Frelinghuysen Superfund Reality Tour: Where’s Rodney in Pompton Lakes and Byram?
Local citizens and environment groups will come together on Tuesday to highlight Congressman Frelinghuysen’s failure to fund the Superfund program and address toxic sites in his district.
The groups will discuss the desperate need for Congress to increase rather than decrease funding for the Environmental Protection Agency and its Superfund program, which are both under threat by a 30 percent cut in President Trump’s budget. Ahead of the Congressman’s annual tour of Superfund sites in his district, citizens will focus on the need for a thorough cleanup at the former DuPont munitions facility in Pompton Lakes and at the Mansfield Bike Trail Superfund site in Byram.
The Mansfield Bike Trail is an orphan site that relies on Superfund funding because there is no responsible polluter. The cleanup plan at the Byram site is currently being finalized, but may not move forward if funding isn’t secured. The Pompton Lakes site has not been designated a Superfund site, but it poses a serious enough danger to public health that it should be; the Congressman could use his influence to get the site placed on the Superfund list.
Every year, Congressman Frelinghuysen tours Superfund sites and talks about his concern for the environment and public health. However, in reality he voted against the Superfund tax on the chemical and fossil fuels industries that funded the program until the mid-1990s and is so far going along with the current administration’s efforts to roll back EPA funding in general.
Pompton Lakes Toxic Site Press Conference
WHEN: Tuesday, September 12th at 11:00 AM
WHERE: 333 Terhune Dr, Wayne, NJ 07470 at Terhune Memorial Park
WHO: Citizens For A Clean Pompton Lakes, New Jersey Sierra Club, BlueWave NJ, Environment New Jersey, NJ 11th For Change, Clean Water Action, and other organizations
The Terhune Park is located in close proximity to the dredging currently taking place at Pompton Lakes where pictures and videos can be taken.
The former DuPont munitions facility in Pompton Lakes and Wanaque contaminated the area with mercury and other pollution. The DuPont facility, operated from 1902 until 1994, made blasting caps, metal wires, and aluminum and copper ammunition shells the United States used in the two World Wars and other military conflicts. Areas surrounding the Acid Brook Delta have experienced a toxic plume that has impacted more than 450 homes. The mercury from this site has already impacted public health for nearby communities. This contamination also puts fisheries and the the water supply for one million people at risk. The EPA previously approved a $43 million to remove more than 130,000 cubic yards of contaminated sediment, but we are concerned without funding there will be no money to conduct this work or remove the additional hot spots in the ground.
Byram Mansfield Trail Superfund Site Tour & Press Conference
WHEN: Tuesday, September 12, 1:30 p.m.
WHERE: 19 Stanhope Sparta Rd, Stanhope, NJ 07874. Trail entrance can be accessed immediately after passing Lenape Valley Regional High School (traveling north) on the first left (as well as the second left which provides access to the trailhead via a small bridge). Parking is available at the trailhead, along the bridge, and the access road.
WHO: Scott Olson, Byram Councilman & Superfund CAG Member, Environment New Jersey, New Jersey Sierra Club, BlueWaveNJ, NJ 11th For Change, Clean Water Action
Event will begin with a tour of the site, along the access trail, which has visuals of the old tranches used for the dumping, current EPA test wells, as well as a EPA trailer. The tour will proceed for a quarter mile through the woods until the main tranch along an open power-line corridor where the pollution then migrated into local groundwater.
Mansfield Trail Dump: The site, which is considered orphaned under the Superfund program, consisted of several waste-disposal trenches in a wooded area near the Mansfield Bike Path that were used for local dumping. The contaminants of concern are TCE and other VOCs. TCE has migrated from the dump area to residential drinking water wells, indoor air, and sub-slab soil gas. In 2005, government sampling of 75 private wells along Brookwood and Ross Roads in Byram Township found that 18 of the residential drinking water wells were contaminated. Site status: EPA’s waste source and residential well sampling confirmed the presence of TCE in on-site sludge and the residential wells. EPA is currently conducting a remedial investigation and feasibility study (RI/FS) to define the nature and extent of contamination. The Record of Decision for the site is supposed to be released by the EPA this month.
Contact Jeff Tittel, Director of the New Jersey Sierra Club, 609-558-9100
Lisa J. Riggiola, Executive Director Citizens For A Clean Pompton Lakes, 973-979-4392
John H. Reichman, Co-Chair of BlueWaveNJ’s Environment Committee (917) 626-8025
Elizabeth Juviler, NJ 11th For Change,(917) 576-6220
Doug O’Malley, Director, Environment New Jersey, (917) 449-6812
David Pringle, NJ Campaign Director, Clean Water Action, (732) 996-4288