The US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) issued a long-awaited proposed remedy Friday detailing the cleanup of the lower eight miles of the Passaic River Superfund site. The clean-up consists of a complete bank-to-bank dredge and cap with off-site (out-of-state) disposal of contaminants. Communities along the site include Newark, Harrison, East Newark and Kearny.
NY/NJ Baykeeper and the Ironbound Community Corporation (ICC) support EPA’s remedy and urge local and state officials to support the cleanup plan as well.
“The only statement we should be hearing from the polluting companies now is ‘When can we start this cleanup and return the Passaic River back to the community?’” said Debbie Mans, Executive Director of NY/NJ Baykeeper and co-chair of the Passaic River Superfund Community Advisory Group. “The communities along the lower Passaic River have waited for over 30 years, since the first listing of this site onto Superfund, for a cleanup. It is irresponsible and immoral for the polluting companies to delay a cleanup any longer.”
Joseph Della Fave, Executive Director of the ICC said, “For decades, the people of Newark and the communities along the Passaic have waited for the return of a healthy river. With a new Riverfront Park, Newarkers have greater access to the river than ever before, yet the river remains polluted. The comprehensive cleanup of the Passaic must begin immediately and this should be funded by the parties responsible for its demise. We fully support the EPA cleanup plan. For the sake of Newark’s revitalization, the environmental justice due to our community, and for all life along the river, we want a total cleanup now.”
“A comprehensive cleanup will benefit all of the communities along the lower Passaic River and create 600-700 jobs a year over several years,” said Ana Baptista, ICC Board member and co-chair of the Community Advisory Group. “These communities deserve the same level of cleanup as the communities along the Hudson River, especially considering the many environmental and public health burdens already present in these neighborhoods.”
“The 70 companies that comprise the ‘Cooperating Parties Group’ and Occidental/Tierra Solutions have financially benefited by not properly disposing of their toxics – instead, using the Passaic River as a dumping ground. It is time for the polluters to stop paying their lobbyists and lawyers and start paying for a cleanup of the River. We deserve to have the River returned to us,” Mans said.
The Cooperating Parties Group (CPG) is comprised of polluting companies that have taken advantage of the River for decades. The CPG has been lobbying for a further delay of the cleanup process as well as a weaker cleanup.
The Passaic River Diamond Alkali site was first declared a Superfund site in 1984. For about 30 years, various companies dumped dioxins, PCBs, mercury, DDT, and Agent Orange into the River posing serious human health risks. The entire region has been under a fish consumption advisory due to years of contamination.
“As an environmental justice community, Newark has been denied full access of the river due to the actions of unethical polluters,” said Baptista.
The proposed cleanup of the lower eight miles of the River (the most contaminated section of the Superfund site) was announced in May 2014. Three public hearings were held and thousands of petition signatures and comments supporting the proposed cleanup plan were received by the USEPA. NY/NJ Baykeeper and Ironbound Community Corporation co-chair the Community Advisory Group (CAG) for the Superfund site. The majority of the CAG supported the preferred cleanup plan proposed by the USEPA, with the remaining members of the CAG urging the USEPA to go further with the cleanup. No one on the CAG supported an alternative cleanup proposal proposed by the Responsible Parties that would have removed far less contaminated sediment.
