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Federal Officials View Building Demolition At Superfund Site in East Brunswick Prior To New Phase Of Arsenic/Chemical Cleanup

Release Date: 12/08/1997
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(#97166) NEW YORK, N.Y. -- U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Regional Administrator Jeanne M. Fox joined U.S. Representative Michael Pappas and Colonel Gary Thomas, District Engineer, New York District of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, and East Brunswick Mayor William Neary today at the Fried Industries federal Superfund site on Fresh Ponds Road where abandoned buildings are being demolished to create space for the cleanup of contaminated soils and buried tanks. Later, the area will be used to build a treatment system to reduce volatile organic contamination in the groundwater. The budget for the comprehensive site cleanup is approximately $11 million.

EPA Regional Administrator Jeanne M. Fox said, "Because there is a local interest in using the ­26-acre Fried Industries property for parkland development,­" said Ms. Fox, EPA has selected a long-term remedy with an eye toward future use. Wherever possible, we clean up to a level that allows for redevelopment that benefits local communities.

The excavation, removal and off-site stabilization of approximately 1,000 cubic yards of arsenic-contaminated surface soils on the property will begin early next year. An estimated 3,000 cubic yards of soil highly contaminated with volatile organic compounds will also be excavated and treated off-site prior to disposal. Finally, the contaminated groundwater beneath the property will be extracted and treated to meet federal and state drinking water standards and state ground water quality standards. The treated groundwater, if discharged to a nearby brook, will also be monitored for compliance with surface water standards.

The I.T. Corporation, of Somerset, New Jersey, is conducting the pre-demolition and demolition work under the field supervision of the Army Corps.

Site Background

Fried Industries manufactured floor finishing products, aqueous
detergent solutions, adhesives, and algaecides on this site on Fresh Ponds Road in East Brunswick Township. Also, site facilities were leased at times to a manufacturer of automotive antifreeze products. All manufacturing activities were terminated at the site in 1985. The site property contains a pond, a marsh area, several separate wetlands areas, and a building complex.

In 1986, the Township of East Brunswick provided hookups to a public water supply for residences near the site with private wells contaminated with volatile organic compounds. The site was placed on EPAs National Priorities List of hazardous waste sites in 1986. EPA installed a security fence around the building complex in 1989. The agency successfully completed the removal of more than 1200 drums and more than 4,000 laboratory bottles/containers from the site in February 1992.