For Immediate Release
Contact: Jeff Tittel, NJ Sierra Club, 609-558-9100
Attorney General Gurbir S. Grewal and Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) Commissioner Catherine R. McCabe today announced the filing of against Honeywell International, Inc. It seeks to restore natural resources damaged by contamination from the Quanta Resources Superfund Site along the Hudson River in Edgewater, Bergen County.
“New Jersey is going after Natural Resource Damages and making Honeywell pay for the mess they made and its impact the environment. The company’s negligence has destroyed wetlands and pollution from the Quanta site has migrated under the Hudson River. They have to compensate the public for loss of resources. This land is held in the public trust and DEP needs to go after them. In New Jersey, natural resources are held in the public trust doctrine, and when you damage those resources, you have to pay. People in this community are living in a toxic nightmare and getting sick because of a bad cleanup plan that doesn’t address the problems of the Quanta site. The Quanta site is one of the most contaminated and toxic sites in the state with tons of volatile organic compounds (VOCs), arsenic, lead and hydrocarbons,” said Jeff Tittel, Director of the New Jersey Sierra Club. “New Jersey is standing up for public health and the environment by holding Honeywell accountable. Now they need to make sure damages are paid for and urge the EPA for a full cleanup.”
Among other things, the complaint seeks the award of clean-up costs to the State and compensation for NRDs resulting from decades of coal tar processing operations at the 15-acre site, as well as the manufacture of paving and roofing materials, and use of the site for waste oil storage and recycling. All operations were halted at the Quanta property in 1981.
“DEP must make sure that they pay for polluting the community of Edgewater. This is part of polluter pay. These areas are held in the public trust and have been destroyed by with chemicals and carelessness. The site is located in a very densely populated area and because there is so much contamination, the soil and groundwater cleanup plans by the EPA do not go far enough,” said Tittel. “This area is on fill in the Hudson River where river water and seasonally high water tables can move these contaminants around. That is why there needs to be a real cleanup and not just stabilization.”
Naphthalene was released at the site after Honeywell began digging up contaminated soil in 2017 as part of its cleanup plan. Honeywell wants to prevent coal tar, arsenic and oil byproducts from escaping into the Hudson River by encasing them in concrete. Levels of naphthalene, which can cause cancer, began spiking in June 2017 and continued nearly every workday through March 2018, when work at the site was temporarily halted. The state health report found that at their peak naphthalene levels reached nearly 1,000 micrograms per cubic meter. Half that amount can cause respiratory damage.
“We need to hold Honeywell accountable for a real cleanup plan. Their initial plan doesn’t actually remove the contamination. Instead, it traps the coal tar in the ground and suspends arsenic and other metals before they can get into groundwater. Instead of going with the most appropriate cleanup, they went with the less effective, cheaper cleanup plan. This has already had health impacts including the elevated levels of naphthalene which is why DEP must monitor a full cleanup plan,” said Jeff Tittel, Director of the New Jersey Sierra Club.