This past April, 55-gallon drums filled with toxic chemicals were found buried under a park in Bethpage in Long Island, prompting outrage and increased cleanup efforts of the Grumman-Navy toxic plume.
From the 1940s to the 1990s, aerospace manufacturer the Navy and Grumman (now Northrop Grumman) had a major manufacturing site in Bethpage, New York. For much of this time, this facility leaked extremely hazardous, carcinogenic materials into the ground, leading to an enormous toxic plume that endangered the Bethpage community.
Residents of Bethpage have grown increasingly frustrated at Northrup Grumman’s denials, though cleanup has accelerated since 2022. Nevertheless, the plume continues to expand at a rate of roughly one foot every day. In fact, it has been spreading for decades; as of Newsday’s reporting in 2020, it was over 2 miles wide, over 4 miles long, and has reached a depth of 900 feet.
While Northrop Grumman has emphasized that there’s been no proven link to cancer cases in the area, our toxic exposure attorneys in New York are following developments closely. This is only the most recent update in a long story of corporate negligence endangering our environment and public health. If you are concerned about this situation and curious whether you have a case, call 1-800-NOW-HURT for a free consultation.
A Dangerous History of Denials and Corporate Negligence
Investigative journalists at Newsday conducted extensive reporting on the history of the water contamination in Bethpage, published in 2020 as the feature The Grumman Plume: Decades of Deceit.
Grumman, the aerospace manufacturer responsible for many naval aircraft and parts of the Apollo lunar landing modules, was an economic bulwark of the community, employing many of its citizens. However, it’s since been discovered that one of the major chemicals used by Grumman, trichloroethylene (TCE), had been leaking from storage tanks and into the ground for years. Our New York toxic exposure attorneys note that the chemical is linked to kidney and liver cancers, as well as several other diseases.
Since drinking water in Long Island comes from groundwater reservoirs, the contamination has posed significant danger to Bethpage residents for decades. Furthermore, as Newsday reporters discovered, the Grumman company knew about the toxic plume, as well as its threat to Bethpage residents, as early as the 1970s. However, they adopted the typical playbook of corporate polluters to first deny that anything was happening, then to deny it was a problem, then to deny their responsibility, and finally to deny that it was financially feasible to fix the problem.
In 2002, it was revealed that a park had been previously used as a waste disposal site by Grumman. This prompted new concern regarding the toxic plume and new efforts to treat the drinking water. While a 2013 study could not connect the toxic plume to cancer rates conclusively, Bethpage residents have spoken out as alarming numbers of their friends and family members have been diagnosed with cancer.
In response to decades of contamination, cleanup efforts in Bethpage have ramped up in recent years. Water treatment systems have been installed to treat contaminated groundwater and provide safe drinking water, which meets regulatory standards. In 2020, New York State Department of Environmental Conservation approved a $585 million plan to contain and treat the toxic plume. Still, residents are still wary, and there have been consistent demands to remove the toxic material from the soil before it spreads further into the groundwater aquifer, into neighboring communities, or into nearby Great South Bay.
Do you need a Hazardous Exposure Attorney?
If you believe you or your loved one’s health problems may be a result of a chemical exposure in your environment or community, don’t hesitate to consult with a New York toxic exposure lawyer. The cost of corporate negligence is too often the health of hard hardworking Americans, and at Buttafuoco & Associates, we believe you should be compensated for their mistakes and coverups.
With experienced legal representation, you can get the compensation you’re entitled to. Call 1-800-NOW-HURT for a free consultation and learn how Buttafuoco & Associates can help you.
