Published in the Ocean County Observer
It's reassuring to see that state officials believe the toxic soup of chemicals at the Ciba Superfund site in Toms River no longer is a health hazard.
It's devastating to see them confirm it once was.
But that's old news to the citizen activists who fought desperately to close the Ciba-Geigy ocean outfall line that pumped carcinogenic and mutagenic waste into the Atlantic Ocean off Ortley Beach for years.
Most Dover Township residents knew nothing about the pipeline until it burst at Bay Avenue, inciting a grass-roots effort to shut it down.
Unfortunately, the people who wanted the chemical dumping stopped found no allies in local or county government.
Ciba-Geigy and the high-paying jobs the chemical company provided were important to the local economy and to local and county officials.
Few in government dared to criticize the firm for its assault on Ocean County's environment. In fact, they had Greenpeace members who came to cap the pipeline in protest arrested.
One lawmaker, then-Sen. John F. Russo, a Democrat from Toms River, had the guts to tell the truth. He told the state Legislature he was unsure if the pipeline was a health hazard, but that his constituents thought it was was enough for him to favor its closure.
Activists finally forced the shutdown, Ciba officials were indicted for environmental crimes and gained entry into the pretrial intervention program, and the cleanup at the Superfund site began. It continues amid controversy over a thermal desorption plan, and state health officials say monitoring must continue at contaminated areas.
We hope government listens the next time citizens speak.
Published: March 1, 2000
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