The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency recently announced a proposed cleanup to remove 4.3 million cubic yards of highly contaminated sediment from the lower eight miles of the Passaic River in New Jersey.
The sediment in the Passaic River is severely contaminated with dioxin, polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), heavy metals, pesticides and other contaminants from more than a century of industrial activity. The lower eight miles of the Passaic is the most heavily contaminated section of the river. Ninety percent of the volume of contaminated sediment in the lower Passaic are in the lower eight miles of the river.
The EPA is proposing bank-to-bank dredging, one of the largest volumes ever to be dredged under the EPA’s Superfund program, followed by capping of the river bottom. The agency is extending the public comment period, which was originally set to end on June 20 to a new deadline for public comments of August 20, 2014.
This extension is being made at the request of several parties. The EPA held its first and second public meetings in Newark on May 7 and Kearny on May 21 to explain the proposal.
The third public meeting will be held in Belleville, NJ, on June 23, 2014, at 2:00 p.m. in Belleville Senior Citizens Recreation Center.
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Press Release, May 29, 2014