Published in the Ocean County Observer
By MATT PORIO
Staff Writer
TOMS RIVER -- Only months after Ciba-Geigy Specialty Corporation finished removing more than 47,000 drums of waste from its Superfund site, Dover Township gained tremendous leverage in its effort to force the removal of drums from a second, contested site yesterday when the state informed Ciba it believes the landfill's lining could be compromised and threatened legal action against the company.
In a letter to Ciba officials, Department of Environmental Protection Commissioner Bradley M. Campbell said Dover Township presented "compelling information to suggest that Ciba Specialty Corporation should remove waste drums from the landfill commonly referred to as Cell No. 1 at the facility," located north of Route 37 and west of Oak Ridge Parkway.
Dover Township officials, who had been lobbying Campbell's agency, hailed the letter as a major bipartisan cooperative accomplishment.
Township resident Carol Benson, who, with other citizens, has worked tirelessly to see the drums removed, said she couldn't leave last night's council meeting "without expressing my jubilation.
After hearing about the letter from a television news reporter, "I just got a lump in my throat," she said. "I am just ecstatic."
Asserting Cell No. 1 contains drums with hazardous chemicals and is leaking, the township has been trying to force Ciba to remove an estimated 35,000 drums believed to be buried there. However, the company has maintained the landfill is lined and is not leaking.
Citing past sampling that revealed the presence of hazardous materials emanating from Cell 1, Campbell said his agency has "growing concerns as to whether public health, safety and environmental quality will be adequately protected by the long-term operation and maintenance of Cell No. 1," according to the township.
The commissioner also challenged Ciba to resolve the current lawsuits and claims brought by the DEP and the township. Those lawsuits seek to force the removal of the drums from Cell No. 1 and recover damages from losses in the property value of Winding River Park, which the township says resulted from toxic waste contamination of groundwater in the park caused by Ciba-Geigy.
Campbell said his agency is "poised to have the Attorney General commence litigation to recover natural resource damages at the site and is "considering administrative steps and litigation to address potential risks at Cell No. 1."
Additionally, he said in the letter, in terms of the potential risks from the contents of cell one, "we also will be reviewing what information may have been omitted or misrepresented in responding to government agencies, and what liability for any such omissions or misrepresentations there may be."
Yesterday, however, after reading the letter from Campbell, Ciba's Vice President for Environmental Health and Safety Douglas J. Hefferin said the company continues to maintain the landfill is lined and in no danger of leaking and has not changed its position on the drum removal.
"It is a surprise," he said of the letter from Campbell. "I wasn't expecting that."
"I will reiterate that landfill has been closed for many, many years," he said.
"We have a large database we've been monitoring for many years," he said. "The landfill has been performing for 20 years with no signs of deterioration."
"There's no reason to change our view," he said. "That landfill has been performing as intended. It's safe, secure and not leaking. And there's no reason to think it will."
However, said Hefferin, the company "will be happy to have the meeting" requested by Campbell in his letter.
The commissioner's letter comes less than a year after the DEP was granted a request to have itself removed as co-plaintiff in the township's legal efforts to force the removal of the drums from Cell No. 1.
After lobbying Trenton and Campbell's agency to get behind their effort to force the removal of the drums, township officials yesterday were touting the commissioner's letter as a cooperative political accomplishment.
Dover Township officials -- including Mayor Paul C. Brush, Council President Gregory P. McGuckin, Planning Board Chairman Salvatore Mattia -- along with County Republican Chairman George Gilmore met with Campbell in Trenton yesterday, Brush, a Democrat, said at a joint press conference with McGuckin, a Republican, yesterday.
"What came of it was a major, major breakthrough in the effort to have the drums from Cell One removed from the site," said Brush, who credited the township's legal department, especially Mark Troncone and Alison Newman with presenting convincing evidence to Campbell.
"The best interests of the town" were served, Brush said, by "all working together."
"It's an example of the government doing something good for the people," he said. "It's time like this I'm particularly proud to be a public official."
"I am just ecstatic," Benson said at last night's council meeting. "I feel like I should go out in the snow and make angels."
"The mayor has been on top of this since the beginning of his term," setting up several important meetings with state officials, McGuckin said. "It's a red-letter day in the history of Dover Township."
"I believe over the year's (Ciba has) been able to utilize political differences" in Dover Township "to its own benefit," he said. "Now we'll see a unified front."
"The bottom line," said Brush, is that the drum removal "is going to be done."
"The sooner you take care of these things, the less costly it will be," he said.
"Hopefully, Ciba will do the right thing and come to the table with us," he said.
If that is not the case, however, McGuckin said, the township is prepared to continue an aggressive legal effort and is exploring other options toward gaining leverage over the site, such as determining whether or not it could be named an "area in need of redevelopment."
"There's the hammer and there's the carrot," he said, referring to possibility of negotiations with the company versus legal action. "We hope the carrot would be more beneficial to everybody."
Though she was happy to hear the news, Jan Larson, who heads the township environmental commission, took the news with a grain of salt.
"It still might not happen in my lifetime," she said of the drum removal. "But I'm glad that at least this step has been completed."
"It's a good step forward," she said. "There's no doubt about that."
Published in the Ocean County Observer March 9, 2005
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