Suffolk, Riverhead officials send letter telling Navy to clean up Grumman plume

Suffolk County and Riverhead Town officials say they are prepared to take action if the U.S. Navy does not clean up its mess in Calverton.

Suffolk County Executive Ed Romaine and Riverhead Town Supervisor Jerry Halpin signed a joint letter on Monday urging the U.S. Navy’s acting secretary Hung Cao to address the growing groundwater contamination from the Grumman plume.

At the press conference, Mr. Romaine directed the Navy to come up with a comprehensive remediation effort to address the pollution. If not, he may need to consider legal recourse.

“We are not without resources, and I hope simply talking to fellow elected officials and appointed officials in government [they] understand the gravity of this situation and will act upon it without me having to take action as the County of Suffolk,” Mr. Romaine said. “But if that does not happen, I will join with my partners standing around me to take action to protect the health and safety of not only our environment, but the residents that live in the area.”

These demands are in light of recent independent private well testing data from the Suffolk County Health Department. The county’s findings showed alarmingly high contaminant levels in and around the former Grumman site at EPCAL — significantly higher than what the Navy previously released to the public. Many numbers exceeded New York State Drinking Water Standards.

Testing found substantial amounts of PFAS in Swan Pond, Donahue Pond and the Peconic River — all of which are popular boating and fishing spots. Health officials stressed that the past surveys show a credible risk of people eating contaminated fish. The Suffolk County Health Department has placed a “no fishing” sign at Swan Pond. 

With the evident risk of contamination flowing into the federally protected Peconic Estuary, Mr. Romaine’s letter says the issue poses a significant threat to the region’s drinking water, environmental health and long-term economic sustainability.

“We can study and study — look and look — but at this point we need a plan to clean this up,” said Dr. Gregson Pigott, commissioner of the Suffolk County Health Department.

Approximately $22 million in federal, state and local funding has been invested in water main extension projects across Brookhaven and Riverhead towns, according to the county executive. On the horizon is another $8 million county project to connect homes in Peconic Lake Estates to public water.

Mr. Romaine said he is upset to see steep funding cuts in the Environmental Protection Agency’s 2027 budget proposal that aids local clean water initiatives. Former Long Island congressman Lee Zeldin heads the EPA.

The county executive also criticized the Navy’s decision to host the next Restoration Advisory Board meeting in June virtually instead of in-person. Mr. Romaine insinuated that Navy officials suggested removing hydrologist Andrew Rapiejko from the Calverton RAB because of the testing data he shared in a presentation last month. The Riverhead News-Review reached out to Mr. Rapiejko for confirmation.

“The pimple is now popping,” Councilman Bob Kern said, echoing the county executive’s frustrations. “As an RAB member, to [take] Andy Rapiejko off the board is like throwing the truth in the garbage.”

Suffolk County officials sent the letter to several other federal, state and local officials, including senator Chuck Schumner and Kirsten Gillibrand, Congressman Nick LaLota, state Sen. Anthony Palumbo, state Assemblywoman Jodi Giglio, Suffolk County Legislator Greg Doroski, New York State health commissioner James McDonald and New York State Department of Environmental Conservation commissioner Amanda Lefton.

“This is the Navy’s responsibility to clean up this mess. If this were you or I who had done this, we would have been forced to clean it up a long time ago,” Mr. Doroski said on Monday. “We cannot have a double standard here … this is unacceptable.”

Mr. Romaine and other leaders slammed the Navy’s CERCLA process, which tests emerging chemicals individually rather than sampling at the same time. County and town representatives feel the Navy should perform annual groundwater testing for all contaminants of concern to better understand and address their spread. 

The county executive noted in the letter to Mr. Cao that “the Navy’s failure to test multiple chemicals simultaneously, as the County does, further delayed the discovery, investigation and notice to the public of PFAS contamination that has reached the Peconic River.”

“Instead of the Navy testing one contaminant at a time, the county has come forward and done a spectrum, which basically speeds the entire process up,” Councilman Kenneth Rothwell said. “This is a expedited mission of our county executive that we stand by, and we’re grateful.”

Councilwomen Joann Waski and Denise Merrifield agreed the Navy must take responsibility after over 30 years of little action.

Riverhead Town Supervisor Jerry Halpin called on residents to join them in this fight for a cleaner future for the town’s drinking water.

“We are prepared to take the action needed, but we want to do this amicably,” Mr. Halpin said. “We want this letter to be a unifying force of the residents, we want to carry this to the Navy and we want them to know that a meeting in person is the only way that action can begin to be processed today, not tomorrow.”