Industrial EPA Action: Two New Jersey superfund sites ready to come off list

July 19, 2007
Successful cleanups were completed at two New Jersey Superfund sites, and now they are ready to be removed from the National Priorities List (NPL), the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) recently announced. The Agency finished cleanup work and follow-up monitoring at both the Grand Street Mercury site located in Hoboken, in Hudson County and the Mannheim Avenue Dump site located in Galloway Township, Atlantic County and now it is proposing to take both sites off its federal NPL...

NEW YORK, NY, July 18, 2007 -- Successful cleanups were completed at two New Jersey Superfund sites, and now they are ready to be removed from the National Priorities List (NPL), the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) recently announced. The Agency finished cleanup work and follow-up monitoring at both the Grand Street Mercury site located in Hoboken, in Hudson County and the Mannheim Avenue Dump site located in Galloway Township, Atlantic County and now it is proposing to take both sites off its federal NPL. The sites were placed on the NPL in September 1997 and September 1983, respectively. EPA is taking comments on its proposals to remove the sites from Superfund. Once they are taken off the list, the sites will remain eligible for cleanup in the very unlikely event that changes in the conditions of the properties warrant such action.

"The fact that we can take two more New Jersey sites off the NPL shows that Superfund is a program that is working in New Jersey," said EPA Regional Administrator Alan J. Steinberg. "In both cases, these sites that were once sources of concern for the surrounding communities are no longer a problem and we think it's time to take them off the list."

The Grand Street Mercury site was comprised of two buildings and a parking area. The property had been used for manufacturing mercury vapor lamps. In the early to mid 1990's, one of the buildings was converted into fifteen residential and studio spaces. In 1995, extensive mercury contamination was discovered in this building and on the property in general. The buildings as well as the soil and air were contaminated with mercury vapors and EPA had the occupants permanently re-located to protect their health. The EPA purchased the land during the cleanup process. After re-locating the residents, the buildings were demolished and the contaminated soil was excavated and removed. The cleanup process was completed in 2005 and EPA and the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection (NJDEP) determined that the site no longer poses a threat to the public or the environment.

In spring 2007, EPA sold the Grand Street Mercury site, and in doing so, recovered over $5 million spent in the cleanup process in addition to the approximately $7 million already recovered from General Electric, which had owned the mercury lamp factory.

The 2-acre Mannheim Avenue Dump site was a landfill where approximately 300 drums of degreasing sludge from Lenox China were disposed of in a pit during the 1960s and, possibly, into the early 1970s. Along with the degreasing sludge, leaded waste, plaster molds, and china and clay forms were mixed into the waste piles. EPA negotiated the removal of approximately 25,000 pounds of degreasing sludge which had contaminated the ground water with trichloroethylene (TCE). This water is an aquifer that provides drinking water to the local community. A groundwater treatment system was installed in 1994 to pump out, treat and remove the contamination from the ground water. EPA and the State of New Jersey oversaw the installation of groundwater monitoring wells which were used to test and monitor the quality of the groundwater. In 2004 EPA concluded that the water treatment system had effectively protected the people who drink water from the aquifer. Subsequent groundwater monitoring has confirmed that the water continues to meet drinking water standards for TCE.

The public comment period on EPA's proposal to delete the Grand Street Mercury site will close on July 30, 2007.
For more information about the Grand Street Mercury site, please visit: http://www.epa.gov/region02/superfund/npl/0204030c.htm.

To submit your comments, please email Farnaz Saghafi, the Remedial Project Manager of the Grand Street Mercury site, at [email protected].


The public comment period on EPA's proposal to delete the Mannheim Avenue Dump site from the NPL will close on July 30, 2007.
For more information about the Mannheim Avenue Dump site, please visit: http://www.epa.gov/region02/superfund/npl/0200773c.htm.

To submit your comments, please email Nigel Robinson, the Remedial Project Manager of the Mannheim Avenue Dump site, at [email protected].

Among other recent EPA Action involving industrial facilities:

"EPA orders Raytheon, Air Force to clean up contaminated groundwater at Tucson Airport Superfund Site"

"EPA Reaches Agreement with GE to Reduce Exposure to PCBs in Upper Hudson Floodplain"

"EPA extends public comment period on Beeland Group's proposed disposal well"

"EPA, DOJ announce revised deadlines for Pflueger property restoration work"

"Leading Innovators in Pollution Prevention Receive Awards"

"N.H. Facility Faces Fines for Oil and Waste Violations"

"EPA Weighs Six Options to Accelerate the Cleanup of Pollution in the Lower Passaic River"

"EPA Enforcement Action to Protect Creek in Columbia, Mo."

"California Refinery Fined $1 Million for Breaking Drinking Water Laws"

"Alton, N.H. Oil Storage Facility Faces EPA Fine for Failing to Comply with Oil Spill Prevention Requirements"

"Grain Valley, Mo., Home Builder Guilty of Giving EPA a False Document"

"EPA takes major step forward on cleaning up abandoned mines"

"Dredging of St. Marys River/Tannery Bay to resume"

"Baldwin Contracting Company Inc. agrees to restore damaged wetlands"

"EPA Orders Buffalo Developer to Stop Destruction and Restore Wetlands"

"Holden, Mass. Construction Company Fined for Storm Water Permit Violations"

"EPA Offers An $8 Million Grant to Provide Environmental Assistance For Livestock Operators"

"Great Lakes Binational Toxics Strategy 10th Anniversary Report released"

"Kinder Morgan, SFPP agree to pay nearly $5.3 million to resolve federal and state environmental violations: Settlement addresses Suisun, Alameda, Donner Lake spills"

"Company Fined for Failing to Comply with Oil Spill Prevention Requirements at 7 N.H. and Maine Facilities"

"EPA and Idaho Produce Company Settle Waste Water Case"

"University of Georgia Receives EPA Grant to Study Pollution from Hormones in Chicken Waste"

"Lawrence, Kan., Distribution Center Among Those Costing Kmart $102,400 in Environmental Penalties, But Self Reporting Reduces Fine"

"EPA and Utilities to Promote Water Performance Measures for Utilities"

"National Retailer Voluntarily Discloses Environmental Violations, Pays Lesser Penalty"

"Seventy-Three Companies Sign On With EPA To Complete Comprehensive Study of Passaic River"

"New Hampshire Oil Storage Facility Faces EPA Fine for Lack of Oil Spill Prevention Plan"

"EPA Proposes Extensions of Animal Feeding Operation Water Deadlines"

"EPA Approves Deep Well Disposal of Hazardous Waste at Occidental Chemical Corporation Facility in Wichita, Kan."

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