Feds criticize NJ state, fed environment officials over toxic sites

NorthJersey.com ^ | 06.18.08 | SCOTT FALLON

[Coleus]

Federal investigators sharply criticized state and federal environmental officials in a report for failing to clean up seven of the worst toxic sites in New Jersey, including two in the Meadowlands. More than 20 years after the sites were designated as priorities for remediation, none are completely cleaned up. Both the state Department of Environmental Protection and the federal Environmental Protection Agency caused “unnecessary delays” by failing to communicate with each other, develop clean-up schedules and review documents in a timely manner. For example, the DEP took 15 months to respond to a clean-up plan at a site in Gloucester County. The 17-page report from the EPA’s Inspector General criticizes the handling of two of the larger Superfund sites in North Jersey: Universal Oil Products in East Rutherford and Ventron/Velsicol in Wood-Ridge, both of which spewed tons of contaminants into Berry’s Creek.

The two sites have been on the federal government’s National Priorities List for more than 20 years. In fact, New Jersey has the dubious distinction of having the most sites in the nation that have been awaiting cleanup for decades, the report said. “Continued delays will result in an overall increase in clean-up costs, prevent land reuse and redevelopment opportunities and perpetuate concern about the risks associated with living near these sites,” the report states. Remediation of the sites is supposed to be led by the state DEP with the support from the EPA and funded by the polluters or whoever had taken control of the property. The report recommends that the EPA take lead status from the DEP “where both agencies agree it would be beneficial.”

The report makes no mention of the site in Ringwood, where both the DEP and the EPA have been criticized for failing for years to enforce cleanups of paint sludge from a now-defunct Ford plant. DEP officials acknowledged that the remediation process takes too long. “The department is on the record that the overall pace of cleanups is slow,” said Elaine Makatura, a DEP spokeswoman. “We are working to strengthen our remediation programs and we are simultaneously pursuing aggressive legislative changes.” Irene Kropp, a DEP assistant commissioner, took umbrage with the report saying all of the sites are “well along in the clean up process.”

“It gives the reader the impression that only ‘Band-Aids’ have been used to date,” Kropp wrote in a six-page official response to a draft report. “It is also important to note that your investigators did not find any public health issues related to human exposures to any site contamination from any sites mentioned in the report,” she wrote. The DEP said in response to the report that the EPA is the lead agency at the two Bergen County sites because of the contamination of Berry’s Creek, which extends into the Hackensack River. Several parts of Universal Oil Products have been cleaned up, with groundwater contamination to be treated by late 2012, DEP officials said. The property, off Route 17, was declared a Superfund site in 1983 after the discovery that solvents and chemical waste had been dumped into two lagoons, causing PCBs to soak into sediments and other contaminants to settle into the groundwater. The plant was torn down in 1980 and a Lowe’s store was built there.

Clean up of the Ventron/Velsicol property will get underway this year and be completed by 2010, DEP officials said. Helping to get the long-delayed cleanup started is a $12.5 million payment agreed upon in January by a unit of insurance giant American International Group Inc. Ventron ran a chemical plant on the property from 1929 until 1974 and dumped as much as 160 tons of toxic waste including mercury. Cutbacks in staff at the DEP have long been blamed for the slow pace of cleanups. In fact, the DEP is seeking permission to hand over some of its lesser sites to private firms to take some of the load off DEP caseworkers. The Inspector General asked for documentation to support an excuse of a heavy workload, but the DEP did not provide the information, the report states. The DEP has 3,200 employees.

Critics say mismanagement at the DEP is the cause for the clean-up delays, not cutbacks in staff and increased case loads. “The worst polluters are not held accountable by both EPA and DEP but these were all lead NJ DEP cases so the brunt of the criticisms should focus on NJ DEP,” said Bill Wolfe, a former DEP employee and director of Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility, a watchdog group. “The DEP is too weak to stand up to the polluters. It’s knowing incompetence on their part.” The EPA was conciliatory about the criticisms in the report.

“For the most part, EPA agrees with the Inspector General’s recommendations, and we have already begun implementing programmatic improvements in order to accelerate completion of remedial actions at these sites,” said Alan Steinberg, administrator for EPA’s Region 2 office, which covers New Jersey. The report also criticized the EPA for not updating the status of the sites on its Web site. “As a result, progress being made on sites may not be readily communicated to the public,” the report stated. The report, conducted from July 2006 to January 2008, looked at five other Superfund sites throughout New Jersey and found the same problems. The other sites are: the Brick Township Landfill, Evor Phillips Leasing Company in Old Bridge, Hercules Inc. in Gibbstown, American Cyanamid in Bridgewater and Jones Industrial Services Landfill, Inc. in South Brunswick.

[saganite]

Is this a companion piece to your NJ post about offshore drilling?

[kittymyrib]

Well, I thought that Corzine and the other NJ pols were so fearful of oil drilling that might defile their pristine NJ environment. It sounds like they ought to be worried about toxic dumps that have not been cleaned up in 20 years. I guess that doesn’t worry them as long as the EPA keeps sending them funds for the clean up.

[Coleus]

NJ reps lead charge against offshore drilling