Published in the Asbury Park Press
By JEAN MIKLE
TOMS RIVER BUREAU
TOMS RIVER -- A lined landfill at the former Ciba-Geigy Corp. Superfund site is likely leaking and could pose a threat to the community if more than 30,000 drums of material buried there are not removed, according to a lawsuit filed by Dover Township yesterday against Ciba.
The lawsuit, filed in state Superior Court, contends that the state Department of Environmental Protection's own documents suggest Ciba violated the terms of its state landfill permit by dumping hazardous chemical wastes in the lined landfill in the 1970s, even though the permit allowed only nonhazardous, nonindustrial wastes.
Hazardous chemicals including toluene have been found in leachate collected at the lined landfill, Dover officials assert. It is not considered an immediate health hazard.
The landfill is regulated by the DEP, which has issued permits for its continued use. Earlier this year, the Township Committee asked the state to close down the landfill and called on state and federal officials to require that the drums of waste be removed as part of an ongoing cleanup at the Ciba site.
Mayor John F. Russo Jr. said yesterday that state officials never responded to the township's request.
Dover's claims that the landfill is likely leaking are contained in a lawsuit that also asks the court to force Ciba to pay for diminished property values at nearby Winding River Park, which is owned by the township. Committee members claim that a plume of groundwater pollution emanating from the Ciba site has lowered property values at Winding River and limited the activities offered there.
Ciba hasn't seen suit
Ciba Specialty Chemicals spokeswoman Donna Jakubowski said company officials have not yet seen Dover's suit.
"We really can't respond without seeing the paperwork," Jakubowski said. "We'll just have to take a look at it, and we'll address it when we see it."
She said Ciba officials remain focused on cleanup operations at the 1,350-acre Ciba site, off Route 37 West and Oak Ridge Parkway. Bioremediation, or using existing bacteria on the site to consume chemicals, is the main cleanup method planned on the property.
Ciba is expected to spend about $92 million to clean up 10 polluted areas of the site. Construction of buildings to house the cleanup operations is expected to begin within the next month.
Dover's suit was filed days after DEP Commissioner Bradley M. Campbell said the state wants Ciba Specialty Chemicals Corp., which now owns the Ciba property, to pay for damage to ground water caused by the company's dye-making operations. Campbell indicated the state may be willing to accept some of the uncontaminated land on the massive Ciba site as compensation for groundwater pollution caused by the company.
But Russo said state officials actually have been aiding Ciba Specialty Chemicals by continuing to issue permits allowing the lined landfill to remain on the company's property.
He said that he believes Campbell and Gov. McGreevey will withdraw Ciba's landfill permit when they realize it may be leaking hazardous chemicals.
73,000 drums on site
"Dover Township's filing of this lawsuit will guarantee that all the drums are removed from the Ciba property and removed now," Russo said yesterday. He said state officials "are going to have a hard time proving that they are concerned about ground water when it is the state that has allowed this landfill to remain open."
DEP officials could not be reached for comment yesterday.
Environmental activists have complained for more than a year that the cleanup, being supervised by the federal Environmental Protection Agency, will not remove all drums of waste from the property.
About 35,000 drums -- many containing hazardous chemical waste -- will be removed from an unlined landfill on the property, opened so their contents can be tested, and then shipped off-site for treatment and disposal. But about 38,000 drums in the lined landfill will be left on site, federal officials have said.
Activists have said they believe leaving that many drums on site may lead to future pollution and health problems.
Published in the Asbury Park Press 10/07/03
|
