EPA Proposes to Cap Berry’s Creek Superfund Site- Concern That Caps Will Fail

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) took an important step towards addressing serious contamination in the Berry’s Creek Study Area, which is part of the Ventron/Velsicol Superfund site in Bergen County, N.J., by proposing a plan to take actions to address known sources of the contamination. The Berry’s Creek portion of the Superfund site is on EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt’s Emphasis List of Superfund sites. The proposed cleanup plan includes bank-to-bank removal of sediment down to 2 feet in portions of the creek with backfilling and capping equal to the depth removed. EPA is seeking public comment on its proposal.

“It’s good that the EPA is proposing a remediation plan for Berry’s Creek, however their plan is flawed. Our biggest concern is that that they plan to cap the contamination. They will only dredge 1 to 2 feet of contaminated soil which means millions of tons of toxic sediment will still be left in the creek. All caps will fail over time. At this site it will fail even sooner because there is strong river and tidal flows. We e that experience sea level rise and stronger storms. We expect sea level rise and storms to get worse and become more frequent which will put more people at risk. The EPA must put forth a real remediation plan, not a cap that will fail. There needs to be a thorough remediation plan that includes removal of toxins from the different sites, including Universal Oil, to restore the wetlands and streams,” said Jeff Tittel, Director of the New Jersey Sierra Club. “After 40 years, we are having an interim cleanup but we need a complete cleanup. It’s important that the new Regional Administrator Lopez will propose a plan to clean up the creek however the entire Hackensack River should be added as Superfund site.”

Berry’s Creek is a tributary to the Hackensack River traveling through Carlstadt, East Rutherford, Lyndhurst, Moonachie, Rutherford, Teterboro, and Wood-Ridge, and includes approximately six miles of waterway, tributaries to the creek, and approximately 750 acres of marshes. The major contaminants in the Berry’s Creek Study Area are mercury and PCBs and chromium, which are at high levels in the water and sediment and are also found in the plant and animal life. Mercury levels in Berry’s Creek, are among the highest ever recorded in a freshwater ecosystem in the United States, with levels up to 760 ppm. Naphthalene was also recorded at 1.2 million parts per billion, which is likely a human carcinogen that can also cause hemolytic anemia, nausea, vomiting, diarrhea and blood in the urine.

“The problem is that capping in these areas have failed. EPA did a similar cap in Syracuse at the Onondaga Lake and that failed. Why should we then experiment with capping, especially in a tidal and flood prone area? Toxic chemicals in the Hackensack River have been robbing us of our use of the River and the Meadowlands for far too long, that is why the entire Hackensack River should be added as a Superfund Site.  These chemicals have also been impacting wildlife in a unique, ecological area. The Meadowlands are an environmental oasis in the middle of one of the most urban areas and we must cleanup this toxic site to restore the Meadowlands and to protect the environment. More and more people are using the Hackensack River for recreation and it needs to be cleaned-up. More birds are stopping in the Meadowlands,” said Tittel. “If we don’t have a clean-up plan, all we’re doing is creating a toxic nature preserve unless we clean up these sites and the river itself.

The Environmental Protection Agency has found dozens of contaminates after sampling the Hackensack River that show we need an immediate clean-up to protect public health and the environment. As part of their research to decide if the Hackensack River should be classified as a Superfund Site, they found elevated levels of cadmium, lead, mercury, cancer-causing dioxin and PCBs, enough for the EPA to conclude the river’s contaminants, which is a risk to humans and wildlife. After the analyzed more than a century’s worth of industrial pollution from three different toxic sites, they planned to decide if is extensive enough to put the River on the Superfund list and conduct an extensive clean-up. These toxins are a huge human health threat to anyone who lives nearby or utilizes the river.

“The Hackensack River is one of the most complex sites to clean up because of the different types of pollutants and toxic chemicals here. After 40 years of attempts to clean up the river, the pollution has not really gotten any better. That is why it should be added as a Superfund site. Part of the problem has been the piecemeal approach of trying to clean up one site at a time without looking at all the contaminated sites in the river. What’s even worse is the failure to stop the toxic settlements that have been washing into the river over the years. Pruitt said he wants to speed up cleanups but the only cleanups he is checking off is on paper, not real cleanups,” said Jeff Tittel, Director of the New Jersey Sierra Club. “We’ve been waiting 40 years for a remediation plan for Berry’s Creek, and the EPA has only come up with interim plan, not a permanent cleanup.”

The EPA will hold a public meeting on May 9th in Little Ferry, NJ to explain the cleanup proposal and other options considered and to take public comments. Little Ferry Public Library 239 Liberty Street, Little Ferry, NJ 0764 from 3:30pm-8:30pm

Comments will be accepted until June 6, 2018.Written comments may be mailed or emailed to:Doug Tomchuk, Remedial Project Manager U.S. Environmental Protection Agency 290 Broadway, 19th Floor, New York, NY 10007 Email: tomchuk.doug@epa.gov