Liberty Utilities sues Northrop Grumman, Navy to cover cost of treating toxic chemicals

Liberty Utilities is suing Northrop Grumman and the U.S. Navy in federal court to cover the cost of treating hazardous substances — including 1,4 dioxane — in the drinking wells it operates.

Grumman Aerospace, the predecessor to Northrop Grumman, manufactured air- and spacecraft on a 609-acre property in Bethpage for decades beginning in the 1940s. Hazardous waste materials were dumped into the soil during that period. A 2020 Newsday investigation found Grumman had known for decades about the toxic chemicals it was dumping into the groundwater, but the company kept that fact hidden from public view.

The Canada-based utility company said groundwater pollutants, including 1,4 dioxane, have triggered costs “related to design, construction, installation, maintenance ... monitoring and assessment to address the contamination," according to the seven-page lawsuit filed March 31 in U.S. Eastern District Court. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency considers 1,4 dioxane a likely human carcinogen.

Northrop Grumman did not immediately respond to a request for comment. A Navy spokeswoman said the agency doesn't comment on pending litigation. 

The state Public Service Commission approved a three-year rate hike for Liberty's Nassau County customers last year, Newsday has reported. Liberty operates 90 wells in Nassau County and serves about 124,000 customers, according to a spokeswoman for the utility.

The contamination continues to migrate from the Bethpage property to Liberty's plant in Seaford, as well as nearby areas, threatening public drinking wells, lawyers for the utility wrote in their lawsuit. The utility's filing said “the contamination has neither been fully characterized nor properly remediated to prevent future threats to human health and the environment.”

Northrop Grumman and the Navy are liable for the cost of remediating the contamination that has already taken place, as well as the cost of future cleanups, lawyers for the utility wrote. Northrop Grumman and the Navy have contested that liability, lawyers for Liberty wrote in their filing, in what amounts to a “substantial legal controversy” between the parties.

Long Island water suppliers, including Liberty, have recently reported 1,4 dioxane levels that exceed state regulations. Companies are using a treatment method known as an advanced oxidation process to remediate contamination.

In 2019, water suppliers sued Dow Chemical Co., Ferro Corp. and Vulcan Materials Co., arguing they should have known 1,4 dioxane would pollute the groundwater. That same year, the Bethpage Water District filed a federal lawsuit against Northrop Grumman and other chemical companies over the toxic result of its Bethpage operations. In 2022, Northrop Grumman and the Navy agreed to pay the district $49 million to treat groundwater contamination, Newsday has reported.

The Town of Oyster Bay remains embroiled in a bitter legal battle with Northrop Grumman over an ongoing cleanup at Bethpage Community Park, which once served as the aerospace company’s toxic dumping grounds.

With Mark Harrington

By Joseph Ostapiuk

joseph.ostapiuk@newsday.com@OstapiukJ