Source: http://www.nj.com, October 24, 2013
By: Louis C. Hochman
State officials say they expect to be able to “virtually eliminate” the foul odors that reach for miles beyond the Fenimore landfill site eventually — but they haven’t yet finalized a plan to do so.
In a fact sheet the state Department of Environmental Protection provided to Roxbury officials this week, the agency said its current short-term work at the landfill site should “significantly reduce” odors from hydrogen sulfide, the compound blamed for a rotten egg-like stench that many residents say have been making people stick for the last year.
The DEP has contracted with an engineering firm to come up with a long-term solution for the site, which will be reviewed with Roxbury officials before being finalized, it said.
But it once again rejected an idea pushed by Roxbury officials and local activists — to excavate and truck out construction debris brought to the site over the last year, the source of the hydrogen sulfide.
Digging up the site could release so much gas at uncontrolled rates residents could have to be removed from homes and schools, the DEP said.
The Roxbury Environmental Action Coalition, formed to address issues around the landfill, has rejected that assertion, saying the material could be removed carefully, in stages. And township officials have urged the DEP to use federal funds intended for Sandy relief to pay the estimated $53 million cost of removing the material, as much of the construction debris came from buildings damaged by the storm.
Also this week, Mount Olive Mayor Rob Greenbaum wrote to Gov. Chris Christie, saying he was concerned of reports that township officials in Roxbury are having trouble getting calls returned from stage agencies.
“The Fenimore landfill and the issues associated therewith are becoming increasingly important to Mount Olive Township as the complaints from town residents continue to increase,” Greenbaum wrote. Mount Olive shares a sizable border with Roxbury.
Greenbaum wrote that he has been largely quiet on the issue, because he believed state officials were doing everything they could to resolve problems around Fenimore.
“Unfortunately, in light of what I am hearing, I am no longer convinced this is the case,” he wrote.
He wrote he was “prepared, but do not want to, take a more active role in forcing a resolution to the issue if I feel that the issue is not properly getting the attention it deserves.”
In the DEP’s new fact sheet, it says it is making progress at the site using a thermal oxidizer to collect hydrogen sulfide and, for now, a surplus scrubber to collect the emissions that system creates. The DEP is also working on assembling a custom scrubber better suited to the job.
It said the custom scrubber could be part of a long-term solution, depending on how the amount of hydrogen sulfide being generated daily from construction debris compares to hydrogen sulfide built up and stored in the long-closed landfill. It could be months before the system eliminates stored hydrogen sulfide and the daily production can be determined, it said.
If other technologies would be better-suited to remove the hydrogen sulfide before it reaches the oxidizer, those could be used instead, it said.
A stack releasing steam that can be seen on the site should be removed once the custom scrubber is up and running, the DEP said.
Residents began dealing with the smells about a year ago, after developer Strategic Environmental Partners began work on a DEP-approved plan to cap the landfill — which had been closed for decades, and which had been covered by natural vegetation — and install a solar facility. As part of that work, SEP trucked in the construction debris.
The DEP, in legal and political battles, contended SEP mismanaged the process, and took over the site this summer immediately after Gov. Chris Christie signed a bill giving it the authority to do so.
SEP maintains it was following its DEP-approved plan and was well on the way toward addressing the odors by capping the landfill with soil. It also maintains it was subject to stricter requirements than other landfill site developers, and alleges officials conspired to take away control of the Fenimore site. It has filed a lawsuit naming several elected officials and seeking compensation.
Several residents have told NJ.com the smells have made their children and pets ill — causing headaches, nausea and respiratory issues. At least one asthmatic adult was recently taken to an area hospital after suffering an extreme reaction, her mother told NJ.com.