Keyport residents unite for answers on possible cancer cluster
Their grassroots leader says he's doing it in memory of his late son.
Neighbors in Keyport are teaming up to organize a plan after reports of a potential cancer cluster have rocked the borough.
“What drives me is my son - my son's memory," said resident and organizer Sal Liguori. "I feel that he is so strong and spiritual that he's reaching down and talking to me and saying, ‘Dad, I need your help, and I know you're the guy.’”
Liguori lost his son Anthony in December 2022 after a cancer diagnosis. It’s unclear if living next to the former Aeromarine plant in Keyport played a role. The site contains an uncapped landfill known to be leeching carcinogens into Raritan Bay. Other families near the site have similar stories.
“I got word that 28 families have cancer," Liguori said. "Unknown cancer, different types of cancer, just on one block alone on First Street. My son passed with a very unknown cancer that we never found out - it's called a CUP cancer - and in nine months, he lost his life very quickly.”
News 12 reported from Walnut Street two years ago when toxic chunks - a manufacturing byproduct called slag - with lead and arsenic washed ashore. The NJ Department of Environmental Protection came to remove them, but Liguori believes it isn’t enough.
“The reason why I'm sitting here today is because it didn't meet any expectations," Liguori said. "You can't tell me that we don't have the technology to speed up this testing and let us know if we're all sitting in an extremely major danger zone right now.”
Representative Frank Pallone brought the matter before EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin in Congress Tuesday. The NJ DEP tells News 12 that they and the Department of Health are preparing a public update that could come as early as Wednesday.
