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8 years, $92M for Ciba cleanup
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Published in the Asbury Park Press
By LYNN DUCEY
TOMS RIVER BUREAU
TOMS RIVER -- Federal environmental officials last night presented a $92 million cleanup plan to treat contaminated soil and remove about 35,000 drums of material from the former Ciba-Geigy Corp. Superfund site.
Several of the 50 or so people who attended the public meeting at Dover Township's municipal hall voiced approval for the plan put forth by the Environmental Protection Agency.
"I'm very pleased with this decision. I think the EPA really listened to the public," said Marianne Borthwick, a Manchester resident and member of the Pine Lake Park Association for a Better Community.
Her housing development lies along the northern boundary of the 1,350-acre Ciba site, which is off Route 37.
Area residents can attend a second public meeting on the proposal at 7 p.m. July 12 at the Dover Township municipal hall or can submit written comments to the EPA by Aug. 1.
People also can ask EPA scientists and officials questions at a session to be held from 2 to 4 p.m. or 6 to 8 p.m. June 22 at the Quality Inn on Route 37.
The proposal recommended by the EPA calls for excavating about 145,000 cubic yards of soil from several areas and treating it inside a building to be constructed on the site, said Romona Pezzella, EPA project manager.
The treatment process, called bioremediation, would stimulate existing microbes and bacteria within the soil to feed on the contaminants and speed up their decomposition, she said.
The proposal also calls for excavating an estimated 35,000 drums of material buried in a series of underground areas, opening them to reveal their contents, combining similar materials -- such as chemical compounds -- and removing contaminants to an undetermined locale off site, Pezzella said.
If the proposal is approved, engineers have to draw detailed plans to treat the soil and remove the drums, which typically takes about two years, Pezzella said. It will take eight more years, at an estimated cost of $92 million, for the actual work and cleanup, Pezzella said.
It's unclear when approval might be issued, EPA officials said.
"It's a work in progress; it's difficult to set a timetable," said Natalie Lony, EPA spokeswoman.
Ciba officials said they support the plan.
"We're very confident with the (bioremediation) technology. We feel that it's very sound. We're also pleased that the community has been involved in the selection process and has expressed comfort with this technology," said Donna M. Jakubowski, Ciba spokeswoman.
The facility opened in 1952 as Toms River Chemical Co.; the company later was merged into Ciba-Geigy Corp., and the property now is owned by Ciba Specialty Chemical Co. The company, which at one time employed 1,400 people, made pigments, dyes, epoxies and other compounds before closing in 1996.
Last night's presentation follows a series of public information sessions held late last year and earlier this year to discuss seven alternatives to clean up 21 spots on the Toms River site that are potential sources of a plume of groundwater pollution that has migrated off Ciba's property.
The two cleanup procedures would remove about 90 percent of the chemical pollutants in the soil and protect underground water from future contamination, Pezzella said. A major goal of the EPA cleanup is to remove chemicals that contribute to the pollution plume, Pezzella said.
A system now on the site extracts 2.8 million gallons of polluted water daily, cleans it to remove contaminants and discharges it back onto Ciba's property.
The soil and drum cleanup proposal is expected to reduce the time that the filtration system is in operation, cutting it down from 100 years to 30 years, Pezzella said. The soil treatment process would include adding straw or other "bulking" agents to the soil, mixing it to increase the contact between the microbes and the soil, and forcing oxygen into the soil, Pezzella said.
The treatment building would have a temperature and moisture-controlled environment to treat freshly excavated soil, Pezzella said. A special filtration system would treat the indoor air before being vented to the outdoors, Pezzella said.
When the contaminants inside the soil have been decreased to a certain safe level, the soil would then be moved to an specialized outdoor area where similar mixing procedures would be taken, Pezzella said.
Published on June 16, 2000
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