EPA Proposes Settlement to Provide $151 Million for Cleanup of Raritan Bay Slag Superfund Site and to Resolve Natural Resource Damage Claims
NEW YORK – Today, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency announced a proposed consent decree that would pay EPA’s past and future costs of cleanup at the Raritan Bay Slag Superfund Site in Old Bridge Township and Sayreville, New Jersey. The proposed consent decree requires parties identified as potentially responsible for the site, which include NL Industries, Inc. and its former customers, Old Bridge Township, several federal agencies, and the state, to pay $151.1 million. EPA will receive $132.4 million as reimbursement for past work and to pay for the remaining cleanup work at the site. The consent decree also would resolve the claims of the Natural Resource Trustees, which will receive $18.7 million. Natural Resource Trustees are entities designated to act to seek compensation for damages or loss of use of natural resources damaged by the release of a hazardous substance into the environment. Trustees often have information and technical expertise about the biological effects of hazardous substances, as well as the location of sensitive species and habitats that can assist EPA.
“This settlement would allow EPA to finish this cleanup and return the waterfront back to the community so that residents and visitors can use the beach without being concerned about their health,” said EPA Regional Administrator Lisa F. Garcia. “EPA looks forward to cleaning up the seawall and jetty and making good on our commitment to protect people from exposure to toxic lead.”
The proposed consent decree, which has been lodged in the United States federal district court for the district of New Jersey, will be subject to 60-day public comment periods once notice is published in the Federal Register and New Jersey Register. At the close of the comment periods, the United States and the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection (NJDEP) will evaluate the comments and decide whether to proceed and then, if appropriate, seek final approval by the court.
The Raritan Bay Slag Superfund site is on the southern shore of Raritan Bay. The site consists of the Seawall Sector, which contains a seawall about 2,300 feet long in Old Bridge Township, NJ; the Margaret’s Creek Sector, which consists of a 47-acre wetland located immediately east of the Seawall Sector; and the Jetty Sector, which consists of the approximately 750-foot-long western jetty, located nearly a mile west of the seawall in adjacent Sayreville, New Jersey.
The primary sources of contamination at the site are slag and battery casings. The seawall and the western jetty were constructed using slag from blast furnace bottoms from secondary smelting operations in the late 1960s to early 1970s. Battery casings were also deposited at the site, particularly in the Margaret’s Creek Sector. The slag and battery casings resulted in high levels of lead contamination, including along the seawall and in the sand of a recreational beach immediately west of the seawall which resulted in the closure of a significant portion of a recreational beach area.
EPA issued a cleanup plan in May 2013 to excavate and dredge material contaminated with lead at the site. EPA is addressing the three sectors in a specific sequence to prevent recontamination of cleaned up areas. EPA completed the Margaret’s Creek Sector cleanup in September 2018. The cleanup included removing about 15,775 tons of soil and 1,802 tons of slag from that portion of the site and cost about $7 million. After becoming concerned about the quality of the engineering work being conducted by NL Industries for the Seawall Sector, EPA took over that work, which was completed last fall. If the settlement is finalized and when EPA receives payment, EPA can begin the cleanup work on the Seawall Sector followed by the Jetty Sector.
For more information, and to view the proposed consent decree and to submit comments to the United States, please visit Proposed Consent Decrees: U.S., et al., v. NL Industries, Inc., et al.
For additional background about the site, visit the Raritan Bay Superfund Site.
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