Keyport Cancer Cluster To Be Investigated; State Asks For Federal Help

KEYPORT, NJ — New Jersey officials will launch an investigation into a newly identified cancer cluster in Keyport, and are asking federal authorities for assistance.

At a budget hearing in Washington Tuesday, Congressman Frank Pallone, Jr. (D-NJ6) pressed Lee Zeldin, head of the Environmental Protection Agency, for federal help addressing the suspected cancer cluster in Keyport.

Last week, NJ.com was the first to report that 41 people in Keyport have myriad different cancers, 28 of them on one street near the former Aeromarine landfill, which closed in 1979.

After NJ.com published their report, NJ Health Commissioner Raynard Washington said the state of New Jersey will begin investigating.

Pallone pushed Zeldin, appointed by President Trump, to make a firm commitment to get the federal government involved, as well.

Pallone wants the state of New Jersey to work with the EPA to "launch a coordinated investigation into the site, secure the property and assess risks to public health." Pallone said earlier this month, he sent the EPA a letter about the suspected cancer cluster in Keyport, demanding the agency work with New Jersey to secure the site and address the ongoing contamination.

Zeldin responded Tuesday that the state of New Jersey has not asked for federal help yet.

Zeldin said he is “very well aware of (the issue) ... I know how much of a priority it is. This is an issue that New Jersey DEP has been on the lead on enforcement at the landfill. They have not asked for our assistance, but we stand ready to help.”

"The EPA Region Two administrator, I do want to say, has been cooperative," Pallone said this week. "He met with my staff last Friday to discuss this cancer cluster and remediation of the landfill that we believe may be causing it."

A follow-up meeting is scheduled for later this week.

Pallone wants the state and federal government to do three things: Launch comprehensive environmental testing and clean-up at the location of the former landfill, do a full review of potential health impacts and give more communication with local residents.

The Aeromarine landfill was shut down in 1979. Since then, high amounts of benzene, PCBs, heavy metals and methane gas have been found in the soil in and around Keyport, said Pallone.

He also said the former landfill has also never been fully remediated, nor properly capped.

"Despite repeated violations and nearly $900,000 in fines issued in recent years, the site remained unsecured and had not been properly capped or cleaned up," said Pallone.