One of the nation’s largest chemical companies will pay $165 million to
design the cleanup plan for the lower Passaic River under an agreement
reached with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, officials
announced Wednesday.
The settlement with Occidental Chemical Corp. of Houston was hailed as a
“milestone” by EPA officials. But the agency still has to come up with
more than $1 billion to fund the massive dredge-and-cap project that is
at least four years away from beginning and a decade away from
completion.
EPA officials said they will soon begin negotiating financial
settlements with more than 100 companies and public entities that either
polluted the waterway or inherited the liability of past polluters. If
the companies balk, the EPA will issue an order compelling them to fund
the project.
“They are going to be paying these costs sooner or later,” EPA regional
Administrator Judith Enck said during a conference call with reporters
Wednesday.
The $1.38 billion project announced in March would remove enough
sediment laced with cancer-causing dioxin, PCBs, mercury and other
industrial pollution to fill Red Bull Stadium three times.
Those 3.8 million cubic yards would be dredged for eight miles from
Newark Bay to Belleville, the worst stretch of pollution in the river’s
lower 17 miles. Contaminated sediment would be taken to an out of state
landfill.
When the work is done, more than half of the pollution in the river —
about 6 million cubic yards of contamination ¬— will remain in the
Passaic, covered with sand and other materials. The New Jersey Sierra
Club has said the cap will likely degrade quickly due to the strong
tidal currents in the Passaic. EPA officials stand by the plan and the
long timeline until completion.
“We’re dealing with a century of pollution,” Enck said. “We need a decade to get it cleaned up.”
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