Northrop Grumman to pay federal government $35M for plume cleanup 

Northrop Grumman will pay the federal government an additional $35 million for environmental cleanup at the company’s former Bethpage plant under an agreement reached Tuesday.

The parties filed a consent judgment Tuesday in federal court in Central Islip that, once approved, will reimburse remediation costs spent by the U.S. Navy at the site where the aerospace giant for years contaminated the groundwater with toxic chemicals.

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

The plume now stretches more than 4 miles long, 2 miles wide and 900 feet deep in the local groundwater. It includes two dozen contaminants and multiple carcinogens, including the potent metal degreaser trichloroethylene, or TCE.

Peace filed civil litigation under the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation and Liability Act on Tuesday, the same day the agreement was reached. The proposed consent judgment will be filed with the court for at least 30 days, when the public will have the opportunity to comment on its terms before it’s approved.

The judgment states that both Grumman and the Navy will continue their respective cleanup responsibilities.

“Northrop Grumman is pleased to have reached this agreement with the Navy as we continue our cooperative efforts to protect public health and the environment in Bethpage and the surrounding community,” Grumman spokesman Vic Beck said in a statement. “We look forward to court approval of this agreement.”

On Monday, Grumman and the Navy filed a judgment agreeing to pay the Bethpage Water District $49 million for treating the legacy groundwater contamination, $29 million of which comes from Grumman.

Both deals are separate from one announced by then-Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo in 2020 — and still not finalized — that requires Northrop Grumman and the Navy to provide $406 million to contain and ultimately eliminate the plume through a series of contaminant extraction wells.

Local water district officials said that after many years of avoiding liability, the Navy and Northrop Grumman more recently have exhibited a commitment to helping the community. Newsday in 2020 published an investigation, "The Grumman Plume: Decades of Deceit," that detailed the history of false and misleading statements, missteps and minimization that aided the pollution’s spread.

“You'll see a lot more layers unfolding and agreements put in place,” Bethpage Water District Superintendent Michael Boufis said. “We're all moving in the same direction finally, after all these years.”

By Vera Chinese

vera.chinese@newsday.com@VeraChinese

Vera Chinese covers Suffolk County government and politics. She joined Newsday in 2017 after working as an editor for the East End lifestyle publication northforker and a general assignment reporter for the New York Daily News.