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CIBA-GEIGY: 31,000 drums removed
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Published in the Ocean County Observer
By MATT PORIO
Staff Writer
TOMS RIVER -- The Environmental Protection Agency announced this week that over 31,000 of the 35,000 drums have been excavated from the Stacked Drum Area of the Ciba-Geigy Superfund site on Route 37.
"We're very pleased with the progress," said Dover Township Mayor Paul C. Brush, who also reported that he is continuing negotiations with the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection to have a contested second landfill -- which is not part of the Superfund site -- excavated from the Ciba-Geigy property.
"We were under the impression that it would take the better part of the year" for the removal of the 35,000 drums at the Superfund site, he said. "They're ahead of schedule."
The drums being removed by Ciba-Specialty Chemicals Corp. are part of a landfill that was found to have a leak in its lining. Ciba-Specialty Chemicals Corp., under the guidance of the EPA and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, began the excavation in December 2003.
The EPA also announced that the excavation of contaminated soils for treatment began on July 6 of this year. The EPA reports that about 6,700 cubic yards of material have been removed from four source areas and placed in a soil storage building.
But Ciba-Geigy has refused to remove any of the 35,000 drums in a separate, contested landfill on the site. Through litigation Dover Township is attempting to force the company to remove the drums from that landfill and compensate the township for lost property value at Winding River Park, which the township says resulted from toxic waste contamination of groundwater in the park caused by Ciba-Geigy.
While a Superior Court judge earlier this summer dismissed part of Dover Township's lawsuit, saying it should be up to a federal judge to determine if the drums from the contested landfill should be removed from the site, the township still insists it has evidence that the landfill is leaking.
After the judge's dismissal, Brush said he was in contact with DEP officials who were taking another look at the township's evidence.
Brush said yesterday that informal discussions are continuing with the DEP.
"I'm not at liberty to discuss them right now," Brush said. "But the discussions are progressing satisfactorily."
"I'm very pleased with the way it's going, I can tell you that."
The EPA is conducting a public meeting regarding the Superfund site on Sept. 14 at 7 p.m. in the Rosendahl Room at the Quality Inn, 815 Route 37 West, Toms River. Additionally, a site tour will be held the following day, Sept. 15, at 1 p.m. at the Ciba-Geigy site. EPA, COE and Ciba staff will be available to answer questions.
Published in the Ocean County Observer 8/21/04
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