By Frank Brill, EnviroPolitics Editor
Electronics capacitor manufacturer Cornell Dubilier Electronics, Inc., has agreed to a consent decree with the Environmental Protection Agency providing $4 million for PCB cleanup, damages, and costs at the Woodbrook Road Dump Superfund site in South Plainfield, NJ.
Now located in South Carolina, Cornell Dubilier operated at the site from 1936 to 1962, manufacturing electronic parts and components, including capacitors.
According to the U.S. Department of Interior, the company dumped material contaminated with polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) and other hazardous substances directly onto site soils during its operations. The site is currently known as Hamilton Industrial Park, and since, Cornell-Dubilier Electronics’ departure, has been occupied by numerous commercial businesses
EPA has detected PCBs in the groundwater, soil, and building interiors at the industrial park and at nearby residential, commercial and municipal properties. EPA also has detected PCBs in the surface water and sediments of the Bound Brook, which crosses the site’s southeast corner.
A pre-1991 investigation conducted by the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection in the vicinity of the former CDE facility revealed significant groundwater contamination consisting mainly of the volatile organic compounds, trichloroethylene, and tetrachloroethylene. Due to widespread contamination, residential wells in the area were closed and residents were hooked up to a city water supply.
“This settlement places the responsibility for a portion of this cleanup where it belongs – on the polluter,” said Regional Administrator Lisa F. Garcia. “This settlement will help pay for the long-term site cleanup of the Woodbrook Road Dump in New Jersey. We are particularly focused on ensuring that this site doesn’t present a threat to the community and the protected wildlife preserve area in Middlesex County.”
Under the proposed $4 million settlement, EPA will receive $3,361,500 for site cleanup, the U.S. Department of Interior and the State will receive $265,000 for natural resource damages, and the State will receive $373,500 to resolve cost recovery claims.
In the 1940s and 1950s, the Woodbrook Road Dump accepted household and industrial waste, including electrical capacitors containing PCBs, which contaminated the surrounding soil. As a result, EPA added the site to the National Priorities List in 2003. Under EPA oversight, the property’s current owner, Texas Eastern Terminal Company (TETCO), removed several PCB-contaminated capacitors, secured the site, and performed the site investigation and study that later became the basis for EPA’s cleanup decision issued in 2013 and modified in 2018. EPA’s final cleanup plan calls for the removal of up to 120,000 cubic yards of contaminated soil and debris and the restoration of wetlands disturbed due to the cleanup work.
In 2020 EPA’s former Administrator tasked EPA with conducting an additional technical and scientific review of the cleanup plan in coordination with the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection. EPA is currently in the process of this review and expects to finish within the calendar year.
The consent decree, lodged in the U.S. Federal District Court of New Jersey, is subject to a 60-day comment period after which the United States will evaluate the comments and determine whether to proceed and then, if appropriate, seek final approval by the court.
For more information and to submit comments, visit: https://www.justice.gov/enrd/consent-decree/us-et-al-v-cornell-dubilier-electronics-incEXITEXIT EPA WEBSITE
For more information, visit the Woodbrook Road Dump Superfund site profile page.
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