Grumman Agrees To Pay US $35 Million For Cleanup Costs At NY Site

The payment resolves a civil lawsuit brought by the US against the aerospace and defense technology company, according to an announcement on Tuesday, April 12, from Breon Peace, United States attorney for the Eastern District of New York.

“This settlement compensates the United States for some of the enormous costs it has expended in connection with the cleanup of the former Naval Weapon Industrial Reserve Plant in Bethpage,” Peace said. “The government’s remediation at the site restores natural resources, including land and groundwater in the area, and ensures public health and safety.”

The plant was owned by the government and contractor-operated, and it was used to design and manufacture aircraft for the Navy, Peace said in the announcement. 

Manufacturing and disposal practices at the plant and adjacent property caused the soil and groundwater to be contaminated with hazardous substances, the US Attorney's Office reported. 

The Navy began investigating the plant in 1986, and the cleanup effort is ongoing, Peace reported.

According to the announcement, the Navy’s remediation efforts include:

• Remediation of contaminated soils and shallow groundwater at the NWIRP through soil excavation, use of a vapor extraction system to remove TCE contamination from the soil, and placement of soil covers and land use controls
• Design, implementation, operation and maintenance of onsite groundwater extraction wells and treatment systems to capture and treat VOCs before they migrate off property
• Off-property groundwater capture and treatment of hotspots to reduce contaminant mass in the plume and limit downgradient migration
• Additional treatment wells to intercept, as practicable, the southern extent of the site-related groundwater plumes
• Installation of groundwater monitoring wells and long-term monitoring
• Investigation and remediation of site-related 1-4 dioxane in the groundwater
• Development and implementation of a public water supply protection program

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