The federal Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) presented its plans to clean up the contaminated Raritan Bay areas in Old Bridge and Sayreville at an Oct. 17 meeting at the George Bush Senior Center in Old Bridge.
The 1.5-mile-long affected area runs through Margaret’s Creek, a 47-acre wetland southeast of Old Bridge’s Laurence Harbor section, to just beyond the western jetty at the Cheesequake Creek inlet, which is located in Sayreville. Of 11 zones that the EPA identified as part of the cleanup, nine are in Old Bridge; two are in Sayreville.
Part of this site is included in Old Bridge Waterfront Park in Laurence Harbor, which has walking paths, playgrounds and public beaches. The areas identified by the EPA are contaminated with slag, a byproduct of smelting ore, and battery casings.
“This site was referred to us by the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection (NJDEP),” Elias Rodriguez, a press officer with the EPA sector that deals with Superfund sites, told the Suburban. “They had already done significant sampling in the area, which subsequently led to the state requesting our assistance and support.”
The slag and battery casings were deposited at the beachfront in the late 1960s and early 1970s, according to the report. The NJDEP found elevated levels of lead, antimony, arsenic, copper and chromium in 2007, and the EPA got involved in 2008 to analyze more samples at the site. Raritan Bay was put on the National Priorities List of Superfund sites in 2009. The national list contains the names of the country’s most contaminated hazardous waste sites that are in the direst need of cleanup.
“We add those sites to which the state has exhausted its ability to address the site, and we deem we can apply our expertise,” Rodriguez said. Superfund sites also hold to a “polluter pays” principle, which ensures that the expense of cleaning up will not end up on the backs of the taxpayer. The EPA works to identify a potentially responsible party (PRP), who becomes responsible for paying for the cleanup.
“At any given Superfund site, there could be one company or person or organization that is the PRP, or if a site has been around for many years, you can have a whole group of companies or entities that are PRPs,” Rodriguez said.
In this case, Sayreville-based National Lead, which shut down its Sayreville operations in 1982, has been identified as the PRP, but Rodriguez said it is feasible that other parties may be identified as the investigation continues.
“National Lead has been cooperating with us,” Rodriguez said.
Out of five treatments available to clean up the site, the EPA recommended the “Alternative 2” option, which does a thorough cleanup. Alternative 2 removes soil and other materials completely from the site and fills it with clean material. After an Alternative 2 cleanup, the area is safe to use regularly.
“Under this alternative, slag, battery casings, and associated wastes and contaminated soils and sediment above the cleanup level would be excavated and/or dredged and disposed of at appropriate off-site facilities,” the EPA report said. “The preferred alternative will not result in contaminants remaining on the site above levels that would require restricted use.”
The Alternative 2 option has the highest price tag of $78.7 million, but is the only one of the cleanup treatments that allows for normal use afterward, which is why it is preferred by the EPA and other officials involved. However, Chris Gibson, a National Lead lawyer who was present at the Oct. 17 meeting, expressed his interest in exploring other, cheaper treatments. At the Oct. 22 Sayreville Borough Council meeting, Borough Engineer Jay Cornell said that the borough supports the use of Alternative 2 as a cleanup method in the area, because it meets their “eventual goals” of freeing the land for future development. The borough is submitting its letter of support to the EPA.
The plans for cleanup are available on the EPA’s website http://www.epa.gov/region02/ superfund/npl/raritanbayslag/, under the “additional documents” link on the page. The file is named “Proposed Plan” and can be downloaded.
Public comment on this plan is being accepted by Nov. 27, and can be directed to Remedial Project Manager Tanya Mitchell at Mitchell.tanya@epa.gov or by mail at U.S. EPA; 290 Broadway, 19th Floor; New York, NY 10007-1866.
Contact Stella Morrison at smorrison@gmnews.com