This property, 323 N. Olden Ave. in Trenton, is the site of historic illegal dumping and is the focus of a new lawsuit from the state attorney general. (Tim Larsen | Office of the AG)
Michael Sol Warren reports for NJ.com
Speaking at the headquarters of the community nonprofit Camden Lutheran Housing, New Jersey Attorney General Gurbir Grewal and New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection Commissioner Catherine McCabe detailed the filing of eight new lawsuits.
The lawsuits focus on situations where companies, ranging from small businesses to publicly traded corporations, have been found responsible for polluting sites years ago and taking no responsibility for the clean-ups. Communities from Newark and Camden to Flemington and Phillipsburg are encompassed in the new lawsuits.
“Environmental justice means that everyone, no matter race, ethnicity, color, national origin, or income, deserves to live and work in a healthy and clean environment,” Grewal said. “But too often, the same communities suffer the worst environmental problems over and over again but don’t get the support that they need.”
NJ files suit to force cleanup of Palmyra site
David Levinsky reports for the Burlington County Times:
Among the eight complaints filed by the office and the DEP, was one targeting the owners and operators of the Fillit Corp. property on Route 73 in Palmyra.
The 104-acre property is located along the Pennsauken Creek next to the Palmyra Cove Nature Center and the foot of the Tacony-Palmyra Bridge. It was formerly a municipal landfill before being converted to a sand and gravel business in the 1990s and then a leaf and yard waste recycling business, the Attorney General’s Office said.
In the lawsuit, the Attorney General’s Office alleges Fillit’s operations resulted in the destruction of wetlands along the creek, along with the importation of unauthorized solid waste. In 2012 the property was leased to Jersey Recycling Services, whose owners are accused of bringing in “thousands of tons” of illegal solid waste, including concrete, asphalt and contaminated soils.
The Attorney General’s Office said the DEP brought multiple enforcement actions against both Fillit and Jersey Recycling demanding that they clean up the site and pay penalties, but both companies failed to comply and in 2014 Jersey Recycling abandoned the property without completing remediation there.
The illegal dumping was described in a State Commission of Investigations report released in March 2017, which also revealed that Jersey Recycling was run by Bradley Sirkin, a convicted felon with ties to organized crime.
According to the SCI report, during Jersey Recycling’s 18 months of operations it accepted more than 380,000 cubic yards of material, much of it unauthorized construction debris such as crushed brick, concrete aggregate, asphalt and contaminated soil, which it then mixed with grass clippings, weeds and branches and sold as mulch and topsoil.
Sirkin, who resided in Boca Raton, Florida, last year, was among the defendants named in the environmental lawsuit. According to last year’s SCI report, he has ties through marriage to the Lucchese crime family, and he was convicted in 1992 for conspiracy, wire fraud and unlawful interstate transportation stemming from a so-called “bust out scheme” involving the resale of $500,000 worth of cosmetics.
Sirkin served two years in federal prison and later, when in a halfway house, became associated with former Philadelphia/South Jersey mob boss Joseph “Skinny Joey” Merlino, according to the SCI report, which described Sirkin as Merlino’s “constant companion” and frequently his driver.
