Published in the Ocean County Observer
By MARY DEMPSEY
Staff Writer
TOMS RIVER -- An agreement between the township and Union Carbide involving the closed municipal landfill has come under fire by local Democrats.
John F. Russo Jr. and John Furey, both Democratic committeeman, abstained from a vote last night that would extend an agreement between the township and Union Carbide, preventing the municipality from suing Union Carbide, a subsidiary of Dow Chemicals, for contaminating the landfill in the 1970s.
The measure was approved by a 3-0 vote with Russo and Furey abstaining. During the vote, both Russo and Furey said they were not provided with enough information to make an informed vote.
"I and John Furey don't know what's going on," Russo said.
The matter was brought to Russo and Furey's attention three weeks ago, Furey said.
"Three weeks ago is not enough time to deal with an issue of this magnitude," Russo said. "I cannot imagine a more serious situation that could affect the health and overall property values in the area."
The information regarding the former landfill is located at the township's environmental attorney's office across the state, not in the township, Russo said.
"This is the type of documents that should be kept in Town Hall," he said.
The state Department of Environmental Protection determined that groundwater at the former landfill, located at Church Road and North Bay Avenue, was contaminated, Russo said.
"In the early '70s, the same private hauler, Wayne Fornicola, that dumped Union Carbide drums of chemicals at Reich Farm also dumped drums from Union Carbide at the municipal landfill," Russo said. "It also appears that the hauler paid an unnamed township official to dump the toxic waste drums in the landfill."
Although the township prepared a complaint against Union Carbide in 1996 and filed it in court, Russo said, the municipality never served the chemical company and decided to work with Union Carbide to initiate a study of the landfill.
"At that time, it was the appropriate thing to do," Russo said.
In November 2000, a second sampling of monitoring wells surrounding the former Dover Township Municipal Landfill revealed groundwater had been affected by at least one carcinogen.
A remedial investigation report issued at the time by Dan Raviv Associates Inc. concluded the groundwater immediately surrounding the landfill had been impacted by chlorobenzene, a chemical believed to cause cancer in humans.
Published on March 1, 2001
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