Published in the Asbury Park Press
By JEAN MIKLE
TOMS RIVER BUREAU
DOVER TOWNSHIP -- A draft feasibility study of possible cleanup options for the former Ciba-Geigy Corp. Superfund site should be completed by Aug. 31, according to the federal Environmental Protection Agency.
EPA officials said Thursday the study will detail the cleanup methods that experts from Ciba Specialty Chemicals Corp. say should be used to clean up 15 to 20 contaminated sites on the company's property, located along Route 37. The study will also address clean-up of about 35,000 waste-filled drums that are buried on the property.
Romona Pezzella, the EPA's remedial project manager for the site, said the feasibility study is being prepared with the agency's oversight. After it is completed, the federal agency will hold public comment sessions to get input on the proposed cleanup plan.
The EPA will then issue a draft remedial action plan, which will detail the preferred cleanup methods, and more public comment will be accepted before the plan is finalized with a record of decision.
Among the methods being considered to clean up source areas are thermal desorption, which involves heating contaminated soils to vaporize pollutants; bioremediation, in which bacteria is used to break down pollutants, and trucking some of the material to an incinerator in another state.
Pezzella has said four or five different techniques are likely to be used to clean up Ciba's source areas.
On Aug. 18, the EPA will hold a meeting to discuss cleanup goals for the site and how those goals were determined. Also at that session, cleanup techniques that were considered but have been rejected will also be discussed.
The meeting will be held at 7 p.m. at the Dover Township Municipal Building, 33 Washington St., Toms River.
A videotape of the June 17 public meeting, which focused on taking contaminated soils out-of-state for incineration, is available for review at the main branch of the Ocean County Library, 101 Washington St., Toms River. Updated documents related to the Ciba site are also available for review at the library in the administrative record file.
Source: Asbury Park Press
Published: August 7, 1999
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