NJDEP SRP - PF Cleanups Site Status Report 2000 - Private Cleanups Conserve Public Funds

Publicly Funded Cleanups Site Status Report 2000
Index

Private cleanups conserve public funds

A responsible party or other private party may assume responsibility for addressing a NJDEP-lead site at certain stages of the remedial process, before the state has engaged contractors to perform the work using public funds. The critical stages when a responsible party may take over an investigation or cleanup of a site are before a Remedial Investigation is begun, before a Remedial Design is begun, or, if no Remedial Design is required, at the initiation of a Remedial Action. At that point NJDEP will require the responsible party to sign an Administrative Consent Order (ACO), a formal agreement that defines the scope of the investigation and/or cleanup and establishes the amount of funding the responsible party must make available to NJDEP to complete the work should it fail to fulfill the requirements of the ACO. All work conducted by the responsible party is supervised by the Division of Responsible Party Site Remediation and in accordance with NJDEP's Technical Regulations for Site Remediation (NJAC 7:26E).

Whenever possible, NJDEP will attempt to secure a signed ACO before the Division of Publicly Funded Site Remediation begins a Remedial Investigation at a site, as this approach preserves more public funds for other sites and enables NJDEP to avoid future cost recovery actions against the potentially responsible party. During 2000, NJDEP successfully negotiated ACOs with potentially responsible parties for Remedial Investigation and cleanup work at 17 contaminated sites, averting transfer of these sites to the publicly funded division and saving an estimated $11.7 million in public cleanup funds. For example, two companies associated with the Somerset Tire Service site in Bound Brook, Somerset County entered into an ACO to investigate and remediate contamination resulting from historic pesticide manufacturing operations and an oil spill from an above ground tank that ruptured in 1999 during a severe flood. The two potentially responsible parties posted $3.5 million in financial assurance, the estimated cost to address the site.

During 2000, NJDEP negotiated ACOs with potentially responsible parties to complete remedial work at two sites that were already in the process of being addressed by the Division of Publicly Funded Site Remediation. A group of 56 potentially responsible parties for the PJP Landfill in Jersey City, Hudson County agreed to remove buried drums from the landfill, install a cover over an uncapped portion of the landfill and monitor ground water for five years pursuant to a 1995 Record of Decision for the site. The potentially responsible parties' actions are expected to save more than $24 million in state and federal cleanup funds. Potentially responsible parties for the Goldere's Junkyard site in Morristown, Morris County agreed to install a two-foot soil cover over soil contaminated with low levels of polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), semi-volatile organic compounds and lead, which will save the state an estimated $600,000 in cleanup funds. In addition, a group of 16 potentially responsible parties for the Lightman Drum Company Superfund site signed an Administrative Order on Consent (AOC) with USEPA in 2000 to perform a RI/FS to determine the extent of the contamination at the site and evaluate cleanup alternatives. The transfer of the site to the potentially responsible parties for the RI/FS is expected to save approximately $2 million in federal Superfund money. If the study reveals the site requires remedial action, the potentially responsible parties will conduct this work under one or more additional AOCs with USEPA.

Private parties redevelop brownfields at former publicly funded sites

Although a site is usually transferred from the publicly funded division to the responsible party division in order to allow the responsible party (or parties) to address the contamination, two notable exceptions occurred in 2000. Private parties interested in developing two contaminated industrial sites that were in the process of being addressed by the publicly funded division agreed to complete the necessary remedial actions under the supervision of the responsible party division, boosting NJDEP's efforts to redevelop the state's brownfields. In Newark City, Essex County, a pallet manufacturer interested in expanding his business onto the neighboring Albert Steel Drum site agreed to remove grossly contaminated soil and sediments from the site, install a cap over the residually contaminated soil and monitor the ground water. The transfer of this site to the private party will save an estimated $2.3 million in state funds. Also in Newark City, the Hartz Mountain Company purchased the nearby International Way site and began a Remedial Investigation in 2000 to delineate the contamination in the soil and ground water at the property. The transfer of this site to the private party will save at least $200,000 in state cleanup funds. A list of all sites transferred from the Publicly Funded Division to the Responsible Party Division is included in the Appendixes section.

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