Source: http://www.northjersey.com, July 28, 2016
By: Scott Fallon
An $11 million cleanup plan for one of the most contaminated industrial sites in the Meadowlands would cap pockets of polluted soil in asphalt and place a barrier over fouled wetlands, according to the proposal unveiled Wednesday by environmental regulators.
The plan by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency for the Standard Chlorine Superfund site in Kearny is the latest in a series of steps to stop the spread of dioxin, benzene, PCBs and other cancer-causing chemicals into the adjacent Hackensack River.
Though it still needs to be finalized by EPA, the plan drew mixed reaction from two environmental groups that have long pushed for a comprehensive cleanup.
The Hackensack Riverkeeper thought it was a “giant step” toward resuscitating the battered waterway. The New Jersey Sierra Club said capping offered only a temporary fix and that all contaminants should be removed.
Pollution dates to 1916 when manufacturing began at the 25-acre site and continued until 1993 when the last business shut down. Products like mothballs, lead-acid batteries and drain cleaner were made at the property off Belleville Turnpike next to train tracks used by four NJ Transit rail lines and Amtrak.
Cleanup of the site began over the ensuing years, conducted and paid for by four companies held liable for the pollution: Apogent Transition Corp., Beazer East Inc., Cooper Industries LLC and Occidental Chemical Corp.
Some contaminated buildings were demolished. Two contaminated lagoons were drained and filled with clean material. A barrier wall was installed along the shoreline.
But the cleanup overseen by the state Department of Environmental Protection drew criticism when New Jersey officials sought to redevelop the site with warehouses or use it as a train yard. Environmental groups wanted the polluters held to more rigorous cleanup standards.
Standard Chlorine became a Superfund site with EPA oversight in 2007. The four companies agreed with EPA to a $750,000 study in 2014 to determine the extent of the pollution and how best to remove it.
The EPA’s proposed plan calls for targeted areas to be paved with asphalt, wetlands to be covered by a geotextile barrier and five dilapidated buildings to be demolished. It also would prohibit using the site for any residential purposes in the future.
Bill Sheehan, director of Hackensack Riverkeeper, said the plan would help protect the waterway. Standard Chlorine is only half a mile south of Laurel Hill Park in Secaucus where the Riverkeeper group rents canoes and kayaks to the public.
“You’re talking about 10 years worth of work that has already been put into this site,” Sheehan said. “I’m really happy that this is moving forward.”
Jeff Tittel, director of the New Jersey Sierra Club, said the EPA’s plan will only stabilize the Standard Chlorine site in the short term.
“All sites that are capped will at some point fail because institutional controls do not work,” he said. “That is why the EPA must completely remove the contaminated sediments to protect public health and the environment.”
The EPA said its plan includes the long-term maintenance of all of the barriers and walls placed at the site.
Among the proposals the EPA did not choose was a $17 million plan that would place a barrier across more of the site. The EPA said that plan would provide a “slightly better” protection from storm water mixing with the contaminants but ultimately chose the $11 million plan saying it would be just as effective.
The EPA will hold a public meeting on the proposed plan at Kearny Town Hall, 402 Kearny Ave., on Aug. 16 at 7 p.m. The agency will also take public comments on the plan until Aug. 26 at hess.alison@epa.gov.