The N.J. Sierra Club argues that what the federal government has proposed is not a lasting solution to cleaning the pollution in the river. Watch video
By Jeff Tittel
Since the 1960s, we have seen toxins in the Passaic River impact the people of Newark and communities living along the River. Facilities that manufactured pesticides, weed killers, including Agent Orange, have poisoned the river and threatened public health.
Agent Orange, the defoliant used during the Vietnam War, contains large quantities of dioxin, which is one of the deadliest substances known to man. For 30 years, we have been waiting for the Environmental Protection Agency to put forward a comprehensive clean-up that restores the Passaic River.
New Jersey won the lawsuit against polluters, stating they have to clean-it up the contamination, but now that EPA has stepped in they don't have to. EPA's plan is only a Band-Aid that will not work.
The Diamond Alkaid Superfund Site has been entombed and forbidden from use for hundreds of years and now we are doing the same thing to the Passaic River. They have proposed the largest and longest cap on a tidal river that is an unproven technology.
Their plan is to the cap sediment containing dioxins, PCBs, mercury and other toxins. However, this violates EPA's protocols for removing sediments and will not cause a significant drop in dioxin. Engineers and scientists believe caps do not work on land -- let alone capping a tidal river. When the Passaic floods, it will erode and cause the cap to fail washing toxic sediments into the river.
When you look at the Hudson River clean-up, originally less than 10 percent was supposed to be capped in areas between banks and rocks that could not be dredged easily. Under Judith Enck, the EPA Region 2 Administrator, the EPA raised the cap from 10 percent to 24 percent and New York state opposed it. This saved General Electric millions. EPA also decided to cap the Superfund site in Ringwood to let Ford off the hook under Enck and recently they found additional toxins in the groundwater.
With climate change, we will see sea level rise and more severe flooding. A small part of the cap on the Hudson River may have survived its first 100-year storm, but it is expected that we will see 100-year storms every few years. Given the increase of flooding, how will these caps survive years after they are built?
EDITORIAL: Time for the EPA to play hardball with Passaic River cleanup
The Hudson is not even comparable to the Passaic because it is not a tidal river and it is larger. This cap was small and new. While in New Jersey, the cap will not work because it is 100 percent of EPA's 8-mile clean-up. With this plan, the EPA is sweeping these toxins chemicals under the rug, but the problem is that rugs float away.
The EPA calls for capping because it is cheaper, not because it was right. This plan even leaves out the nine other miles of the Superfund Site. Out of the 8.3 miles they are capping, they are only dredging 2 to 5 feet when they should be going at least 12 to 30 feet. Capping will actually be costlier in the long run because this cap will fail just like it did at mile 10.9 in Lyndhurst.
When they put the capped toxins there, a month later they had to go back and fix it. The cap on Lake Onondaga in Central New York has also failed three times. Unfortunately, the same Army Corps of Engineers will build this cap, while most of their flood projects have failed.
What the EPA did was for political expedience, not based on sound science. The responsible parties will attack this plan because it will not work, which could prolong implementation for at least another five years. Meanwhile if there was a real plan in place, the polluters wouldn't have any excuse. Exxon, Occidental, and DuPont have deep pockets and are responsible for this pollution. EPA should force them to clean-up the mess they made.
People and communities living around the Passaic River deserve a full clean-up. By removing all of the toxic sediments in the 17-mile stretch, the ecosystem would start coming back. We would also be able to help future generations of people living along the river.
Jeff Tittel is director of the New Jersey Sierra Club.
The EPA announces a major clean up of the Passaic River at an event at Riverfront Park in Newark, NJ, on Friday, April 11, 2014. (Frances Micklow | The Star-Ledger)