Senator Applauds DOJ/EPA Agreement (USA)

U.S. Senator Robert Menendez applauded the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) and the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) for achieving an important step forward in cleaning up the Quanta Resources Superfund site in Edgewater, N.J.

A consent decree filed in federal court reflects an agreement with the Honeywell International Inc. and 23 other parties and requires Honeywell to carry out the cleanup of the site under the EPA’s oversight.

“With this agreement, we are taking an important step forward in remediating this Superfund site based on the principle of ‘polluter pays,’” said Senator Menendez. “Restoring this property’s environment on the bank of the Hudson River will clear a path for a more promising future for the entire community. But it also will serve as a reminder that those who contaminate the natural resources that belong to all of us will be held accountable and will clean up the messes they’ve left behind.”

The total cost of cleaning up the site is projected to be $78 million, and the work is expected to take two to three years.

The Quanta Resources site at Gorge and River roads in Edgewater was opened in the 1880’s as a coal tar facility. Through the 1970’s, tanks on the site stored waste oil. After polychlorinated biphenyls contaminated some of the storage tanks, state authorities closed the site in 1981.

This consent decree addresses the site’s 150,000 cubic yards of contaminated soil as well as tainted ground water. A second phase will address contamination of the Hudson River and sediment.

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Press Release, November 21, 2012