Final Nail Driven Into Honeywell Site’s Coffin

Supreme Court Refuses To Hear Last-Ditch Appeal; Full Cleanup Now Underway

 

By Hugh M. Carola

 

On July 6, the United States Supreme Court handed Honeywell International a final defeat. The corporation’s attempt to evade responsibility for cleaning up its 34 acres of chromium-contaminated riverfront and riverbed in Jersey City was thwarted when the Court denied Honeywell’s petition for a writ of certiorari. That means that the justices of the Supreme Court decided to not hear the company’s appeal. In so doing, they upheld last February’s ruling by the Third Circuit Court of Appeals and the original 2003 District Court ruling that ordered Honeywell to begin the cleanup.

“This is the ultimate victory,” said Captain Bill Sheehan, executive director of Hackensack Riverkeeper, who along with the Jersey City Interfaith Council brought the 2003 suit. “I knew from the beginning that we were on the side of the angels and now the highest judicial authority in America has confirmed it.”

The Supreme Court’s denial means that Honeywell has no more options available to them. The 2003 ruling and its cleanup order will now remain in effect until the former Route 440 Drive-In site and adjacent riverbed are completely remediated and chromium-free. In compliance with the order, on July 14, a 37-foot survey vessel under contract to Honeywell began taking test borings of the riverbed to determine the exact extent of the contamination that the company must remove. It’s expected that the cleanup will be completed sometime in 2009.

(For the full story on Honeywell, check out the Spring 2003 and Winter 2005 issues of Hackensack Tidelines - available online at www.HackensackRiverkeeper.org.)