By William Stieglitz
On July 2, the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation gathered with local officials at Port Jefferson’s former Lawrence Aviation site to announce the proposed delisting of 96% of the land from the New York State Superfund Registry.
“Starting today, we are seeking public comments on our determination that the bulk of the site requires no further cleanup,” said DEC Commissioner Amanda Lefton. Only about five acres of the 126-acre site will remain in the SSF Program, while the rest will be made available for redevelopment and reuse.
Lefton and others spoke on how far the site’s transformation has come since the DEC’s initial cleanup efforts in 1987. The area, formerly a foundry for titanium products, was added to the state superfund list in 1993. Cleanup operations between 2004 and 2019 included the removal of 2,500 barrels containing toxic substances and 3,000 separate gallons of leaked machine oils. “This was a highly toxic site,” said Adrienne Esposito, executive director of Citizens Campaign for the Environment. “There were such things as PCBs, mercury, a whole suite of volatile organic chemicals, including toluene, TCE, PCE and others. The buildings had asbestos. We could go on and on.”
According to Suffolk County Legislator Steve Englebright (D, Setauket), the pollution was “aggressively poured into the ground” and “threatened not only the stability of this generally residential neighborhood, but also the water chemistry of the Port Jefferson Setauket Harbor.”
Suffolk County Legislator Jason Richberg (D, West Babylon), the minority leader for the Suffolk County Legislature, said he was in middle school when the site first went out of service. “I can remember really well because it was the last time I can remember the Knicks being in the semifinals to the playoffs… that’s how long it’s taken,” he said. “But that shows the dedication of our state workers. That shows what public employees do.”
The flat area where officials stood and that was once the foundry’s office buildings, said DEC project manager Payson Long, will be transformed into a solar farm. Other areas will be kept as open space, and the Metropolitan Transportation Authority plans to develop a separate section into a railyard. This would require permission from the Department of Transportation, though the proposed Furthering Rail Transit in Suffolk County Act, sponsored by New York State Assemblywoman Rebecca Kassay (D, Port Jefferson) and currently before New York Governor Kathy Hochul (D), would direct the DOT to grant that access.
“I think for the future of this site,” said Englebright, “the future of this community and in the largest sense the future of electrification of the railroad and consistency with the Climate Leadership and Community Protection Act goals — which are black letter law in the state — it’s very important for the government to sign that piece of legislation.”
Reached for comment, Sean Butler, a spokesperson for Hochul, said that she will review the legislation, adding that “working with NYSDOT and MTA, we have made significant progress toward a permanent resolution for the Lawrence Aviation site that will be a win for Suffolk County.”
For more information from the DEC, you can visit their website at https://dec.ny.gov and view the site-specific documents. Public comments will be accepted through Aug. 3 and may be submitted to by email to [email protected] (place “Lawrence Aviation delisting” in the subject line) or by postal mail to Payson Long, Project Manager, NYS Department of Environmental Conservation, Division of Environmental Remediation, 625 Broadway, 12th Floor, Albany, NY 12233-7017.