By Tony Dearing, NJ.com
Welcome to Keyport, where the furor over chemical contamination and a shocking number of cancer cases has finally reached full force.
Concerned residents flock to town meetings. The governor’s office is up in arms. The state DEP and Department of Health have issued a joint statement. U.S. Rep. Frank Pallone, D-6th Dist., fired off a letter demanding “urgent” action.
All of which begs the question: where’s everyone been for the past four decades?
Editor’s Note: This is just one of dozens of stories enjoyed today by subscribers to our newsletter, EnviroPolitics. Try it for free for 30 days
The Captain Renaults of environmental protection in New Jersey profess to be shocked, shocked that pollutants are threatening public health in Keyport.
But c’mon, who are they kidding? The toxic brew of cancer-causing chemicals at the site of the former Aeromarine landfill is no secret. It’s been documented since the mid-1980s.
And all it’s done since then is fester, contaminating groundwater, leaching into a creek that flows to the Raritan Bay — and possibly contributing to a cancer cluster of alarming proportions.
The passivity of the public and the sporadic, ineffective efforts of elected officials, regulators, and the courts to come to terms with this toxic time bomb are hard to comprehend.
