NJDEP’s Failure at Keyport Landfill Raises Questions Amid Suspected Cancer Cluster

A Toxic Waterfront With a Long History

The site at the center of the controversy is the former Aeromarine Industrial Park at 55 Walnut Street in Keyport, a roughly 60-acre waterfront parcel stretching along Raritan Bay.

Originally home to an early seaplane manufacturer in the early 20th century, the property was later converted into the Keyport Sanitary Landfill in 1962. The landfill remained operational until 1979, when the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection (NJDEP) ordered it closed due to severe operational and engineering deficiencies.

Under New Jersey environmental law, closed landfills are required to undergo long-term monitoring and remediation measures, including groundwater testing, methane controls, and environmental containment systems designed to prevent contaminants from escaping into surrounding communities.

According to public records and prior environmental assessments, those safeguards were either never fully implemented or inadequately enforced.

A 2010 environmental study conducted by Excel Environmental Resources documented multiple hazardous substances migrating from the property, including:

Benzene
Arsenic
Lead
Vinyl chloride
Polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs)

Many of these chemicals are associated with serious long-term health risks, including leukemia, liver cancer, lymphoma, and other malignancies.

Decades of Warnings — Limited Enforcement

The most troubling aspect of the Aeromarine case may not be the contamination itself, but the length of time regulators allegedly allowed conditions to persist without decisive enforcement.

Documents referenced by Congressman Frank Pallone Jr. state that NJDEP inspections dating back to 1986 repeatedly identified violations at the site, often with long gaps between follow-up actions.

Despite those findings, enforcement actions remained limited for years.

A timeline assembled from public records illustrates the prolonged pattern:

1979: NJDEP orders the landfill closed
1986–2010: Repeated environmental violations documented
2010: Carcinogens confirmed in soil and groundwater migration studies
2021: Borough of Keyport sues site owner Bay Ridge Realty Co.
2024: Lead and arsenic debris reportedly wash onto a nearby public beach
2024–2025: NJDEP issues more than $1.18 million in administrative penalties
2026: Comprehensive testing resumes for the first time in 16 years

Notably, the newest environmental testing was initiated largely because of due diligence work tied to a prospective redevelopment deal involving Pacer Partners — not because of a standalone state-led remediation initiative.

That distinction has intensified criticism from residents and environmental advocates who argue the state reacted only after mounting public attention.

The Suspected Cancer Cluster

Health officials have not formally declared a cancer cluster in Keyport.

Under federal guidelines, proving a cancer cluster requires extensive statistical analysis comparing disease rates across specific geographic and demographic populations over time.

Still, the concentration of reported illnesses near the site has raised concern among independent public health experts.

According to the reporting, cancers identified by residents included leukemia, lymphoma, pancreatic, colon, liver, prostate, thyroid, breast, kidney, lung, and brain cancers — several of which align with known exposure risks associated with benzene, vinyl chloride, heavy metals, and PCBs.

Dr. Alexis Mraz of The College of New Jersey reportedly described the concentration as “a crazy high percentage,” while Dr. Scarlett Gomez of the University of California, San Francisco argued the community should not have to wait for a formal cancer cluster designation before remediation efforts accelerate.

Regulatory Questions Surround NJDEP

The Aeromarine controversy is increasingly becoming a broader examination of New Jersey’s environmental oversight system.

Critics argue the state’s regulatory framework depends heavily on voluntary compliance by property owners and remediation professionals retained by responsible parties — a model that can break down when property owners fail to cooperate or abandon obligations altogether.

The issue became more pronounced after New Jersey’s 2009 Site Remediation Reform Act shifted portions of cleanup oversight toward Licensed Site Remediation Professionals (LSRPs), reducing direct state involvement in many contaminated-site cases.

Questions are now emerging about whether NJDEP possessed sufficient authority to force remediation sooner — and if so, why stronger enforcement tools were not used earlier.

The bulk of the modern enforcement timeline unfolded during the administration of former Governor Phil Murphy and former NJDEP Commissioner Shawn LaTourette, who served from 2021 through January 2026.

Governor Mikie Sherrill’s administration has since inherited the issue, with Acting NJDEP Commissioner Ed Potosnak overseeing the most recent testing approvals.

Local, State, and Federal Accountability

The fallout extends beyond NJDEP alone.

The Borough of Keyport filed a lawsuit against Bay Ridge Realty in 2021 alleging contamination was leaking into Raritan Bay. The case was ultimately dismissed, and local officials did not pursue additional litigation afterward.

Meanwhile, Congressman Frank Pallone Jr. formally requested federal and state investigations in April 2026 after the story gained wider media attention.

However, Pallone’s office had reportedly coordinated with NJDEP and the Environmental Protection Agency during the 2024 beach contamination incident — raising additional questions about why a broader public investigation was not launched sooner.

Environmental oversight responsibilities potentially span multiple agencies, including:

NJDEP
New Jersey Department of Health
EPA Region 2
Monmouth County Health Department
New Jersey State Comptroller
State Attorney General’s Environmental Crimes Bureau

Yet residents argue that despite decades of overlapping authority, no agency moved aggressively enough to address the site before public pressure intensified.

A Cleanup That May Finally Be Coming

Pacer Partners, which is seeking to acquire and redevelop the property, has announced plans to move forward with environmental testing and remediation efforts tied to the parcel.

At the same time, state agencies and public health officials are facing growing demands for transparency regarding historical enforcement decisions and long-term health monitoring in the surrounding community.

Whether ongoing investigations ultimately confirm a formal cancer cluster remains uncertain.

What is already clear, however, is that the Aeromarine landfill represents one of the most politically sensitive environmental accountability stories currently unfolding in New Jersey — one involving decades of documented contamination, repeated regulatory warnings, and residents who believe government intervention came far too late.

Key Takeaways

The former Aeromarine landfill in Keyport has been linked to documented contamination involving carcinogenic chemicals since at least 2010.
Residents have identified 41 reported cancer cases near the site, including 28 on one block.
NJDEP inspections reportedly documented violations dating back to 1986.
More than $1.18 million in penalties have been issued against site owner Bay Ridge Realty Co.
The first major environmental testing in 16 years began only in 2026.
Federal, state, and local agencies are now facing scrutiny over decades of delayed action and limited enforcement.