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EPA to Hold Public Meeting on Proposed Cleanup Plan for Contaminated Soils at the Chemical Insecticide Corporation Superfund Site in Edison, NJ

Release Date: 08/03/2000
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(#00147) NEW YORK, N.Y. – The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has proposed a long-term plan to clean up soils contaminated with arsenic, pesticides and herbicides at the former Chemical Insecticide Corporation (CIC) Superfund site at 30 Whitman Avenue in Edison Township, New Jersey and wants to discuss the plan with the community. The proposed cleanup plan calls for the excavation, transportation and off-site disposal of more than 106,000 cubic yards of contaminated soil, which would cost an estimated $28.5 million and take about two years to complete. EPA found the contamination, which consists primarily of arsenic as well as pesticides and herbicides, in soils at varying depths, down as deep as 17 feet. These contaminated soils are also a contributing source of the groundwater contamination underlying the site. The contamination is the result of the chemical operations and poor disposal practices of CIC, which owned and operated the site from 1954 to 1970. EPA Regional Administrator Jeanne M. Fox, who joined U.S. Representative Frank Pallone and Edison Mayor George Spadoro today at the site to announce the plan, noted that there has been a high degree of community input into how EPA is conducting the cleanup of the CIC site. "We continue to encourage and welcome the public’s participation in this phase of the cleanup process," she said. EPA is holding a public meeting on Tuesday, August 16 at the Edison Township Municipal Complex, 100 Municipal Boulevard starting at 7:00 p.m to obtain public comments on its proposed cleanup plan. The public comment period on the plan begins on August 3 and ends on September 5, 2000. Under the proposed plan, soil that is highly contaminated would be treated off-site prior to land disposal. This plan also calls for removing the other sources of contamination at the site, including buried drums and potentially contaminated lagoon sludges. EPA is addressing the site in four phases, two of which have already been completed. In the first phase, EPA placed an interim cap over the CIC property to prevent any human contact with surface contamination and limit run-off of contaminants to drainage areas and surface water. The second phase involved the removal and disposal of contaminated creek sediments located off the property. The soil cleanup action being proposed now would be the third phase of EPA’s overall cleanup of the site, and a final remedy for the contaminated soils on the site. The last phase of the overall site cleanup will address contaminated groundwater. Copies of the proposed plan are available for public review at the Edison Public Library at 340 Plainview Avenue and the Metuchen Public Library at 380 Middlesex Avenue. Comments should be sent to the Remedial Project Manager of the site: Jeff Catanzarita, USEPA, Region 2, Superfund Division, 19th floor, 290 Broadway, New York, New York 10007-1866.