Congressman Frank Pallone, Jr. joined U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Regional Administrator Judith Enck yesterday to tour four Superfund Sites in the sixth congressional district and highlight the success of the program.
While at Imperial Oil in Morganville, Pallone and Enck announced the completion of a $50 million contaminated soil cleanup at the site. They also visited the Horseshoe Road and Atlantic Resources sites in Sayreville, and the Chemical Insecticide site in Edison.
Superfund was established in 1980 to address the country’s most hazardous waste sites and protect public health and the environment. New Jersey has the most Superfund toxic sites in the nation and Middlesex County has the most in the state. To ensure adequate funding to cleanup the sites, Pallone introduced the Superfund Polluter Pays Act. The bill would shift the burden of paying for Superfund cleanups from taxpayers to the oil and gas companies that frequently create these sites.
“The completion of cleanup at the Imperial Oil Superfund site reinforces the success of this program, ” said Pallone. “The cleanups are essential to protecting the environment and the health of residents that live and work nearby, and also create good local jobs. In 2011 Superfund cleanups created about 2,300 jobs in New Jersey.”
The completion of the soil cleanup at Imperial Oil enables the redevelopment of the property for new uses. Today the formerly contaminated site features trees, grass, restored wetlands, a pond and a bike path. The soil cleanup at the site was accelerated by $33 million in new funding through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (ARRA).
Pallone and Enck were joined on the tour by Marlboro Township Mayor Jonathan Hornick, Edison Mayor Antonia Ricigliano, Freeholder Lillian Burry, Freeholder James Polos, Assemblyman Patrick Diegnan and other local officials.
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Dredging Today Staff, May 3, 2012;