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PROJECT AT CIBA SUPERFUND SITE TO START IN SPRING, OWNER SAYS
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Published in the Asbury Park Press
By JEAN MIKLE
TOMS RIVER BUREAU
Construction could begin this spring on buildings that will house a bioremediation system to clean up contaminated soil at the former Ciba-Geigy site, with soil removal possible before 2004.
"We would like to start excavating stuff by the end of this year," said David Williams, project manager for Ciba Specialty Chemicals Corp., which now owns the 1,400-acre Superfund property off Route 37 in Dover Township.
Speaking at a public forum held by the federal Environmental Protection Agency yesterday, Williams said buildings that will be used in the cleanup will take six to nine months to construct.
Bioremediation, which uses bacteria existing at a site to consume contaminants, will be the primary method for cleaning up 10 pollution source areas on the Ciba property. About 175,000 cubic yards of soil are to be removed, treated and then returned to the property in a process that should take about six years to complete.
Williams said the bioremediation facility that will be built on the Ciba site will likely be the largest such facility in the country. The primary treatment building will cover about one acre.
Dover Township Committeeman John M. Furey said he welcomes the start of the source area cleanup, as long as it's done with public safety foremost in mind.
"It's exciting to see the process begin," Furey said. "However, I'm concerned that they are responsible enough to listen to what the residents want and the issues they raise."
Also likely to start by early next year will be the digging up of about 35,000 drums of chemical waste, which will be removed from an unlined landfill on the site, according to Romona Pezzella, the EPA's remedial project manager for the Ciba site.
The drums will be opened and sampled to determine their contents, and then will be hauled off-site for treatment and eventual disposal. EPA officials estimate 70 percent of the drums contain hazardous waste.
Removal of the drums is to take 18 months to two years, Pezzella said.
A lined landfill on the property, which now contains about 38,000 drums, will be left there. The estimated $92 million cost of the cleanup will be paid by Ciba Specialty Chemicals.
EPA and Ciba officials yesterday displayed a prototype of a Web site designed to keep residents informed about the cleanup. The Web site, which is to be up and running two to three months before the actual cleanup begins, will be updated at noon each day to include activities from the day before. It will also contain reports from air monitoring stations at the perimeter of the property, as well as reports from monitors closer to the digging.
Bruce Anderson, of the group Toxic Environment Affects Children's Health, or TEACH, said he is concerned that the Web site will not be releasing data immediately as they are received.
Pezzella said the Ciba site will be open for visits by residents during the cleanup, and people such as Anderson would be able to view air-monitoring data as they are received. She said data from the air-monitoring stations will not be placed on the Web site immediately because officials will want the chance to review the data first.
Stefany Gesser, a TEACH member as well as a member of the Citizens Action Committee on Childhood Cancer Cluster, raised concerns about dust from the drum and soil excavation possibly affecting residents of nearby homes. She said she is not convinced that EPA and Ciba officials are taking enough precautions to limit the amount of contaminated dust that could reach those residences.
Pezzella said EPA officials are convinced that the air-monitoring system, along with backup plans to wet down soil or stop excavation on particularly windy days, will ensure that the cleanup poses no danger to residents.
The Army Corps of Engineers will also be overseeing the cleanup, along with EPA officials, she said.
Published in the Asbury Park Press 3/25/03
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