EnviroPolitics Blog

Remediation coming to a close for a part of Universal Oil Products Superfund Site in East Rutherford, NJ

From the USEPA

NEW YORK (July 22, 2022) –Today, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) proposes that no further cleanup action is needed to address groundwater at the Universal Oil Products Superfund site in East Rutherford, NJ.

Sampling data indicates that there are no expected impacts on the surface water from the site. To further ensure long-term protection, EPA proposes amending the original cleanup action, requiring notices to be filed with property records and incorporating other measures to safeguard the cleanup.

“Today’s proposed action ensures that long-term controls are in place to inform and safeguard public health both now and long into the future,” said Regional Administrator Lisa F. Garcia. ” EPA believes that earlier cleanup actions for the land portion of the site, which includes soil and groundwater, are protective, and we are moving forward with other portions of the cleanup.”

Other Superfund news:
EPA plans to clean up contaminated groundwater in Olean Well Field Superfund Site in Cattaraugus County, New York
EPA is spending $5.5M to clean up Bucks and Montgomery County Superfund sites
What is Superfund?

Today’s proposed cleanup comes after work has already been done under a 1993 cleanup plan selected by EPA in close consultation with the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection. Under that plan, contaminated soil was dug up and treated, the area was capped, and long-term monitoring was required.

Notice requirement for property owners

The addition proposed by EPA today requires that property owners planning new construction on the land portion of the site evaluate conditions to ensure pollutants in indoor air will not exceed levels protective of human health for building occupants. In addition, property owners may be required to install certain engineering controls such as a vapor barrier or a sub-slab-depressurization system, which uses a fan-powered vent to draw air from beneath the foundation slab, redirecting potentially harmful vapor from entering the building.

The Universal Oil Products Superfund site is a 75-acre area located in East Rutherford, New Jersey. Site operations starting in the 1930s included chemical manufacturing and solvent recovery, later expanding in the mid-1950s to include a wastewater treatment plant and storage lagoons. Seepage from the wastewater lagoons and the routine handling of products and wastes resulted in the release of hazardous substances to the upland soil, groundwater, tidal marshes, and waterways.

EPA placed the site on the Superfund National Priorities List in 1983 and divided the site into two distinct areas called operable units (OUs). Today’s proposed plan is for the first operable unit, which addresses the upland soil and shallow groundwater.

EPA selected a cleanup plan for OU2 in 2019, which addresses a former lagoon area, low-lying marshes, and the waterway channels of Ackermans Creek and its tributaries. The design for that cleanup is currently underway.

Public meeting July 27 on cleanup plan for Operating Unit 2

The proposed plan’s 30-day public comment period will occur from July 22, 2022, to August 22, 2022. In addition, EPA will host a Virtual Public Meeting on July 27, 2022, at 6:30 p.m.

To register for the public meeting, visit universaloilproducts.eventbrite.com. To learn more about the public meeting, contact Shereen Kandil at Kandil.Shereen@epa.gov or (212) 637-4333

Written comments on EPA’s proposed plan may be mailed or emailed to Jennifer LaPoma, Remedial Project Manager, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, 290 Broadway – 18th Floor, New York, NY 10007, Email: LaPoma.Jennifer@epa.gov.

Visit the Universal Oil Products Superfund site profile page for additional background and to view the proposed plan.

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DEP posts $45 million to fix dams

Owners urged to protect public safety as climate change threatens bigger floods

By Jon Hurdle. NJ Spotlight

New Jersey is providing $45 million in new low-interest loans to repair and upgrade dams to ensure their safety and help them cope with increased flooding caused by climate change.

Department of Environmental Protection is making $40 million available through a state program on dam restoration, and another $5 million through the Inland Waters Loan Program which funds flood-mitigation projects such as dredging and stream restoration.

DEP Commissioner Shawn LaTourette said the new funding is part of the state’s plan to become more resilient to the effects of climate change.

“This funding will enable private and municipal dam owners to undertake environmental infrastructure projects that provide more spillway capacity that is critical to public safety, especially as rainfall events continue to become more severe due to our changing climate,” he said in a statement Monday.

Read the full story

#enviropolitics #njenviro #njdep #dams flooding #latourette

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Calif. forests vanish as wildfires burn larger

The Crescent Grade north of the Sierra Nevada town of Greenville, where Highway 89 was green with pines, firs, and cedars before the Dixie fire charred the area. (Brian van der Brug / Los Angeles Times)

By Elvia Limón, Laura Blasey, and Amy Hubbard, LA Times

A burn scar in Northern California offers an unsettling glimpse into what forests across the Sierra Nevada could become. Bare tree carcasses are strewn across the dun-colored hills. Rock outcroppings jut out like bones.

