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EPA Deletes the White Bridge Road Property in Morris County from the National Priorities List of Hazardous Waste Sites

Release Date: 02/26/2002
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(#02011) NEW YORK, N.Y. – The cleanup work has been completed at the White Bridge Road property of the Asbestos Dump Superfund site in Long Hill Township, New Jersey, removing the threat to human health and the environment, according to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). As a result, the Agency has deleted the property from the National Priorities List (NPL) of hazardous waste sites. “Today we realize the promise of Superfund. Our work at the White Bridge Road site addressed the contamination, protected public health and brought improvements to Long Hill Township,” said EPA Regional Administrator Jane M. Kenny. “Now that construction is completed at other portions of the site, I look forward to removing those areas from the Superfund list.” The Asbestos Dump site consists of four different properties - - the 11-acre Millington site, at which a succession of owners operated an asbestos product manufacturing plant and three separate satellite sites. One of the satellite properties is the White Bridge Road site, which covers 12 acres and is bounded by the Great Swamp National Wildlife Refuge and private residences. This property was a farm until 1969, when the owner started receiving asbestos waste from the Millington facility and using it as fill. Disposal of asbestos waste continued at the White Bridge Road property until 1975. EPA selected a cleanup plan for the White Bridge Road property in September 1991. Under the plan, approximately 9,900 cubic yards of asbestos-containing material (ACM) were consolidated in one area of the site and the top two and a half feet of the material were stabilized. After this work was completed, a soil cover was placed on the disposal area and site restoration activities began. In the fall of 1996, site restoration activities were substantially complete. On January 5, 2001, the owners of the property filed a Deed Notice, which requires them and any future owners to conduct some periodic maintenance on the cap. The state of New Jersey will be responsible for performing other operation and maintenance activities. Based on a comprehensive review of the Superfund cleanup and several post cleanup inspections, EPA and the state of New Jersey concluded that the appropriate construction work has been completed at the White Bridge Road property. Deletion of any site or portion of it from the NPL does not make the site ineligible for later cleanup actions. If further actions prove necessary, they can be taken without renominating the site to the NPL. On December 13, 2001, the Agency published a Notice of Intent to delete the property from the NPL in the Federal Register and initiated a public comment period, which closed on January 14, 2002. No comments on the proposed deletion were submitted to the Agency. The asbestos disposed of at the Millington site comprised a large mound of approximately 1.5 acres. Construction of the consolidation and cover remedy for the Millington site began in June 1999 and was completed in June 2000. One of the satellite sites is known as the Dietzman Tract, which is located within the Great Swamp National Wildlife Refuge, and was used as a dump for refuse and asbestos. The cleanup activities for the Dietzman Tract, which included the consolidation of the asbestos and the construction of a cap to contain it, were completed by November 1998. The third satellite site is the New Vernon Road property, which was a corn and dairy farm in the 1960s. Part of this 30-acre site was used to landfill broken asbestos tiles and siding, as well as loose asbestos fibers. EPA conducted a number of Superfund actions in 1990 to immobilize asbestos contamination at the New Vernon Road and White Bridge Road satellite sites in response to a Health Advisory issued by the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry. These actions included: erecting signs and fences, sampling air and soil, capping two driveways, covering visible ACM with geotextile fabric, removing a dilapidated shed, and removing ACM from the ground. Stabilization of the New Vernon Road portion of the site was started in July 1994 and full restoration of the property was completed in November 2000. In January 2002, EPA announced an agreement with the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) to preserve this land by transferring most of the New Vernon Road property to the FWS for expansion of the Great Swamp National Wildlife Refuge. More information about the Asbestos Dump site and the White Bridge Road property is available for viewing at the Long Hill Township Library at 91 Central Avenue in Stirling, New Jersey 07930, (908) 647-2088.