Brookhaven Residents Demand Landfill Closure Citing Groundwater Contamination, Forever Chemicals

Dozens of Brookhaven residents and local activists gathered outside Brookhaven Town Hall on Feb. 26, 2026 to demand a faster, more decisive cleanup of the Brookhaven Landfill and immediate closure and remediation, organizers said. The protest was organized by the Brookhaven Landfill Action and Remediation Group (BLARG) and drew community leaders including Fitzgerald, Michelle Mendez, Abena Asare and Kerim Odekon; BLARG members criticized what they described as slow action from town and state officials. “I’m surprised. I don’t really understand the delay, and I don’t think I’m going to get an answer,” said Maher, identified as a BLARG member. “We feel like our voice doesn’t count and that we are not being involved,” said Dennis Nix, a founding BLARG member.

The landfill sits in North Bellport, rising behind the Frank P. Long Intermediate School and playground, and has been variously described in reporting as a 192-acre facility and as a 270-foot-high waste mass shrouded by trees. Leachate tanks and active ashfill are visible near East Woodside Drive, and residents and environmental groups point to a roughly four-mile underground plume of contamination stretching south toward Bellport Bay that places North Bellport in the plume’s path.

State testing and historical records underpin the community’s concern. The New York State Department of Environmental Conservation required quarterly emerging contaminant sampling after a 2021 permit renewal; sampling conducted through 2022 was reviewed by DEC and groundwater testing in 2023 detected PFAS compounds including PFOA and PFOS and the solvent 1,4-dioxane in on-site monitoring wells at levels exceeding groundwater guidance values. BLARG also obtained Suffolk County Department of Health documents via FOIL in 2021 showing private wells tested positive for high levels of iron and PFAS in 2017, and U.S. Geological Survey work in the 1980s identified a contaminant plume linked to the landfill and a leaking liner.

Regulatory pressure has increased but deadlines and disputes remain. DEC ordered the town in August 2023 to assess remediation options and later rejected a late-2024 Brookhaven report that blamed other industrial properties and concluded there was “no discernible [chemical] plume emanating from the landfill,” ordering a new study. A July 31 DEC letter to town officials directed that potential cleanup options must include closing the landfill. After an initial deadline tied to a “last summer” order, DEC extended the town’s deadline; the state set May 1, 2026 as the date Brookhaven must recommend cleanup plans and required an interim Corrective Measures Assessment by April 15, 2026. DEC spokesperson Aphrodite Montalvo said the extension was set at the request of town officials, and DEC officials will meet with residents and local leaders on March 27, 2026.

Town officials have projected the landfill would run out of permitted capacity and shut down in 2028, a timetable Deputy Supervisor Dan Panico has cited in local reporting; DEC materials note that permits do not set closing dates and that closure timing depends on fill rates. Community leaders at the Feb. 26 action demanded that the April 15 interim CMA and the May 1 remediation plan prioritize closure and remediation with meaningful community involvement, echoing Fitzgerald’s call that “we felt we needed new action and conversation to bring attention to the disproportionate harm we face.” The March 27 meeting and the required submissions in April and May will determine whether those demands translate into a remediation path that includes closure.