By Jeanette M. Eng
Staff Writer
MARLBORO — Cleanup work is expected to continue within the next few months at the Burnt Fly Bog and Imperial Oil federal Superfund sites.
At a Nov. 14 meeting of the township’s Burnt Fly Bog-Imperial Oil Citizens Advisory Committee, the discussion focused on finishing the panel’s work on the two Superfund sites, which have been in the works for more than 20 years.
In October, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) approved $20.1 million in funding to finish the cleanup of Burnt Fly Bog. The 1,700-acre site at Texas and Spring Valley roads lies in Marlboro and Old Bridge, Middlesex County. It is divided into several sections: the westerly wetlands, the northerly wetlands, the tar patch area and the downstream area.
According to site manager Anton Navarajah, remedial activities in the tar patch and downstream area will include the excavation and removal of about 25,000 cubic yards of lead and PCB-contaminated soil and the re-establishment of more than 6 acres of wetlands.
In the downstream area, the state Department of Environmental Protection’s (DEP) plan is to maintain the improvements which were made this past summer. This will entail the mowing and upkeep of the site as well as a quarterly sampling of surface water, Navarajah said. The work is expected to take about 13 months after a contract is awarded in March, Navarajah said.
Work on the Imperial Oil site is also in progress, although not as close to completion as Burnt Fly Bog. Work on the 15-acre site, off Tennent Road near Route 79, has been divided into three sections: cleaning the off-site soil and Birch Swamp Brook sediment, the ground water and the on-site soils.
There is $12 million available for the site, which will be applied to the cleanup of Birch Swamp Brook and two residential properties, according to Ed Putnam of the EPA.
Cleanup of this area, labeled "operable unit one," will consist of the removal of about 83,000 cubic yards of contaminated soil, said site manager Joseph Maher of the DEP’s Bureau of Site Management.
Remediation of the remainder of the Imperial Oil site will cost as much as $18 million, Maher said.
According to Maher, a final design plan for operable unit one is scheduled for completion in February and work should begin in April, following the awarding of a contract.
The remaining 13 acres of the Imperial Oil site currently have no funding for cleanup.
The current political state is not favorable for the continuation of Superfund cleanups, DEP officials said.
Superfund, a federal program established for the cleanup of the nation’s worst-polluted sites, relies on the Superfund tax paid by oil and chemical companies since 1980. The Superfund tax expired in 1995 and Congress never voted to reinstate it.
"This shows a huge lack of responsibility from the federal government," said Tina Freedman, chairwoman of the citizens advisory committee. "It’s a shame that the government does not see the importance of something that affects our ground water and our health."