| Natural Resources Defense Council New York / New Jersey Baykeeper Hackensack Riverkeeper Rutgers University Environmental Law Clinic November 20, 2003 FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASEContact: Jennifer Danis, NRDC, 212-727-4417; Kidd Dorn, NRDC, 212-727-4408 Groups Will Sue Over Worst Dioxin Dump in the Nation
NRDC, NY/NJ Baykeeper, and Hackensack Riverkeeper demand that the companies pay for an independent environmental study and clean-up of Newark Bay. This resource, once home to abundant, healthy fish and crabs, is now contaminated from more than 40 years of runoff and dumping from Occidental’s predecessor’s production of Agent Orange. NRDC (Natural Resources Defense Council) and the Rutgers Law School’s Environmental Law Clinic represent the environmental organizations. The New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) has calculated that cancer risk levels for people eating blue crabs from Newark Bay could be as much as a million times what government agencies typically consider an acceptable level for an environmental contaminant. The U.S. EPA believes that concentrations of dioxin recorded in Passaic River and Newark Bay blue crabs may be the highest ever discovered in aquatic animals – the internal organs of one crab contained six times the level of 2,3,7,8-TCDD levels known to kill guinea pigs in lab tests. New Jersey has gone so far as to make it illegal to take these crabs from Newark Bay. New Jersey’s DEP also reported that crabbers do not understand or are not taking the health warnings posted on signs seriously, and are continuing to eat these contaminated animals for economic and cultural reasons. “Unfortunately, these toxic crabs look fine,” said Captain Bill Sheehan, Hackensack Riverkeeper. Captain Sheehan continued, “Their appearance doesn’t reflect the real danger from eating them.” “People are eating crabs and fish contaminated with this toxic chemical,” said NY/NJ Baykeeper Andrew Willner. “Despite the ban, you regularly find people fishing off bulkheads and harvesting crabs from Newark Bay. These fishermen take poisoned crabs home and feed them to their families.” The Newark facility that Occidental is responsible for discharged 2,3,7,8-TCDD, the most toxic form of dioxin, into the lower Passaic River. Much of the toxin, over time, flowed downstream poisoning Newark Bay. This toxic chemical has penetrated the food web and can be found in fish beyond Newark Bay. Government monitoring data indicate that fish, crabs, lobster and other marine life in the region, particularly in the waters immediately around the Bay, such as adjacent to Bayonne and Staten Island, are contaminated with unusually high amounts of 2,3,7,8-TCDD. The groups will sue under the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act, the federal statute that empowers citizens to ask the courts to stop imminent and substantial endangerments to human health and the environment. “It’s time to penalize the polluter, not punish the people who are simply trying to fish and otherwise use a public resource,” said Jennifer Danis, NRDC staff attorney. Today, the groups gave Occidental the required 90 days of notice of their intent to go forward with litigation to protect public health and the environment. “The toxic legacy of the Lister Avenue chemical plant endures in our coastal waters and in the animals that call these waters home,” said NY/NJ Baykeeper Andrew Willner. Although government agencies have recently announced initiatives to study contamination on the Passaic River, neither of these efforts will address Newark Bay or other nearby contaminated waters. Mr. Willner continued, “this lawsuit is being filed on behalf of local residents whose waterways have been poisoned by large corporations that took decades worth of profits and then moved on.” To obtain a copy of the “Notice of Intent to Sue,” please contact Kidd Dorn at NRDC. THE NATURAL RESOURCE DEFENSE COUNCIL is a national, non-profit organization of scientists, lawyers and environmental specialists dedicated to protecting public health and the environment. Founded in 1970, NRDC has more than 550,000 members nationwide, served from offices in New York, Washington, Los Angeles and San Francisco. More information is available through NRDC’s Web site at www.NRDC.org. NY/NJ BAYKEEPER is a subsidiary of the American Littoral Society. Baykeeper’s mission is to protect, preserve and restore the ecological integrity and productivity of the Hudson / Raritan Estuary, its tributaries and watershed. As the citizen conservation advocate for the Estuary's waterways and shores, Baykeeper stops polluters, champions public access, and influences land use decisions. Baykeeper pursues opportunities for land preservation and habitat restoration and helps advance the Estuary's environmental and biological importance as well as its value as a recreational and cultural resource. www.NYNJBaykeeper.org HACKENSACK RIVERKEEPER, INC. is the leading environmental organization working on Hackensack River issues and serves as the citizen-steward of Hackensack River watershed. Its primary mission is to represent the watershed’s natural and living resources through its environmental advocacy, education and conservation programs. Hackensack Riverkeeper also serves as the administrator of the DEP’s Blue Claw Crab Advisory Project, which engages community groups throughout the Newark Bay Complex to educate people about the dangers of consuming crabs from those waters. www.HackensackRiverkeeper.org THE RUTGERS UNIVERSITY ENVIRONMENTAL LAW CLINIC has defended and defined environmental rights in New Jersey since 1985. Through its representation of environmental and citizens groups that seek redress under environmental laws, the Clinic challenges governmental actions that threaten the environment. http://law.newark.rutgers.edu/clinics_environment.html |