Edison officials eager to bring productive use to landfill site

Funding for restoring Meadow Road property remains a question

BY KATHY CHANG
Staff Writer

Work on the restoration and closure of the Edison Landfill on Meadow Road should be made a priority. That is what Councilwoman Melissa Perilstein, who is concluding her service this month, urged the council and other elected officials to work on in the coming year.

“That is my undying appeal as I move on from the council,” she said at the Dec. 14 meeting. “We can have a proposal here that can generate revenue with wind and solar [energy] once the landfills are stabilized.”

Perilstein did not seek re-election this year. Her last council meeting is Dec. 28. Council President Robert Diehl said he understood her plea and that he appreciated it.

Attorney Neil Yoskin, of Sokol, Behot & Fiorenzo, Princeton, gave the council an update on the landfill restoration closure project. He explained that there are three physical aspects of the closure: the 35-acre mound area, creating an environmental benefit area, and the inner circle shorelines of the landfill.

This area, he said, was never given the treatment that was given to the nearby 220- acre Kin-Buc Landfill, which is one of the largest Superfund sites in the state and was capped in the 1990s.

Yoskin explained that the township has two escrow accounts in relation to the Kin- Buc Landfill cleanup — one in the amount of approximately $12 million to $14 million and the other for $4 million. Even though they are two separate accounts, they pay for the same site.

The Edison Landfill has yet to be capped.

Last April, township residents saw a glimpse of what the riverfront landfill areas could become with the opening of the Edi- son Riverfront Walkway, which runs through lands that were once part of the Kin-Buc and Edison landfills. The walkway is part of the environmental benefit area.

The so-called “garbage to gardens” project is aimed at transforming the riverfront stretch of these former landfills into a tourist destination, after 100 years of being closed to the public. Robert Spiegel, executive director of Edison Wetlands Association (EWA), said Edison’s seven-mile stretch along the Raritan River has many sights — from bald eagles and ospreys to harp seals and giant striped bass. EWA first conceived the vision for the walkway in 2002 and has worked with Conservation Resources Inc. and Edison Township in recent years to fund, plan and begin construction on the project. The walkway, nearly a half-mile long, includes a gazebo, interpretive signs, a native butterfly garden, and birding areas.

Spiegel said cleanup efforts at the riverfront site started 20 years ago.

The 35-acre Edison Landfill received municipal waste, construction debris and industrial dry waste from 1958 to 1990. Though it was closed at the time, waste from the site has continued to spill into the Raritan River during the past 20 years.

The township has sealed the landfill and replaced leaking garbage with stable wetlands for the walkway, allowing members of the public to have riverfront access to an ecosystem with a wide range of recreational options including kayaking and canoeing, bird watching and hiking.

Yoskin said the township had applied to the state Department of Environmental Protection for closure of the Meadow Road site around 2004. The town first received a letter of 10 deficiencies, and then as early as last month the DEP issued a verbal response that the site still has technical difficulties. The DEP wants the area capped and closed, which would cost the township $7 million to $8 million. Yoskin said the township does not have the funds available for that.

On top of that, the attorney said that to stabilize the shoreline and prevent erosion at the Edison Landfill would cost the DEP an estimated $1.5 million to $2 million. Stabilizing the shoreline, Yoskin said, will entail extracting the garbage and moving it back 12 to 15 feet.

Township Engineer John Medina suggested going out to bid to stabilize the shoreline of the landfill. The township has sent the DEP a formal request to see if it can use money already in escrow for the restoration project.

Perilstein said that after the site is cleaned up and restored, the township can start looking into grants for a solar energy project. Yoskin said the township was approached last year by solar providers interested in the site. However, he said, that was not pursued at the time.