| DEP
to Address More Than 4,000 Potential Claims for Natural
Resource Damages Statewide
Commissioner Campbell
Orders Passaic River Restoration: Parties Responsible for
Pollution Must Assess and Restore Natural Resource Injuries
(03/131) NEWARK —Working
to recover compensation on behalf of the citizens of New
Jersey for the lost use of natural resources caused by industrial
pollution, Department of Environmental Protection (DEP)
Commissioner Bradley M. Campbell today announced a large-scale
directive to address more than 4,000 potential claims for
natural resource damages statewide. In addition, Commissioner
Campbell today ordered 66 responsible parties to assess
and restore natural resource injuries to the Passaic River
caused by 18 contaminated sites within its watershed.
“New Jersey’s environment,
quality of life and economy suffer every time we lose the
benefit and use of natural resources to contamination,”
said Governor James E. McGreevey. “It is unfair to
New Jersey’s residents and environmentally conscientious
businesses to tolerate any damage to natural resources caused
by polluters. Those responsible simply must be held accountable.”
Under Governor McGreevey’s leadership,
the DEP has demonstrated substantial success in addressing
natural resource damage (NRD) claims. During the first year
of the Administration, NRD recoveries exceeded the total
for the six prior years combined. Commissioner Campbell’s
newly signed directive outlines an accelerated process needed
to pursue more than 4,000 outstanding and potential NRD
claims.
“While we have aggressively pursued
compensation for natural resource damages from polluters,
only a small percentage of the larger universe of existing
claims has been addressed,” said Commissioner Campbell.
“An accelerated effort is needed to ensure that the
statute of limitations for outstanding claims does not expire
and result in the loss of the public’s right to compensation.”
Commissioner Campbell’s Passaic River
directive calls for 66 companies to identify natural resource
injuries in the Lower Passaic River watershed and determine
the extent of the injuries in order to properly address
needed restoration projects. In addition, the department
has directed responsible parties to initiate an interim
restoration of natural resources, focusing on the ecological
and economic services that the river provided prior to being
injured. These services include, but are not limited to,
recreational and commercial fishing, wetlands, sediment
functions and services, boat access points and increased
costs to commerce and the maritime industry due to dredging
of contaminated sediments. (A complete list of the responsible
parties and sites is appears below.)
“The Lower Passaic River is a prime
example of resource degradation at its worst,” said
Commissioner Campbell. “New Jersey has an opportunity
to recapture the ecological and recreational value of the
Passaic River, but only through aggressive natural resource
restoration efforts.”
The waters and sediments of the Lower Passaic
River watershed are contaminated with hazardous substances
including dioxin, PCBs, DDT, heavy metals and polyaromatic
hydrocarbons, which persist in the environment long after
the initial discharge. These contaminants also accumulate
in the ecological food chain in the environment. As a result,
both the DEP and the Department of Health and Senior Services
have issued public consumption advisories due to mercury,
dioxin and PCB contamination in fish, and have prohibited
anyone to eat or harvest fish or shellfish from the Passaic
River. In addition to a recreational and commercial fishing
ban, the river does not support recreational swimming.
"We are committed to working with
the Department of Environmental Protection to pursue natural
resource damage claims on behalf of the citizens of New
Jersey," said Attorney General Peter C. Harvey. "We
will pursue every available legal remedy to collect damages
from those responsible for environmental injury to the State
and to restore valuable natural resources like the Passaic
River."
The responsible parties have 45 calendar
days upon the receipt of individual DEP directives to respond
to the department and execute a single administrative consent
order that provides assurance that the assessment and restoration
actions will be performed in a timely and proper fashion.
If any responsible party named in the DEP
directive fails to comply, the DEP will implement an assessment
of the damages using public funds. Subsequently, the DEP
may file suit against uncooperative parties to seek reimbursement
and damages (including treble damages) for all costs the
state assumes in implementing the assessment.
Natural resource damage is the dollar value
of the total restoration that is necessary to compensate
the residents of New Jersey for the injury to natural resources.
Injuries can be both ecological injuries to wetlands, wildlife,
ground water or surface water and human use injuries such
as the closure of a waterway to fishing, a beach to swimming
or an aquifer to drinking water supply. In addition, restoration
may include compensation for the natural resource services
lost from the beginning of the injury through the full recovery
of the resource. Groundwater injuries are calculated with
a formula that estimates the volume of contaminated groundwater,
the value of the water and duration of the injury to arrive
at a settlement amount. New Jersey’s Spill Compensation
and Control Act requires any entity that has discharged
hazardous substances onto the land or into the waters of
the state is liable for cleanup and removal costs, as well
as the cost of restoring or replacing natural resources
injured by the discharge.
The Passaic River, covering parts of northeastern
New Jersey and southeastern New York, drains almost 935
square miles and is the second largest river in New Jersey,
stretching approximately 85 miles from the Bernardsville
Mountains and emptying into the Newark Bay. The Lower Passaic
River, from the Dundee Dam in Paterson to the mouth of the
river at Newark Bay, drains a watershed of approximately
170 square miles. There are five major tributaries to the
one-mile stretch of the Lower Passaic River; Third River,
Saddle River, Second River, Frank’s Creek and Lawyer’s
Creek. The sites targeted for assessment and restoration
are within the 17 miles of the Lower Passaic River from
the Dundee Dam in Paterson downstream to and including its
confluence with Newark Bay.
