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EPA Selects Final Cleanup Plan for Contaminated Soils at the Chemical Insecticide Corporation Superfund Site in Edison, NJ

Release Date: 10/03/2000
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(#00177) NEW YORK, N.Y. – The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has selected 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. The cleanup plan calls for excavating and removing from the site more than 106,000 cubic yards of contaminated soil, which will 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, as deep as 16 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 noted, "We were very pleased at the high degree of support for the plan expressed by the community and local officials. In the coming months we will focus our efforts on finalizing the specific details of the cleanup plan and securing the money from the Superfund Trust to get the work started as soon as possible,"she said. Under the cleanup plan, soil that is highly contaminated will be removed from the site for treatment and final 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 any contaminants being carried by rain to drainage areas and surface water. The second phase involved removing and safely disposing of contaminated creek sediments located near the property. The soil cleanup action being announced today is the third phase of EPA’s overall cleanup of the site, and a final remedy for the contaminated soils on the site. The next and last phase of the overall site cleanup will address contaminated groundwater.