FLORENCE: Roebling cleanup gets $25M boost

By Geoffrey Wertime, Staff Writer
   FLORENCE — The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is set to receive over $25 million in federal stimulus funds for work on the Roebling Steel Superfund site.
   The money will accelerate the cleanup of the site, which is already in progress, and will create more jobs in the area, the EPA announced April 15.
   The influx of cash comes under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, and is part of the $600 million Congress has appropriated for the Federal Superfund remedial program.
   ”Twenty-five million dollars is the largest allocation I can remember the federal government setting aside in one fiscal year for this,” said Florence Township Administrator Richard Brook. According to him, the project has generally received between $5 million and $7 million in years past.
   ”Anything that can be done to expedite the remedial work and put this property back to a positive use is good news for the community,” he said.
   The Roebling Steel Mill, which once made the steel cables that support the Golden Gate Bridge and Brooklyn Bridge, was closed in 1974. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has been overseeing the ongoing cleanup of the site, which was declared a Superfund site in 1984.
   The site is the future home of the Roebling Museum, which will tell the story of the steel mill, the many workers who immigrated to the area for jobs there, and the town, Roebling, that was built for them.
   The museum is under construction. Museum Director Patricia Millen said the museum building and adjacent grounds will not be affected by the funding increase. But, she said, the building is on schedule, and the museum expects it to be turned over to them by the end of May.
   The EPA has said it will use the money to remove about 242,000 cubic yards of contaminated sediment from the Back Channel Delaware River and Crafts Creek. The material is reportedly contaminated with varying degrees of different metals, including lead, copper and zinc, and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, which have been shown to cause reproductive and other problems in animals and are believed to be carcinogenic in humans. However, the remediation is only intended to reduce risk to plant and nonhuman animal life.
   The EPA said it plans to dredge contaminated sediments, place sediments in the slag area, stabilize the Back Channel shoreline, and restore the wetlands of impacted areas. The work could lead to increased reuse of the site, and further the potential for its redevelopment.
   The new work is planned to begin this summer.
   EPA spokeswoman Beth Totman said since this is only one phase of the project, there is no way to know exactly how the funding increase will affect the overall cleanup’s timetable, but that it will “definitely” speed things up.
   She added likewise that while the project will create jobs, it is too early to tell how many. The EPA will put out bids for contractors, she said, with an eye toward “green” technology.
   The Roebling site’s stimulus money is part of increased funding for eight Superfund sites in the region, Ms. Totman said. These projects are either shovel-ready, like in Roebling, or planned to include new construction.
   EPA Acting Regional Administrator George Pavlou said in a press release, “The Superfund program lends itself perfectly to the goals of the Recovery Act.
   ”New jobs will be created immediately because these projects are ‘shovel ready,’ and the surrounding communities benefit because the funds allow us to continue the important work of cleaning up the sites.”
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