New York State: Oyster Bay and Northrop Grumman at 'impasse' over Bethpage park cleanup

State environmental regulators accused Oyster Bay officials of refusing to negotiate with Northrop Grumman to advance the cleanup of contaminated Bethpage Community Park, suggesting the town, not Grumman, is to blame for delaying restoration of the park where 22 chemical drums were unearthed this year.

In a letter Thursday, interim Department of Environmental Conservation commissioner Sean Mahar said the town has been unwilling to "engage in a meaningful discussion" with Northrop Grumman over a necessary final step of a project that, even before the drums discovery, was full of setbacks.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency must approve an application to excavate PCB-contaminated soil from the park’s former ballfield and surrounding areas, all built on an old Grumman Aerospace dumping ground. But the town and Grumman’s corporate successor cannot agree on the extent of the excavation that should be done, and therefore can't even submit the application.

The disagreement is just one reason a cleanup agreement struck in 2013 may not be completed for another four years.

"This delay in progress is setting back cleanup actions and is extending the timeline for restoration of the park, contrary to our mutual goals," Mahar wrote to Town Supervisor Joseph Saladino, characterizing the two sides as at a "clear impasse."

Saladino responded in a letter of his own Tuesday. He said all contaminated soil should be removed from the park, "not some lesser cleanup level that leaves the Town responsible for managing Northrop Grumman's toxic legacy forever ..."

The town had demanded a new plan from Grumman, known as "data gap" sampling, to investigate for contamination in areas of the park not initially required by the state. Grumman provided the data gap plan on Friday, but the town needs the actual data to agree on an excavation application, Saladino said.

"It is wrong to state that the Town is delaying the investigation of the ballfield when we insist that contaminated soil excavated by Northrop Grumman be disposed properly off-site and not reburied," Saladino wrote.

Still years away

Regardless, excavation won’t happen anytime soon.

Northrop Grumman contractors must first complete a lengthy process to heat the park’s soil and remove other contaminants from deep within. This "thermal remediation" process began in 2020 and its current phase was launched Sept. 4, after Oyster Bay relented on a threat to block the start because Grumman had yet to submit its plan for the wider park investigation.

Northrop Grumman estimates thermal remediation won’t be done until next fall, project records show. A company spokeswoman declined Newsday's request for comment.

Even if EPA application negotiations start, officials estimate the agency's approval may not come until 2026 and the entire cleanup process may not wrap until early 2028, the records show.

Only then would Northrop Grumman be able to build the town a new ballfield, as the DEC requested this year.

EPA officials in New York City did not respond to a request for comment.

"Progress depends on the Town of Oyster Bay and Northrop Grumman coming together to finalize the critical excavation plans to address the PCB contaminated soil," the DEC said in a statement to Newsday.

Dispute intensifies

Bethpage Community Park's former ballfield sits on land that Grumman donated to the town in 1962, after years of dumping toxic chemicals there. The area has been closed since PCB contamination was first discovered in 2002.

The 2013 state cleanup agreement requires Northrop Grumman to excavate only a portion of the contaminated soil within a fixed boundary of the park, and approved the reburial of some of it on-site.

Last year the town sued to compel a faster and more stringent cleanup.

The dispute intensified after contractors for the corporation in late March discovered the 22 concrete-encased chemicals drums deep beneath the park. Newsday reported in June that the DEC had previously dismissed a tip about drums being buried there.

Officials said there’s no evidence the drums added to the well-established contamination already in the ground. But further "anomalies," or other potential items buried deep in the soil, have been spotted as a result of ground-penetrating radar scans that have been done since the initial discovery.

Saladino says this all supports a complete excavation of contaminated park soil. 

DEC officials have long asserted the 2013 cleanup goes beyond minimum standards and creates no risk to the public. Mahar, in fact, said in his letter that what the town wants would only be necessary "if the park were to be used for agricultural purposes to grow food for human consumption."

Dueling threats

Last month, lawyers for Oyster Bay threatened to withdraw Northrop Grumman's access to Bethpage Community Park if it didn't meet conditions including submitting its plan for the data gap sampling by Sept. 30.

Mahar's letter said the town "must agree to meet with Northrop Grumman" to discuss the scope for that plan.

If Oyster Bay prevented Grumman from completing the ongoing thermal remediation, "that would constitute a violation of the state's environmental laws" and subject the town to undisclosed action by the state, he wrote.

The town rejected the state's focus on it, rather than Northrop Grumman.

"With Grumman bread-crumbing the cleanup for decades," Oyster Bay spokesman Brian Nevin said in a statement to Newsday, "the Town is bewildered that the DEC threatens to exercise its regulatory powers against the victims, our Town, its residents and taxpayers, yet not the polluter."

By Paul LaRocco

paul.larocco@newsday.com@paullarocco

Paul LaRocco is a reporter on the investigations desk. Since starting at Newsday in late 2010, he has also covered Nassau and Suffolk county politics and government and the Town of Oyster Bay.