Gov. Murphy Signs DuPont Hazardous Waste Bill into Law

Governor Murphy, on July 3rd, signed DuPont Water Facility S879 (Sweeney) into law. The bill was passed by the Legislature but was Conditionally Vetoed by Governor Murphy and sent it back to the Legislature who then passed the amended bill. Murphy cited concern that “the bill does not contain specific safeguards to protect the health of our environment and the safety of our residents.” This concern is especially addressed towards the possibility of the bill’s language being interpreted to let a facility resume commercial processing operations. Murphy changed the language to include amendments stating that all facilities must require necessary permits before resuming these operations. He also asked for language stating that all facilities “fully comply with applicable environmental laws and regulations.” Director of the New Jersey Sierra Club released the following statement:

“We oppose this bill because we are concerned it would open up a spicket of toxic chemicals getting into the Delaware Bay. We would have liked a full veto of this bill, but Governor Murphy’s changes at least make it better, but we are still concerned.  The reason we are concerned is under this law DuPont could either require new permits or modify existing permits. We believed DEP must require DuPont to apply for new permits. We believe DEP require Dupont must do proper studies and meet new standards before they apply for permits to reopen their facility. We want to thank Governor Murphy for amending this dirty water bill, but DEP must do their job there is still more work to be done.

“We are still concerned that this bill could allow fracking waste to be treated at this facility if the DRBC adopts the new rules banning fracking but allows for discharging of fracking waste. The law will not work if the DRBC lift their fracking waste ban. Having a partial ban that actually allows the dumping of fracking waste still puts the drinking water and environment of the Basin at risk. That is why it is so important that Governor Murphy keeps the fracking ban in place and make sure he includes fracking waste ban when making the fracking ban permanent.

“Dumping fracking wastewater is dangerous because it contains over 600 different toxic chemicals, many of them carcinogenic. We found fracking waste in New Jersey years ago. This could lead to pollution and contaminated drinking water. We need a fracking waste ban in the entire basin because if New Jersey has a ban, facilities can still dump their waste in New York or Pennsylvania. The proposed Elcon Hazardous Waste facility is right across the river from Trenton.

“DuPont has already created a toxic mess at Carney’s Point and throughout the area and that’s why we will continue to fight against reopening these dangerous facilities. We stopped DuPont in 2007 when they had the nerve to propose dumping wastewater from neutralized VX nerve gas into the Delaware River. If the DuPont site reopens, it can bring in toxic witch’s brew of all kinds of toxic chemicals around a state including from Superfund sites. If there is a flood or accident, it could have a major impact on the Delaware River.  These toxins that could be discharged here can easily bio-accumulate in fish, threatening the public health. What is even worse is that without a ban on fracking waste, this law could potentially allow DuPont and other facilities to bring fracking waste into our state and River Basin. That is why we need Governor Murphy to keep his commitment to banning fracking and fracking waste in the Delaware region. The DEP must also make DuPont and waste facilities reapply for new permits. We need to continue fighting to make sure that these facilities do not bring fracking into our basin or dump toxic chemicals and pollutants in our waterways.”