Frelinghuysen tours Superfund sites

Rep. Rodney Frelinghuysen saw some progress Wednesday on his annual tour of Superfund sites in the 11th District, including two in Morris County.

Frelinghuysen, touring sites from Sussex County to suburban Essex County with representatives of the Environmental Protection Agency and the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection, started at the Mansfield Trail Dump Superfund Site in Byram, where sludge dumped in trenches contaminated groundwater. More than 11,000 tons of contaminated material have been removed from the site since it was added to the superfund list in 2011.

"These tours lead to direct action in Washington," Frelinghuysen said of his annual trips, which began more than 30 years ago when he was a legislator accompanying his predecessor, the late Rep. Den Gallo.

The tour made stops in both Rockaway Township and borough, but as it crossed the Morris County line to visit the Caldwell Trucking Co. Superfund site, which forced closure of more than 300 private wells in Fairfield, The New Jersey Sierra Club issued a statement criticizing Frelinghuysen for voting against legislation to establish a Superfund tax.

“Yet again, Congressman Frelinghuysen is touring Superfund Sites without any action to provide adequate funding to clean up these sites. The Congressman has had 20 years to support Superfund legislation and has never done it," said New Jersey Sierra Club President Jeff Tittel. "New Jersey has more Superfund Sites than any other state in the nation and we must make polluters pay. If we keep delaying funding, there will be more pollution in the ground affecting communities around the sites. The congressman should not just tour, but work in Congress to reinstate the Superfund tax so that we have adequate funds to clean up sites."

"I'm not sure there are too many congressmen who highlight the national priority list of Superfund sites," Frelinghuysen said in Rockaway. "In fact I think most of them do their best to avoid even talking about it."

Frelinghuysen later addressed Tittel's remark, issuing a statement that he is focused on making the responsible parties fund the cleanups.

“EPA Regional Administrator Judith Enck's annual visit, and that of her predecessors, has resulted in major cleanups on Superfund sites in my Congressional District," Frelinghuysen said. "She, and the municipal, county and state officials who accompany EPA and NJDEP site managers to these toxic sites, attest to that fact. Tittel's constant blather and nonsensical statements continue to sideline him from serious environmental advocacy. He has not a shred of credibility these days.”

“Congressman Frelinghuysen has been giving polluters a free ride for far too long," Tittel said.

EPA officials agreed more work is needed at the Radiation Technology Inc. Superfund site on Lake Denmark Road, an isolated, tree-covered 263-acre lot in northern Rockaway Township that is contaminated with volatile organic compounds including an industrial solvent and rocket propellants used by the U.S. Navy.

"So far, $5 million has been spent on this site behind us," said EPA Region 2 Administrator Judith Enck at the gates to the site. "It illustrates why we don't want these new sites created. They are incredibly expensive to clean up after the fact, not to mention the environmental damage that they do."

Last year, Enck announced that 34 buildings at the Radiation Technology site were slated for demolition. That work has begun, according to EPA Site Manager Brian Quinn, but the EPA is still waiting for funding to complete the job.

"Some work was done, asbestos was removed from some of the buildings, and other contaminants," Quinn said. "We are waiting for remaining funding to come in to address remaining lead-based paint and other issues."

Some of the buildings on the site, Quinn said, have concrete walls that are several feet thick, rendering complete demolition both expensive and difficult. In those cases, the EPA attempts to scarify layers of the contaminated concrete to eliminate the hazard.

Groundwater issues in the area still need to be addressed, Quinn said.

"The problem is this area has a lot of fractured bedrock that makes it a lot more difficult to extract the water out and treated," Quinn said.

The EPA is looking into testing an oil that would inhibit the flow of water and include microbes to treat the contaminants. Meanwhile, Alliant Techsystems, the successor to the past owner of the site, is cleaning up the groundwater and soil under EPA oversight.

Of the $5 million spent there so far, $3.4 million came from the parties responsible for the pollution, with another $1.6 million from the Superfund.

"I support ‘polluters pay,’ " Frelinghuysen said. "It is crucial that we find the polluters and that they pay for the cleanup. On 70 percent of the sites, the polluters have been identified and are paying. Only 30 percent do not have named polluters. But this annual tour has real value and it makes no sense to reduce the pressure on the EPA."

Quinn was more upbeat about progress at the Rockaway Borough Wellfield Superfund site that includes three municipal wells that supply drinking water to 11,000 people. He presented maps to a small audience at the borough Public Works office, including Mayor Russell Greuter, Councilwoman Joyce Kanigel and Assemblyman Anthony Bucco, that showed the contaminated groundwater plume was shrinking, and hoped the EPA could conclude groundwater treatment there within a few years.

Kanigel told Frelinghuysen the borough obtained a Morris County Open Space Grant last year to fund the preservation purchase of two flood-prone acres near the groundwater treatment system on Jackson Avenue. Negotiations for that purchase from a private owner are still taking place, she said.

Officials from both Rockaways said they have no day-to-day duties in the monitoring and cleanup of the sites, but maintain regular communication with the EPA as it continues the projects.

Staff Writer William Westhoven: 973-917-9242; wwesthoven@GannettNJ.com.