Now that the cleanup work has been deemed successfully completed at the Montclair/West Orange and Glen Ridge Radium Superfund sites, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is proposing to remove the sites from its Superfund National Priorities List (NPL). Have something to say about the proposal? EPA has consulted on its decision with the state of New Jersey and is taking public comment on its proposal.
The soil at the sites was contaminated with radioactive waste materials suspected to have originated from a nearby radium-processing facility that operated in the early 1900s. When houses were later constructed in the area, some of the radium-contaminated soil was used as fill in the low-lying areas, and some was mixed with cement for sidewalks and foundations. More than 220,000 cubic yards of contaminated soil were scattered on public and private properties.
Interesting back story on the sites and how they affected residents, here. Public commenting info in the jump…
The public comment period on the proposed deletion will begin on April 28, 2009 and extend for 30 days. Written comments must be postmarked no later than May 28, 2009 and should be addressed to:
Betsy Donovan, Remedial Project Manager
Donovan.betsy@epa.gov
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Region 2
290 Broadway, 19th Floor
New York, NY 10007-1866
212-637-4369
Interesting back story…by our own Ms Debbie even.
Amazing what a good editor can do to a news story, even for a writer as weak as Debbie Gallant.
My property on Cleveland Terrace in Bloomfield was remediated in the final stage of this effort. We didn’t have to move out of our house but there was quite a bit of disruption to our daily life. For a time our backyard and those of several adjacent properties were a huge pit with several contractors walking around in biohazard suits.
Fortunately our stage took about 6 months to complete instead of the usual 12-18 months. The work was sped up to complete the final phase of the project.
The Watsessing Park ‘dog run’ occupies on the site where much of the equipment for this project was stored.
Here is a link to Wikipedia entry about the factory that produced the waste and the unfortunate women who worked there, painting luminescent instrumentation.
Radium Girls