman are slated to construct a network of extraction wells to hydraulically contain and remediate the plume.

Additionally, Northrop Grumman agreed to a $104.4 million Natural Resource Damages settlement. Those funds will be used to advance cleanup, water supply and aquifer protection projects associated with the plume. The agreement, long believed impossible by the state, is meant to prevent the plume from further spreading contamination to water supplies in neighboring communities and provide peace of mind to residents.

"For decades, one of the most critical and intractable problems for Long Island was the toxic contamination caused by the Grumman and Navy sites," Cuomo stated. "With this settlement — the largest of its kind in state history — we're making the polluters pay and remedy the environmental degradation they caused. The problem was talked about for years, and many were convinced a resolution would never come, but in New York, we don't back down in the fight against industrial pollution."

The agreement is being finalized by legal teams representing the state, the Navy and Northrop Grumman. The terms include the methods and resources required to implement and complete the cleanup and determine the financial responsibility of each party.

The plan is estimated to cost $406 million over 30 years, Newsday reported. The reduced estimate was attributed to Northrop Grumman and the Navy using their own land for treatment systems. A handful of remediation wells in the first plan won't be switched on unless they're needed, according to Newsday. Last year, the state chose a plan estimated at $585 million.

The DEC finalized a list of actions that are being undertaken by the Navy and Northrop Grumman to contain the plume, DEC Commissioner Basil Seggos said.

"This historic achievement will result in the cleanup of the largest groundwater plume to ever threaten New York State's environment and public health," Seggos said. "The understanding reached with the polluters launch actions that will constitute one of the largest and most complex groundwater remediation projects in our nation's history, and I applaud the work of our expert team of engineers and lawyers who crafted this monumental agreement."

The final plan was selected by the DEC in December 2019 at Cuomo's direction. The department then issued a formal demand to the Navy and Northrop Grumman to launch the required legal process needed to hold those responsible accountable through the State Superfund program.

U.S. Senator Charles Schumer first called for the cleanup more than 12 years ago.

"After many years of hard work, finally getting the Navy and Grumman to proactively remove toxic pollution before it contaminates more drinking water on Long Island is a very welcome course correction," Schumer said. "For far too long, communities from Bethpage to Massapequa were left in the lurch as the plume metastasized, threatening more and more communities, while the Navy and Grumman failed to take aggressive action. I want to applaud New York State for its leadership, and local leaders and water districts for their relentless advocacy and partnership. I will continue to do everything in my power to ensure the Navy and Grumman fully contains the plume, compensates water districts, and addresses the litany of outstanding issues across Nassau County caused by their pollution."

The U.S. Navy is assigned to address the western half of the plume, while Northrop Grumman will tackle the eastern half. The Navy is slated to construct a network of hydraulic containment wells at the southern edge of the plume, including two pairs of extraction wells, along the Southern State Parkway. This action is designed to halt the plume's spread. The Navy will also build on efforts to remove high concentrations of contaminants in the plume's center.

In a separate agreement, Northrop Grumman will commit to containing the plume on its eastern edge with enhanced contaminant removal in the central portion of the plume. Specifically, the company will design and drill containment wells in the east-central and southeast area of the plume to prevent further spread and provide additional protection to nearby public water supply wells.

The combined efforts are meant to speed up the cleanup of the plume. All parties agreed to carefully monitor the containment and movement of the toxic water to ensure the planned remedy continues to work.

The state is also pursuing additional potentially responsible parties to undertake cleanup efforts in areas that are not currently attributable to the U.S. Navy and Grumman. If the DEC can not find potential responsible parties to remediate these areas, the state will undertake any necessary cleanup.

The Navy-Grumman plume has caused past and future injuries to Long Island's sole-source aquifer, according to the state. Northrop Grumman's liability to the state total $104.4 million; these actions include $40.9 million for remedial work above and beyond what is necessary to resolve its liability, $28.5 million in assistance for well protection and water supply projects for the Bethpage and South Farmingdale water districts; those are two water districts negatively impacted by the plume. Also, an additional $35 million fund will be used by the state to advance remediation, water supply, and aquifer protection projects associated with the plume.

Northrop Grumman submitted a work plan for pre-design investigations, including drilling profile borings and monitoring wells, to support the containment wells in the east-central portion of the plume. This work is scheduled to begin early 2021.

To expedite the design process, the Navy submitted two work plans to support the installation of recovery wells at four spots along the leading edge of the plume, as well as a work plan to install two recovery wells in the plume's interior.

The DEC has approved the work plan for drilling along the leading edge of the Navy-Grumman plume and expects to approve the other work plan in the coming days. The wells' construction is slated to begin early next year. The Navy is seeking access from Nassau County and designing an interim groundwater extraction system that uses an existing recovery well in the plume's interior; the interim system is targeted to be running by April.

Joseph Saladino, supervisor of the Town of Oyster Bay, said he's thrilled to see the settlement come to fruition.

"Christmas comes early to the residents of the Town of Oyster Bay," he said. "I am so pleased that years of work and collaboration results in Bethpage, South Farmingdale and Massapequa breathing a sigh of relief that the environmental remediation will be done and that Governor Cuomo has forced Grumman and the Navy to pay for this cleanup. My administration will never stop advocating for the pro-environmental policies that began this process and led to this recent success."