A sign along the Raritan Bay in the Laurence Harbor section of Old Bridge alerts pedestrians to possible risks associated with exposure to lead. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has ordered NL Industries to pay for the cleanup of the area. STELLA MORRISON/STAFF NL Industries has been ordered to begin remediation of the Raritan Bay Superfund site or face penalties of more than $200 million, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced.
The order, signed by Walter E. Mugdan, director of the EPA’s Emergency and Remedial Response Division, states that if NL Industries fails to comply, the company could be subject to civil penalties of up to $37,500 per violation each day.
Also, NL Industries may be subject to punitive damages in an amount at least equal to, but not more than, three times the amount of any costs incurred by the agency if the EPA manages the cleanup.
With remediation efforts estimated at $79 million, NL Industries could be facing fines of up to $237 million, according to EPA spokesman Elias Rodriguez.
“So that’s an incentive within the mechanism of the order for those that are legally responsible to cooperate,” he said.
The order further specifies the manner in which cleanup must be done at the site, located along an approximately mile-long stretch of the Raritan Bay in Old Bridge and Sayreville.
“They have to excavate and dredge the contaminated soil and haul it away to a facility licensed to receive that type of waste,” he said.
The cleanup will be conducted in three areas: the Laurence Harbor seawall adjacent to Old Bridge Waterfront Park; the western jetty in Sayreville extending from the Cheesequake Creek Inlet into Raritan Bay; and approximately 50 acres of Margaret’s Creek, which has elevated lead levels along with areas of slag and battery casings.
Much of the waterfront park has remained fenced off since 2009, when the EPA designated it as a Superfund site, having determined that the shoreline was contaminated with above-average levels of lead.
The potent neurotoxin can be found in high concentrations in the water and soil because lead slag — a byproduct of metal smelting — was deposited in large quantities along jetties and seawalls in the area in the late 1960s and early 1970s.
EPA Regional Administrator Judith A. Enck announced last summer in an official record of decision that NL Industries would be held responsible for the cleanup.
“The EPA’s Record of Decision … appears to go out of its way to avoid discussion of the public entities actually responsible for the location, oversight and construction of a seawall comprised of lead slag material,” NL Industries spokesman William Murray said in a press release last year.
“At worst, an NL Industries facility might have been one of the places where a developer obtained the material it used to construct a seawall.”
The EPA’s Jan. 30 administrative order counters that argument, saying that “historical documents provide evidence that at least some, if not all of the lead slag found at the site came from the former National Lead Company (now NL Industries) facility in Perth Amboy, N.J., which was in operation approximately 40 years ago.”
In June 2013, NL Industries filed suit against Old Bridge, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, the state of New Jersey, Middlesex County and several private firms and individuals in federal court in Trenton, seeking cost recovery and contributions as well as declaratory relief.
Rodriguez could not say whether the ongoing lawsuit might have had any bearing on the EPA’s administrative order, even though the EPA is not named in the suit.
It is not clear at this time whether NL Industries will comply with the administrative order, Rodriguez said, but representatives of NL Industries and the EPA were scheduled to meet to discuss its details Feb. 12.
At this time, there is no timetable set for completion of remediation efforts, he said.
Sen. Robert Menendez (D-NJ) and Rep. Frank Pallone Jr. (D-6) lauded the EPA’s administrative order.
“The planned … cleanup is great news for public health, the community and the environment,” Pallone said. “Cleaning the site will be a positive force for the local economy, creating jobs and, once finished, yielding a safe public park and beach for all to enjoy, without having to worry about potential health risks. I commend the EPA for their hard work on this site.”