Two massive wildfires have torn through here over the last 15 years. It’s a pattern that threatens to repeat across California’s most extensive and iconic mountain range as wildfires have increased in both size and severity over the last two decades.

About 1.5 million acres of the Sierra Nevada burned last fire season. That surpassed 2020. A study by researchers at UC Irvine and UC Davis found that solely considering rising summer temperatures, the acreage burned will increase by up to 92% by the 2040s.

Calif. forests vanish as wildfires burn larger Read More »

Wildfires rage in Greece, Spain and Italy as heatwave moves across Europe

*Blazes across Europe have been reported amid high temperatures and strong winds (Picture: Metro.co.uk)*

Wildfires are raging across Europe, where a heatwave has intensified drought conditions.

By Alys Davies & Malu Cursino, BBC News

Though temperatures have cooled in France and the UK, firefighters are still tackling blazes in Greece, Spain, and Italy.

The fires in France’s badly hit southwest have started to be brought under control.

And as the heatwave moves north-east, low water levels are hampering transport on rivers in Germany.

Heatwaves have become more frequent, more intense, and last longer because of human-induced climate change. The world has already warmed by about 1.1C since the industrial era began and temperatures will keep rising unless governments around the world make steep cuts to emissions.

More than 1,000 deaths have been linked to the extremely high temperatures in Portugal while in Spain it is at least 500.

In Greece, firefighters were tackling a blaze on Mount Penteli, to the north-east of the capital Athens.

In the nearby town of Pallini, state electricity workers were scrambling to remove burnt pylons, the BBC’s Kostas Koukoumakas reports.

Takis Panagopoulos, 87, woke up at 03:00 (00:00 GMT) to a red sky. “The fire surrounded the house and I managed to leave the area by car,” he said.

Mr Panagopoulos, who was for many years an amateur actor, said his house could be rebuilt but his collection of more than 1,200 theatre books had been turned to ashes.

Firefighting helicopters were dropping water, one after the other. Winds in excess of 80km/h (49mph) have made it harder to contain the fire.

In pictures: Western Europe swelters in heatwave

Firefighters across Europe have faced scorching temperatures amid a surge in wildfires
GETTY IMAGE

Wildfires rage in Greece, Spain and Italy as heatwave moves across Europe Read More »

Refusal by some Walgreen employees to fill birth-control prescriptions prompts calls for a boycott

By Amy Kuperinsky | NJ Advance Media for NJ.com

What is going on at Walgreens?

It’s a question people are asking, calling for a Walgreens boycott after a series of customer stories emerged on social media making claims about troubling barriers to health care and the way personal information is used by the pharmacy chain.

Over the last few weeks, people have said they were denied birth control pills and condoms at Walgreens. Another customer said she was sent a box of baby formula after buying a pregnancy test at the store.

The stories arrive during a tense time following the Supreme Court decision overturning Roe v. Wade, with people in many states facing a rollback of reproductive rights and the institution of abortion bans.

As Walgreens outlined in a tweet that has been resurfaced during the current conversation, the pharmacy chain allows pharmacists to refuse to fill a prescription if they have “a moral objection.” But they are supposed to ask another pharmacist to help the customer fill the prescription instead.

The provision for pharmacy sales covers birth control, emergency contraceptives, and anything an employee may find objectionable.

Earlier this month, a 20-year-old customer named Abigail Martin shared her experience at Walgreens on TikTok.

When she tried to fill the birth control prescription she had been taking for six years, she ran into an unexpected obstacle. Despite having multiple refills left, she got a text from Walgreens saying she had none remaining. After getting nowhere on the phone, she went to the store. ‘

Martin said that a Walgreens employee who was wearing two crosses looked her up and down, then told her the prescription could not be filled and that she’d have to contact her provider.

“I said ‘You won’t refill it or you can’t refill it?’” Martin said.

The employee again said to call her provider. After Martin called the doctor’s office, she was told she had four refills and they didn’t know why the pharmacy wasn’t filling the prescription. The office got in touch with Walgreens. Meanwhile, Martin got a text saying her prescription was delayed, followed by another saying it was … out of stock.

Read the full story here

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New turbine design could withstand hurricane-force winds

From AccuWeather

Researchers say a two-blade, downward rotor could be more resistant to hurricane-force winds, while using materials that are lighter and more affordable

Click here for the video report

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