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EPA Proposes Hazardous Waste Site in Kearny to the Superfund National Priorities List in New Jersey

Release Date: 07/31/2000
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(#00140B) NEW YORK, N.Y. -- The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is proposing to add an inactive site once used as an oil refinery on Harrison Avenue in Kearny to the Superfund National Priorities List (NPL), the federal list of the nation’s worst hazardous waste sites. The 15-acre site known as the Diamond Head Oil Refinery Division consists of wetland areas, drainage ditches, a pond, and the remains of the oil refinery operation. In an expanded site inspection last year, EPA gathered evidence of volatile organic chemicals, pesticides, polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) and heavy metals in soil, surface water and sediments on the property. The Agency periodically proposes sites to the NPL and designates proposed sites as final. Proposed sites are investigated further to determine the extent of the risks they may pose to human health and the environment. Sites that are placed on the final NPL are eligible for long-term "remedial action" or cleanup financed under the federal Superfund Trust Fund. According to Ms. Jeanne M. Fox, EPA Region 2 Administrator, "The proposed listing of the site means that EPA can begin comprehensive evaluations of the contamination, which will lead to plans for permanent cleanup of the site. Without the federal Superfund, communities like Kearny are left with no way to address the serious hazardous waste sites that threaten their local environments and economies." The following is a brief description of the site proposed for the NPL: The Diamond Head Oil Refinery Division site was in operation from 1946 to early 1979. Until 1982, the abandoned site was not completely fenced and during this time, waste oils and other debris were dumped there. In January 1985, the property was sold to Mimi Urban Development Corporation, which changed its name to Hudson Meadows Urban Development Corporation, the current site owners. During facility operations, two aboveground storage tanks and possibly underground pits were used to store oily wastes. These wastes were intermittently discharged directly to adjacent properties, including the wetland area to the south of the site, creating an oil lake. The New Jersey Department of Transportation (NJDOT) acquired the property south of the site in 1968 and nine years later began construction of I-280. NJDOT removed 9 million gallons of oil-contaminated water and 5 to 6 million cubic yards of oily sludge from the lake. Also during that year, privately financed cleanups at the site removed approximately 7,500 gallons of chemically contaminated material from two above ground tanks and 27 tons of contaminated soil. EPA’s 1999 inspection of the site found the remaining chemical and heavy metal contamination at the site serious enough to warrant proposing the site to the NPL. With the addition of the Diamond Head site, the total number of NPL sites in New Jersey is 114. EPA is soliciting public comments on its proposed listing of this site on the NPL which was published in the Federal Register on July 27, 2000. The publication starts a 60-day public comment period. Members of the public interested in obtaining copies of the notice, an updated NPL list or site descriptions and commenting on the proposed addition, please contact the RCRA/Superfund Hotline at 1-800-424-9346 or 703-412-9810. Further information about the site and the Superfund program can also be obtained from EPA’s homepage: https://www.epa.gov/superfund.