This article provides a brief description of the
Lower Passaic River Restoration Project (LPRRP) in New Jersey. A
study performed in 1983 by the United States Environmental
Protection Agency (USEPA) and the New Jersey Department of
Environmental Protection (NJDEP) found elevated concentrations of
dioxins in the sediments in the Lower Passaic River adjacent to the
Diamond Alkali property at 80 and 120 Lister Avenue, Newark, New
Jersey. As a result of the 1983 Dioxin Study, USEPA placed the
Diamond Alkali site on the National Priorities List (NPL) in 1984
and the state of New Jersey issued fish and seafood consumption
advisories for the river.
Investigation activities conducted by USEPA, NJDEP, and the named
responsible party for the Diamond Alkali Superfund Site (Occidental
Chemical Corporation) found that sediments within Newark Bay and the
17-mile stretch of the Lower Passaic River that extends from Newark
Bay to Dundee Dam in Garfield, New Jersey are impacted with dioxins
and other hazardous substances. As a result of these findings, the
Lower Passaic River (LPR) and Newark Bay were added as Operable
Units (OUs) of the Diamond Alkali Superfund Site in 2003 and 2004,
respectively.
USEPA has identified Occidental Chemical Corporation as the
responsible party for the Diamond Alkali Superfund Site, including
the LPR and Newark Bay OUs. In 1995, the USEPA began issuing CERCLA
Section 104(e) information request letters to current and former
property owners, tenants, or facility operators in the general
vicinity of the LPRRP. The letters requested information about past
material handling practices and known or suspected releases of
contamination to the Passaic River. The USEPA used this information
to identify additional potentially responsible parties (PRPs) for
the LPRRP. The USEPA continues to issue CERCLA Section 104(e)
information request letters, and the total number issued to date is
not tracked by the USEPA.
In 2004, the USEPA entered into an Administrative Order on Consent (AOC)
with 31 PRPs for the LPRRP. This AOC required the PRPs to fund up to
$10 million for USEPA’s future response costs for conducting
remedial investigation/feasibility study (RI/FS) activities of the
LPRRP. This estimate does not include the cost of remediation. The
LPRRP AOC was amended in 2005 when USEPA added 12 additional PRPs
and increased the payment requirement for USEPA’s future response
costs from $10 million to $10.75 million.
The USEPA issued a new AOC in 2007 for the LPRRP. The 2007 AOC named
73 PRPs for the LPRRP (including Occidental Chemical Corporation,
the 31 PRPs named in the 2004 LPRRP AOC, and the 12 PRPs added to
the LPRRP AOC in 2005). The 2007 AOC requires the PRPs to conduct
the RI/FS activities in the LPRRP and requires the PRPs to pay up to
$13.15 million for USEPA’s future response costs related to the
RI/FS activities.
Since 2007, the PRPs for the LPRRP have increased from 73 to more
than 300, including additional PRPs identified by the USEPA and PRPs
named in third-party complaints brought on by the PRPs for the
Newark Bay OU. The USEPA has identified 36 additional PRPs based on
information they continue to receive in response to the CERCLA
Section 104(e) information request letters. In February 2009, the
PRPs for the Newark Bay OU (which consist of the corporate successor
of the Occidental Chemical Corporation) filed third -party
complaints against more than 300 parties, including municipalities
and nearly all 73 PRPs that are named in the 2007 LPRRP AOC. Nearly
250 properties and storm and sanitary sewer systems are now involved
with the LPRRP.
Costs for RI/FS activities and remediating the contaminated
sediments in the LPRRP are currently estimated by the USEPA at more
than $1 billion. These costs do not include potential Natural
Resource Damages (NRD). The extent of the contamination in the LPR
has not yet been fully defined and a final remedial action has not
yet been selected. Therefore, the total costs for RI/FS and
remediation of the contaminated sediments remain uncertain. A
comprehensive sediment characterization report for the LPRRP is due
in 2010. Once this document is completed, the identification of
additional PRPs and allocation activities for the LPRRP RI/FS and
remedial action costs will likely accelerate.
For more information, please contact
John Elliott at
(925) 403-6200.
