The Navy left a deadly brew of contaminants at the former Grumman weapons plant in Calverton—PFAS, Dioxane, VOCs—and they have to clean up the mess. That was the message sent to Washington by County Executive Ed Romaine, environmental activists, residents, and other Suffolk officials at a Hauppauge press conference they called to address groundwater pollution that’s been plaguing the community for nearly 30 years.
“My mother always told me: ‘When you leave a room, make sure you clean up your mess.’ The Navy has to clean up their mess,” Romaine said. “We’ve waited far too long, and now the residents are paying the price. They have been victimized,” he added. “I think about this all of the time. It boils my blood.”
The county executive said the contamination issue first came to light when he was a Suffolk Legislator in 1996. “We warned them that the contamination was coming and asked them to take remedial action. They did nothing. Now the chemicals are in Swan Pond, Peconic Lake, Peconic River, and they’re heading toward Flanders Bay,” he said.
The Navy stopped sharing test well data with the county, moving Romaine to sink his own wells, and the results are unnerving. Contaminants dangerously above acceptable levels were detected, including the “Forever Chemicals” known as Per and Polyfluoroalkyl Substances, 1,4 Dioxane, and Volatile Organic Compounds.
“We want the property to be declared a federal Superfund site, which will put it in a category where clean up becomes a priority,” said Frank Mancini, superintendent of the Riverhead Water District. “We need funding to extend water mains into the affected communities and sentinel wells to warn us if the contamination spreads to our water supply.” A federal declaration will also give the state Department of Environmental Conservation more impetus to address the issue.
The Superfund declaration would have to be made by the Environmental Protection Agency, a cabinet-level office headed by Shirley resident Lee Zeldin, who represented Calverton when he served as a Congressman. “Don’t forget the locals here,” Romaine said of Zeldin. “We need your help.”
“We deserve clean water,” exclaimed Kelly McClinchy, a member of the Calverton Restoration Advisory Board. “Every time you turn on the water, you have fear. You are worried that the chemicals are there,” she said, noting that her family uses bottled water whenever they can but still bathes, washes dishes, and does laundry with the contaminated well water.
Suffolk County and the towns of Riverhead and Brookhaven have spent millions to extend water mains into the affected areas. They’re looking to Congressman Nick LaLota to deliver federal dollars for new mains.
“Our commitment to this issue is unwavering,” LaLota said. “We will continue holding the Navy accountable and working toward long-term solutions that protect public health and our environment. Additionally, several weeks ago, we informed both the County Executive’s team and the Town that we are exploring ways to transfer oversight of the site to the EPA’s Superfund program—ensuring a more rigorous and effective remediation process,” the Congressman noted.
Speaking for the Citizens Campaign for the Environment, Adrienne Esposito said the Navy has stonewalled the residents for years. “They make up their own rules. They set their own standards which are actually worse than what the government set on these hazardous chemicals,” Esposito said. “They’ve known about this for years and have done nothing.”
Esposito noted that the state Department of Health issued warnings against people eating fish from the Peconic River and the local waters that feed into it due to the contamination. “This is the first time they issued a warning like this in state history,” the environmental activist pointed out. “It’s very alarming.”
The South Shore Press has contacted EPA Director Zeldin’s office for updates on the situation.