[CPEO-MEF] PFAS: Navy blamed for contamination of Peconic River, NY

[Lenny Siegel]

‘Forever chemicals’ are polluting the Peconic River. New data makes strongest case yet that former Navy site is to blame.

By Alek Lewis
Riverhead Local (NYB)
February 11, 2025

Man-made “forever chemicals” have been polluting the Peconic River system for years. The chemicals are present in some fish, and they’ve been found in the private water wells of nearby homes.

Clean water advocates have long pointed to the former Northrop-Grumman site in Calverton, which was used for decades by the U.S. Navy contractor to develop and test aircraft, as the source of the pollution. While the Navy has acknowledged on-site groundwater and soil contamination by a variety of substances, it has denied the responsibility for off-site groundwater pollution and refused to clean it up.

But new data and maps released last month by the Navy as part of the cleanup process of the property may change that. It shows groundwater polluted with per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) — a group of synthetic chemicals linked to adverse human health effects like cancer and nicknamed “forever chemicals” because of how slowly they break down over time — migrating off of the former Grumman site in Calverton towards the Peconic River.  

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For the entire article, see
https://riverheadlocal.com/2025/02/11/forever-chemicals-are-polluting-the-peconic-river-new-data-makes-strongest-case-yet-that-former-navy-site-is-to-blame/

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Lenny Siegel
Executive Director
Center for Public Environmental Oversight
A project of the Pacific Studies Center
LSiegel at cpeo.org
P.O. Box 998, Mountain View, CA 94042
Voice/Fax: 650-961-8918
http://www.cpeo.org
Author: DISTURBING THE WAR: The Inside Story of the Movement to Get Stanford University out of Southeast Asia - 1965–1975 (See http://a3mreunion.org)