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Order amid Chaos

November 2000

Why the concern about Cell 1 on the Ciba Geigy Superfund Site in Toms River, NJ

Our first phone calls to the NJ Department of Environmental Protection, Office of Permitting and Technical Programs, left more questions than answers. The personnel issuing this permit had very limited knowledge on the renewal of the Ciba Geigy landfill permit and had to refer to their engineers. Questions to the engineers as to what material was being disposed of in the Ciba landfill, had to refer to Ciba officials for their quarterly report. One has to wonder if the people renewing this permit have researched it at all!

Some concerns that still need to be addressed are;
  • Why was the landfill permit allowed to expire over two years ago?
  • Why was the public not informed that 38,000 drums of highly toxic material was buried in Cell 1, when we have asked how many drums are on the Ciba Site?
  • In the early 1990's the NJ DEP requested that Cell 1 be made part of the cleanup of the Ciba Geigy Site. Now the position is that the drums can stay in Cell 1, why?
  • Requests for a public hearing on this permit go un-answered, why?
  • Cell 1, the primary liner was potentially damaged in 1987 when the NJ DEP allowed waste treatment sludge to be stored on top of Cell 1. How long can this liner protect the public in this degraded condition?
  • Who is going to take responsibility for the cleanup of Cell 1, now that the EPA has signed a Record of Decision for the Ciba Geigy site remediation?

    The next time you think a government agency is here to protect you, think again! It appears that the only function of different government agencies is to enforce those laws it deems that were violated repeatedly. Looking at the history of pollution, polluters have impacted the environment and only received a relatively small fine or a slap on the wrist, compared to the damage done to the environment or the public.
    How important is a home water filter?
    You decide!

    Home water filter
    New filter cartridge on left, right a cartridge that was in service for approximately two months


    Pictured above is a prefilter on a home water filter system. This filter system consists of prefilter, carbon filter and a post filter before a reverse osmosis filtration. As seen from the picture, the prefilter filters a large part of the larger particles found in your public drinking water. This filter is filtering Toms River, NJ public drinking water.


    We welcome the freshman class of Wagner College of Staten Island New York who are studying the environmental impacts in Toms River, NJ

    Once again a freshman class from Wagner College from Staten Island, New York is studying the environmental impacts and the cancer cluster here in Toms River, NJ. They have attended the Citizen Action Committee on Childhood Cancer Cluster meeting, attended an overview presentation at Ocean County College on environmental factors and the cancer cluster, and interviewed officials, and citizens.

  • Related link to last years study of Toms River, by Wagner College.
  • The previous cover page can be found under "RESOURCES", Previous Month's Cover Pages.
  • The next public meeting on the Citizen Action Committee on Childhood Cancer Cluster is Monday, November 13, 2000 at 7:00 pm
    For further details look under "Meeting/Events" or click on this link.


    9:32 AM 10/28/2000