Removal of Contaminated Sediment from Bound Brook

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has announced that $22 million has been received from D.S.C. of Newark Enterprises, Inc. for their liability in a settlement to recover the federal and state government’s costs for cleanup and for natural resource damages caused by contamination at the Cornell-Dubilier Electronics Superfund site in South Plainfield, New Jersey.

The recovered funds were divided among the plaintiffs. The EPA received $16.2 million, New Jersey received $1.2 million, and the federal natural resource trustees represented by the Department of Interior Fish and Wildlife Service, and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, received natural resource damages of $4.4 million.

Because of the nature and complexity of the contamination at the Cornell-Dubilier site, the EPA divided the cleanup into four phases.

In the first phase, the EPA cleaned up nearby residential, commercial and municipal properties. PCB-contaminated soil was removed from 34 residential properties near the former facility property.

In the second phase, EPA cleaned up the contaminated buildings and soil on the former facility, demolishing 18 contaminated buildings and removing 26,400 tons of building debris out of the area. The EPA excavated approximately 21,000 tons of contaminated debris and soil from an undeveloped area of the facility.

Additionally, EPA treated contaminated soil at the site using a technology that heats the material so that contaminants can be pulled out and captured. Soil that could not be cleaned using this method was taken out of the area for disposal at a licensed facility.

The third phase is ongoing and focuses on the contaminated groundwater. The EPA is monitoring the groundwater and will put in place restrictions that will prevent the use of untreated groundwater as drinking water.

The EPA has proposed a plan to clean up a nine mile stretch of Bound Brook as the fourth and final phase of the cleanup of the Cornell-Dubilier Electronics Superfund site in South Plainfield, New Jersey.

The proposed plan includes dredging PCB-contaminated sediment, excavating soil from the flood plains, excavating an area next to the former Cornell-Dubilier facility where PCB-containing capacitors were buried, relocating a 36-inch waterline that crosses the former facility, and containing groundwater that discharges from the facility to Bound Brook.

The estimated cost of the cleanup under this plan for the third phase is $252 million. To date, the EPA’s cleanup costs for this site exceed $180 million.

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