Timeline: Grumman contamination at Bethpage Community Park
Newsday covered the opening of Bethpage Community Park in 1965. Credit: Newsday
This timeline was reported and written by Paul LaRocco.
For decades, Grumman Aerospace was celebrated for its gift of land to the Town of Oyster Bay that became Bethpage Community Park. Generations of families enjoyed the grounds — until 2002, when the park's ballfield first closed due to contamination in the soil.
Since then, the true impact of how Grumman used the site before the donation has revealed itself slowly. By this past spring, many people already knew the company once dumped toxic chemicals directly into the ground there, and that the activity led to deep soil and groundwater pollution. But the recent discovery of 22 chemical drums buried at the park still jarred residents and officials.
As Newsday reveals in a new investigation, environmental regulators had a chance eight years ago to discover the full extent of what lies beneath Bethpage Community Park, but conducted a minimal review of a tipster's claims that he had seen drums buried there.
Bethpage Community Park: How a civic centerpiece came to represent a regional contamination crisis
Some key developments in the saga of old Grumman land where 22 chemical drums were recently unearthed, years after environmental regulators dismissed a tipster's information.
1941-1962
Grumman uses land to dispose of waste
Grumman Aerospace Corp. uses 18 acres of undeveloped land adjacent to its Bethpage manufacturing facility as a waste disposal site.
The dump site that later became the park, overlaid with its features.
1962
Grumman gifts land to town
Grumman donates the land to the Town of Oyster Bay to build a park. In a letter to the company, town officials say Grumman “may continue to discharge … liquid waste” on-site. The town, however, wrongly believed it was “nontoxic.”
The town set conditions for Grumman's use of the land until the park was developed.
1965
Town opens park
Bethpage Community Park opens. The facility would include a baseball field, tennis courts, playground, skate park, ice skating rink and swimming pool.
Oyster Bay officials mark the grand opening. Credit: Newsday
1960s through 1980s
The park grows in popularity
The park is a centerpiece of life in Bethpage, hosting Little League baseball, youth football, summer concerts and more.
A group plays handball at Bethpage Community Park in 1986. Credit: Newsday / Bill Senft
Early/mid-1990s
Employee sees buried drums
Sal Cornicelli, an Oyster Bay town parks maintenance employee, said he witnessed a backhoe striking numerous 55-gallon drums deep in the ground. He alleged that his boss at the time ordered the hole covered and did not report the finding.
Cornicelli said the drums were located near the park's old flagpole and monuments area, on the opposite side of the recent discovery.
Cornicelli in an undated photo. Credit: Sal Cornicelli
1995
DEC reaches agreement with Grumman
The New York State Department of Environmental Conservation enters a cleanup agreement with Northrop Grumman, Grumman's corporate successor, to address soil and groundwater contamination on Grumman's manufacturing site. The state dismisses the need to test for potential contamination at the adjacent Bethpage Community Park.
"... the Park is not considered to be a source area."
2002
Soil tests reveal toxic chemicals
Town closes the park upon finding elevated levels of toxic PCBs in the ballfield soil. Officials initially downplay the discovery.
2003
Consultants explain land used for dumping
Northrop Grumman consultants detail the site's past use as a dump. When the area is later determined to be the source of the area's worst groundwater contamination, the company tries to say its past use was "not well understood."
The accounting of the land's past use included no reference to buried drums.
2006
Town begins cleanup of another area of park
As Northrop Grumman and the state investigate the ballfield, Oyster Bay begins its own cleanup of another park area. The town spends $25 million to build an ice skating center and parking lot, after excavating 160,000 cubic yards of soil and in the process removing "approximately 50 crushed steel drums."
A pile of debris, with parts of drums exposed, seen during Oyster Bay’s cleanup project. Credit: Town of Oyster Bay
2013
DEC enters into cleanup plan with Grumman
The DEC enters into a binding cleanup plan with Northrop Grumman for cleaning the contaminated ballfield soil and containing the toxic groundwater plume found to be caused by Grumman's dumping.
2016
Tipster shares story with water commissioner
Cornicelli, now retired, recounts his story to a friend and local bar owner, John Coumatos, who also is a water district commissioner. The DEC opens an investigation and the town temporarily closes other portions of the park.
Weeks later, the agency concludes "that buried drums do not exist beneath the park." A report explains that if the drums were ever there, they were likely removed during the town's 2006 project.
The DEC soon notifies the town of its findings, but leaves out the blunt language.
The DEC report says the agency's work had been completed and references no future action.
2020
Newsday publishes Grumman Plume investigation
Newsday publishes "The Grumman Plume: Decades of Deceit," detailing how actions by the company and regulators led to an environmental crisis.
Late that year, the state announces that Grumman and the U.S. Navy, after years of resistance, had agreed to a $406 million plan to fully contain and clean the larger groundwater contamination. The 2013 agreement to clean and restore Bethpage Community Park's ballfield remains separate.
Newsday's cover on Feb. 19, 2020. Credit: Newsday
2023
Town sues Grumman
Frustrated with the pace of the ballfield cleanup, Oyster Bay sues Northrop Grumman, alleging the 2013 state plan isn't comprehensive enough.
2024
More chemical drums found buried in park
Northrop Grumman contractors discover concrete-encased chemical drums in the old ballfield area. To date, 22 have been uncovered.
The discovery has prompted the DEC to newly require Grumman to remove some of the contaminated soil, rather than reburying it, and to fund a new ballfield.
Regulators confirm the drums all contained contaminants, including PCBs, metals and carcinogenic solvents already in the ground. They say there's no evidence the drums had leaked and contributed to the contamination.
The first drums are placed into a trash container. Credit: Town of Oyster Bay