Lawrence Aviation Industries, Inc. (LAI), a former Long Island defense contractor, and its long-time owner and CEO, Gerald Cohen, were held liable for environmental cleanup costs and penalties under the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act of 1980.
A federal court in Central Islip entered judgment against LAI and Cohen, finding them jointly liable for $48,116,024.31 in costs incurred by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) in cleaning up the Port Jefferson Superfund site. The court also imposed civil penalties of $750,000 against both LAI and Cohen, individually, for their failure to comply with requests for information issued by EPA.
This case serves as a warning to would-be polluters that this Office and the EPA will use every tool at their disposal to protect Long Island’s groundwater and to ensure that those responsible for contamination will foot the bill for clean-up costs, said Richard P. Donoghue, United States Attorney for the Eastern District of New York.
The EPA’s clean-up of the site, now into its 19th year, has included an exhaustive remedial investigation into the nature and scope of the contamination, various hazardous waste removal and stabilization activities, and the implementation and maintenance of two groundwater treatment systems designed to capture and treat contaminated groundwater.
LAI and Cohen’s long history of disregard for federal, state and county environmental laws was detailed in a 37-page Memorandum and Order. In the early 1980s, LAI used a front-end loader to crush 55-gallon drums containing hazardous substances, resulting in a massive discharge of waste directly onto the ground. Samples taken from those drums revealed impermissibly high levels of trichloroethylene (TCE), among other pollutants.
The groundwater in the vicinity of the site is not currently used for drinking water due to contamination. The EPA’s activities at the LAI site have resulted in a decrease in size of the groundwater TCE plume and the removal of over 18,000 tons of soil contaminated with polychlorinated biphenyls, among other hazardous substances, including asbestos containing materials.
Defendant/Lawrence Aviation Industries, Inc. and Gerald Cohen were held liable for environmental crimes in New York in 2023.
Key Facts
- State: New York
- Category: Public Corruption
- Source: DOJ Press Release â†â€â€
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