A complete list of the Passaic River responsible
parties and sites follows.
Passaic
River Directive: Responsible Parties and Sites
-
The Ashland Chemical Company Site –
221 Foundry Street, Newark City, Essex County
Responsible Party: Ashland Inc.
-
The Hilton Davis Site – 120 Lister
Avenue, Newark City, Essex County
Responsible Parties: Thomasset Colors, Inc.; Hilton
Davis Chemical Company; Sterling Winthrop, Inc.; Freedom
Chemical Company; 360 North Pastoria Environmental Corporation;
Eastman Kodak Company; Drum Service of Newark, Inc.;
H.D. Acquisition Corporation; Noveon Hilton Davis Inc.;
SDI Divestiture Corporation; STWB Inc.; PMC Global,
Inc.; Plastics Manufacturing Corporation; SmithKline
Beecham Corporation; and Bayer Corporation.
-
The Benjamin Moore & Company Site –
134 Lister Ave, Newark City, Essex County
Responsible Party: Benjamin Moore & Company;
-
The Diamond Alkali Site - 80 Lister Avenue,
Newark City, Essex County
Responsible Parties: Diamond Shamrock Chemicals Company;
Diamond Alkali Company; Diamond Shamrock Corporation;
Maxus Energy Corporation; Occidental Electrochemicals
Corporation; Occidental Petroleum Corporation; Occidental
Chemical Corporation; Chemical Land Holdings, Inc.;
Tierra Solution Incorporated; Tierra Solutions, Inc.;
and Oxy-Diamond Alkali Corporation.
-
The Pitt-Consol Chemical Company Site –
191 Doremus Avenue, Newark City, Essex County
Responsible Parties: E.I. du Pont de Nemours and Company
and the Pitt-Consol Chemical Company.
-
The Lucent Technologies Site – 100
Central Avenue, Kearny Town, Hudson County
Responsible Parties: Lucent Technologies, Inc.; AT&T
Corporation; and RTC Properties, Inc..
-
The Monsanto Company Site – Pennsylvania
Avenue, Kearny Town, Hudson County
Responsible Party Monsanto Company and Motor Carrier
Services Corporation.
-
The Public Service Electric and Gas Company Essex
Site – 155 Raymond Boulevard, Newark City,
Essex County. Responsible Parties: Public Service Electric
and Gas Company and Public Service Enterprise Group,
Inc.
-
The Public Service Electric and Gas Harrison Site
– Frank E. Rogers Boulevard South (S 4th St),
Harrison Town, Hudson County
Responsible Parties: Public Service Electric and Gas
Company and Public Service Enterprise Group, Inc.The
Sherwin Williams Company Site - Program Identification
No. 015023
-
The Sherwin Williams Company Site –
60 Lister Avenue, Newark City, Essex County
Responsible Party: Sherwin Williams Company.
-
American Modern Metals Corporation Site –
65 Passaic Avenue, Kearny Town, Hudson County.
Responsible Parties: American Modern Metals Corporation;
DiLorenzo Properties Company; DiLorenzo Properties,
L.P.; Marshall Clark Manufacturing Corporation; Kearny
Industrial Associates, L.P.; and S&A Realty Corporation.
-
The Atlantic Richfield Site – (ARCO)
1111 Delancey Street, Newark City, Essex County
Responsible Parties: Atlantic Richfield Company and
Amerada Hess Corporation;
-
The Franklin Plastics Site – 113 Passaic
Avenue, Kearny Town, Hudson County
Responsibilities Parties: Franklin Plastics Corporation;
Franklin-Burlington Plastics, Inc.; and Spartech Corporation.
-
The Stanley Works Site – 140 Chapel
Street, Newark City, Essex County
Responsible Party: Stanley Works Corporation.
-
The Safety-Kleen Envirosystems Company Site (McKesson)
– 600 Doremus Avenue, Newark City, Essex County
Responsible Parties: Safety-Kleen Envirosystems Company;
Bristol Myers-Squibb; Propane Power Corporation; Wilson
Five Corporation; and Apollo Development and Land Corporation.
-
The Napp Technologies Site – 199 Main
Street, Lodi Borough, Bergen County (Saddle River)
Responsible Parties: Purdue Pharma Technologies, Inc.
and Nappwood Land Corporation.
-
The Hexcel Site – 205 Main Street,
Lodi Borough, Bergen County (Saddle River)
Responsible Parties: Hexcel Corporation and Fine Organics
Corporation.
-
The Getty Newark Terminal Site – 86
Doremus Avenue, Newark City, Essex County
Responsible Parties: Chevron Texaco Corporation; Getty
Petroleum Corporation; Getty Realty Group; Texaco Inc.;
Texaco Refining and Marketing Inc.; and Power Test of
New Jersey, Inc.
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