Published in the Asbury Park Press
By JEAN MIKLE
TOMS RIVER BUREAU
TOMS RIVER -- Dover Township Mayor Paul C. Brush, who ran on a campaign platform that included removing all drums from the Ciba-Geigy Corp. Superfund site, said the state Department of Environmental Protection has joined with the township in its lawsuit against Ciba -- a development that he hopes could lead to removal of all the drums.
"In the effort to remove the drums, how far that's going to go, what will that mean, I don't know," the mayor said about the DEP joining the suit. "But it's encouraging that DEP has joined us in the effort to have these drums removed."
Last year, the township filed suit against Ciba Specialty Chemicals Corp., saying groundwater contamination emanating from the Ciba property had reduced property values at neighboring Winding River Park, which Dover owns. Brush had criticized the lawsuit as politically motivated during last year's campaign, but after hearing a presentation on it shortly before he became mayor, he said he was hesitant to stop it.
DEP spokesman Fred Mumford said Friday he was not aware that the DEP had joined Dover's lawsuit against Ciba. The agency indicated last year it would seek payment from Ciba for groundwater pollution caused by its former dye manufacturing operations.
Mumford said DEP officials have met with Ciba to discuss payment for damaging natural resources under the state's Spill Compensation and Control Act.
Published in the Asbury Park Press 5/03/04
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