Activists heartened by
news of cleanup funds
By karl vilacoba
Staff Writer
MARLBORO — Local environmentalists are claiming victory with the announcement that money will once again be allocated toward cleanup efforts at the Burnt Fly Bog Superfund site, Texas and Spring Valley roads.
The approximately 1,700-acre tract has been contaminated since the 1950s due to the direct dumping and spreading of hazardous materials resulting from recycled waste operations, according to the federal Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). The site was also once the location of a landfill and dump.
The Superfund was created during the Reagan Administration in 1980 to identify and clean the nation’s most polluted areas. However, studies and published reports have predicted that the fund, which was once a tax paid by chemical producing industries, could soon become completely depleted, leading to slowed or halted cleanups.
Although the EPA had spent nearly $45 million in remediation costs over the last 20 years, there were fears that cleanup work at Burnt Fly Bog would stop indefinitely. A July report by EPA Inspector General Nikki Tinsley indicated that five Superfund sites in New Jersey, including the bog, had not received any funding during the 2002 fiscal year.
However, EPA Administrator Christie Whitman announced on Oct. 1 that a decision had been made to allocate $20.1 million toward the cleanup at Burnt Fly Bog.
In addition to the federal funding, another $2.2 million would also be allocated from the state, according to Mindy Mumford of the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection (DEP). The funds will be spent specifically to remove 25,000 cubic yards of soil tainted with PCB’s and lead.
The work will soon be put out for public bid and the award of contracts, with action likely to begin by the spring, Mum-ford said. The soil removal will likely take 13 months to complete.
"There’s a whole number of people who have been involved in this for so many years. It’s an amazing feeling to see everyone’s hard work rewarded," said Tina Freedman, chairwoman of Marl-boro’s Burnt Fly Bog/Imperial Oil Citi-zens Advisory Committee. "It’s also bittersweet because I know there are so many other Superfund sites that are deserving of help."
Freedman cautioned that the fight is not over, as there are no guarantees that funding will continue in the next fiscal year.
For several months, activists conducted letter and e-mail writing campaigns urging elected officials to reallocate funds toward the bog’s cleanup. The Marlboro Town-ship Council passed a resolution on July 18 calling for the same action.
"It shows that if you do have concerned citizens, good things will come to fruition," said council President Dr. Paul Kovalski Jr. "Our voices do make a difference if you keep the pressure on."
In related news, the council passed a resolution on Sept. 26 allowing the EPA and the DEP to use an abandoned NJ Transit rail line to access an off-site stream near the Imperial Oil/Champion Chemical property, the township’s other Superfund site. The Imperial Oil Superfund site is off Tennent Road near Orchard Parkway and Route 79.
The DEP was unable to finalize an agreement with the individual property owners, but the rail line, currently being developed as the Henry Hudson Trail Extension, also offers access to the area, officials said.