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Waterkeepers
Reach "Stand-still" Agreement Over Standard Chlorine Site Stage is set for complete cleanup of contaminated area By Hugh M. Carola
For decades, the Hackensack River has been polluted by the toxic brew that oozes from the site; in fact it is one of the main reasons for the strong Fish Advisories on the river. We and our colleagues at NY/NJ Baykeeper and the Rutgers Environmental Law Clinic decided to bring legal action when it came to light that despite a seventeen-year old Administrative Consent Order, a legal document requiring the Standard Chlorine Chemical Company to clean up the site, the River was still being polluted. We figured their time was up so in May 2006, we sent them a 90-Day Notice of Intent to sue under the federal Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA) for maintaining an unpermitted waste dump and for polluting the Hackensack River. About eighty-five days later, they gave in. In August, we reached an agreement with the Peninsula Restoration Group (PRG), the group formed in 2003 by the three companies who own the site (Standard Chlorine Chemical Co. along with Tierra Solutions, Inc. and Beazer East, Inc.). Discussions between our attorneys and theirs prompted by the Notice resulted in PRG's proposing an interim remedy that will address some of the many environmental issues at the site, including the ongoing direct discharges to the Hackensack River. Following a review process by the NJ Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) that will be monitored by our legal counsel, the PRG will begin work on the first phase of what will be a complete cleanup of the site to residential standards. "In return for the Stand-still period, the responsible parties will provide us with the resources to hire an expert to help us advocate for the best and most environmentally appropriate solution," said Captain Bill. "Dr. Martin Luther King once said that 'Justice delayed is justice denied'; it's high time that justice is done here on the banks of our river in Kearny." Basically, the Stand-still agreement that was reached temporarily suspends litigation in return for our participation in the decision making process with the DEP. The agreement is designed to allow all parties to work together, to implement elements of an interim remedy on which we agree, to resolve our differences on some elements and to hasten the long-delayed cleanup of the site. "We've agreed not to sue for a period of time to give the responsible parties a chance to fashion a fully protective remedy, provided that they meet all DEP-approved deadlines" said Baykeeper Andrew Willner. "We look forward to working with the companies and the DEP to finally make some progress at the site after so many years of delay." Once the cleanup is completed, one possible re-use of the property that's being discussed is to develop a switching yard for New Jersey Transit passenger trains using the nearby and heavily-traveled Northeast Corridor Line. Regardless of how current situations or future plans play out, one thing that will not change is our commitment to the site's complete cleanup. "We retain the right to sue at the end of the agreed upon time period if the promised cleanup does not happen, or is not adequately protective," said Richard Webster, a staff attorney at the Clinic and our lead attorney in the case. |
Whenever Captain Bill and I conduct Eco-Cruises on the
southern reaches of the Hackensack River, one of the places we always visit is
the blighted waterfront known as the Standard Chlorine site. Located on the
river in Kearny just south of the Amtrak Portal Bridge, the site is
contaminated with a mix of toxic chemicals including dioxin, dichlorobenzene,
and chromium waste. Of those chemicals, the chromium is the most noxious as it
includes hexavalent chromium - an extremely dangerous human carcinogen.