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Residents want waste removed
START OF SITE WORK IS PRAISED, BUT 38,000 DRUMS WILL REMAIN
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Published in the Ocean County Observer
By JOHN HAZARD
Staff Writer
TOMS RIVER -- More than 400 people have signed a petition asking the state to force the owners of the Ciba-Geigy site to remove upwards of 30,000 drums of waste buried on its Route 37 property.
The letter asks the state Department of Environmental Protection to revoke a permit Ciba Specialty Chemicals Corp., current owner of the property, holds for a landfill on the site that currently contains between 30,000 and 38,000 drums, many of which might be filled with hazardous chemicals.
Another landfill on the site was found to be the source of contamination that fouled groundwater in the region. That landfill is being emptied and the groundwater and soil remediated as part of a project expected to cost about $290 million.
But the second landfill was deemed to be safe.
Carol Benson, author of the petition, said the letter is a message to government officials, who ultimately will receive the petition, that the residents who live near the site want the drums gone.
"We live here and drink the water here, and we're concerned," she said. "We shouldn't have to wait another 20 years for them to tell us this one is leaking, too. We want those drums out of there."
The Dover Township Council passed several resolutions echoing Benson's petition and is engaged in a lawsuit that, among other things, asks that the drums be removed.
Benson, whose 8-year-old grandson, Justin, died of brain cancer in April 2000, has been an outspoken critic of the company and the state for allowing the landfill to remain. She has expressed concerns that the contamination might have been related to her grandson's cancer.
The petition is available at Ken's Hardware and the Driftwood Deli, both on Fischer Boulevard.
Published in the Ocean County Observer 04/02/04
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