Senator Concerned Over Rahway Arch Project (USA)

U.S. Senator Charles E. Schumer urged the Army Corps of Engineers and the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to require that the proposed Rahway Arch Project go through a permit review under the Clean Water Act and ultimately reject the project during this process.

New Jersey’s $15 million proposed Rahway Arch soil recycling project involves millions of tons of contaminated soil to create a 29-foot high cap over the former Cyanamid waste site. The project is located within a 100-year flood plain, and the Rahway River feeds into Staten Island’s Arthur Kill waterway.

Section 404 of the Clean Water Act allows EPA and Army Corps to regulate the discharge of dredged and fill material into waters of the United States, including wetlands.

The proposed Rahway Arch project will truck in and disperse millions of tons of chemically-contaminated soil to a location that is a wetland, adjacent to a waterway and within a flood plain. Schumer will urge the Army Corps of Engineers and the EPA to make it abundantly clear that these permits are necessary, and use their regulatory power to reject this project, as it obviously poses serious risks to the environment and public health in Staten Island and New Jersey.

“It simply makes no sense to build a potentially toxic site along a flood plain that shares its waterways with residential communities,” said Schumer. “After Sandy, we’ve made a point of rebuilding smarter and better than before. This project does not meet that standard. It raises major red flags and that’s why we must make sure of two things. First, being that this site is prone to flooding, the Army Corps and EPA should require permits before the Rahway Arch project moves forward. Second, the Army Corps and EPA should carefully review the proposal, which I strongly believe will lead these agencies to reject it. With floodwater runoff, the project poses potential health and safety risks to both Staten Island’s West Shore and adjacent New Jersey communities. I will continue fighting with my partners, Assemblymembers Borelli, Titone and Cusick, against this project until we succeed.”

The Rahway Arch project will establish a chemical waste repository along the Rahway River. As part of the proposed project, 125-acres of swamp land will be covered with the Rahway River millions of tons of petroleum-contaminated soil.

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Press Release, May 5, 2014