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Long-awaited day in Ciba cleanup
START OF SITE WORK IS PRAISED, BUT 38,000 DRUMS WILL REMAIN
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Published in the Ocean County Observer
By Jean Mikle
Toms River Bureau
DOVER TOWNSHIP--- More than two decades after the Ciba- Geigy Corp. site was placed on the federal Superfund list, federal, state and local officials and environmental activists gathered at the former chemical plant yesterday to mark the start of the cleanup.
“I think today we take another huge step by beginning the second phase of the cleanup of Ciba- Giegy,” said William J. Muszynski, deputy regional administrator for the federal Environmental Protection Agency’s Region 2.
Activists who have long fought for the cleanup of the Ciba property were mostly upbeat yesterday, although several said they are concerned that the remediation plan will leave 38,000 drums of waste remaining in a lined landfill on the property,
“I would still love to see those 38,000 drums removed,” said Bruce Anderson, a township resident who is a member of the group Toxic Environment Affects Children’s Health, or TEACH.
The Township Committee, the Citizen’s Action Committee on Childhood Cancer Cluster and other activists have asked that the EPA and state Department of Environmental Protection consider requiring the removal of those drums at the same time contractors are removing 35,000 drums from an unlined landfill on the property.
A groundwater treatment system, which pumps up about 2.7 million gallons of contaminated water daily, treats it to remove pollutants and then recharges it onto Ciba’s property, began operating in 1996.
Bioremediation, which will use bacteria on the Ciba property to break down and consume contaminants in soil, will be the main cleanup method at the Ciba site. A building expected to be about one acre in size is to be constructed shortly to house the main bioremediation area.
Four buildings will be constructed for use in the cleanup, and a fifth building will be renovated. Grading and clearing have started at the site, according to David Williams, Ciba’s technical director.
Soil excavation could begin by January if the weather cooperates, he said. Roughly 200,000 cubic yards of contaminated soil will be excavated, treated to remove pollutants using bioremediation, and returned to the site.
About 35,000 drums of chemical waste from Ciba’s dye and resin-making operations will be excavated, opened to check their contents, and then shipped for treatment and disposal. Drum removal is to begin next year and be completed within two years.
Bioremediation is to last four to six years.
Ciba will pay the entire cost of the source cleanup, estimated at $92 million. The company has already paid about $200 million for site remediation.
Romona Pezzella, the EPA’s remedial project manager for the Ciba site, said her agency will continue to oversee the cleanup, with a representative from the Army Corps of Engineers serving as an on-site construction manager.
EPA officials will inspect air-monitoring devices that have been placed around the perimeter to check air quality daily. Monitoring devices will also be used to check air quality in areas where excavation is being done.
Daily reports of air monitoring will be available on a Web site created for the cleanup: www.ciba-geigysite.org, Pezzella said.
Activists yesterday said they were pleased that the EPA and Ciba officials had listened to community concerns and revised plans for the cleanup, which called for the use of thermal desorption--- or heating soil to high temperatures---to eliminate contaminants.
After township residents strongly protested against thermal desorption, officials chose bioremediation as the main cleanup method.
“I am overjoyed that we found a way to do it without using an incinerator,” said Peter Hibbard, a member of Ocean County Citizen’s for Clean Water.
The EPA’s Muszynski yesterday praised people who have been involved for years, saying they showed unusual dedication to the task.
“It was not a smooth start here,” he said, “We had to build trust.”
Published in the Asbury Park Press on October 23, 2003
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