USA: EPA to Revise Permit Requirements for Pompton Lakes Cleanup

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency will revise and re-propose the plan to remove sediment contaminated with mercury and lead from the Acid Brook Delta and other parts of Pompton Lake in Pompton Lakes, New Jersey.

The EPA had previously finalized a plan, which was contained in a permit requiring cleanup of the Acid Brook delta along with certain other areas in the lake, but additional information including results of recent sampling in Pompton Lake have provided EPA the basis for revising that permit.

The new permit requirements are currently being developed by EPA, with a goal of proposing a draft permit by the fall.

This new proposal will contain refined requirements on how E.I. du Pont de Nemours & Company, Inc. must clean up areas of serious contamination in the Pompon Lake sediment. The new proposed permit will be at least as protective and will be more detailed than the permit previously issued.

As with the previous cleanup plan and permit modification, the EPA’s new proposed permit will require E.I. du Pont de Nemours & Company, Inc. to fund and perform the work.

The new proposal will still require DuPont to perform substantial dredging of mercury contaminated sediment from the bottom of Pompton Lake and removal of contaminated soil from an adjacent shoreline area. All of the sediment will be sent to a licensed disposal facility.

There will be a public meeting and a full opportunity for public comment on the new proposed permit modification before it is finalized.

[mappress]

Press Release, May 1, 2014