Dissatisfied with company’s plan, EPA takes over Raritan Bay Superfund cleanup

The Raritan Bay Slag Superfund site is in the center of the map, indicated by the encircled red arrow.

By Jon Hurdle, contributing writer, NJ Spotlight

The Environmental Protection Agency said Thursday it will take over planning for the cleanup of a heavily polluted Superfund site on Raritan Bay because it’s dissatisfied with a remediation proposal by a company it holds responsible for the contamination there.

The federal regulator will now design a program to remove lead, arsenic, and antimony from the Raritan Bay Slag site in the Laurence Harbor section of Old Bridge and Sayreville. Metal waste from blast furnaces was dumped into the bay during the 1960s and ‘70s by NL Industries, formerly National Lead Co., a Texas-based lead smelter that now makes ball-bearing slides and other products.

The company sent the EPA its plan for cleaning up the site, which is on the EPA’s National Priorities List for cleanup, but the agency concluded that the proposal failed to meet its standards.

“We’ve been dissatisfied with the progress and the timeliness and the quality of the work,” said Walter Mugdan, Acting Administrator for the agency’s Region 2 office, at a news conference overlooking the bay.

“Back in February, we gave them one last chance,” Mugdan said. “There was a whole laundry list of comments that you have to address and corrections you have to make, and they asked for a certain number of months to do that work. We got what they submitted; we were still totally dissatisfied.”

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Group lists environmental accomplishments and challenges for NJ

Green in '21


From the NJ League of Conservation Voters

In 2017, New Jersey LCV Education Fund launched an effort called Green in ’17, an educational initiative that sought to elevate the public conversation about the environment in the Governor’s race while educating lawmakers, candidates, and residents on environmental issues and solutions that would protect New Jersey’s air, land, and water. As a result of this campaign, the environment became a top 5 election issue in the 2017 race and voter’s appetites for bold climate action have only increased since then.

During the last four years, New Jersey has made nation-leading progress in regards to safe drinking water, a clean energy economy, environmental justice, and open space conservation. But according to the findings of the latest IPCC report, we have very little time before the world reaches the point of no return on climate. New Jersey cannot rest on its laurels and must continue to be proactive in our efforts to protect public health and the environment.

We’ve launched Green in ’21 to continue to leverage New Jersey’s environmental accomplishments over the past four years and work to build a more equitable, healthier, and sustainable state for generations to come. 

Below you’ll find our 2021 Environmental Policy Guide, which draws on the expertise of over 25 partner organizations — including environmental, justice, community-based, health, student, and civil rights groups. This broad and holistic compendium illustrates environmental, public health issues, and equity challenges facing New Jersey and our communities, as well as the opportunities that lie ahead.

There will be roadblocks that stand in the way of progress. However, our commitment to prepare a sustainable transition to a just, one hundred percent clean energy economy has never been more focused.

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How do we recycle solar panels that can’t be reused?


By PVBuzz editorial team

The problem with recycling solar modules is they usually last 20 to 25 years and are known to work for up to 40 years.

In an industry that is really only about a decade old, that’s quite a lag time. While most solar panel recyclers specialize in extracting value out of refurbishing waste solar modules, there are other companies that specialize in recycling glass, metals, and other components.

David Dodge of Green Energy Futures spoke with Cascade Eco Minerals based in Medford, Oregon. They are a division of Dlubak Specialty Glass a company with a long history in the glass business.

“We’re really focused on the end-of-life processing of the glass because these modules tend to be 65 to 85% glass by weight,” says Chris Stearns, who used to work in the solar industry, but now is Cascade’s national sales director.

Listen to the conversation

This podcast was produced and published by Green Energy Futures. It was originally published on their Soundcloud Channel. Its published here via a content partnership.

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A national bottle bill is in the wings, separate from the Break Free From Plastic Pollution Act

Mario Tama via Getty Images


Megan Quinn Reporter, WasteDive

Bottle bill proponents are working with lawmakers to introduce a bill they hope will create a nationwide container deposit program. Details are still in the works, but organizers plan to use similar language from the draft Break Free From Plastic Pollution Act. It would likely allow states with existing bottle bills to continue with state programs or have the option to join the federal program. 

The National Stewardship Action Council (NSAC) has started a political action committee, End Litter Now, to direct resources into the effort and says the bill could be introduced as early as September. The Container Recycling Institute, Greenpeace, and other groups are also involved.

Separately, authors of the American Recycling Infrastructure Plan have also called for the bottle bill language in the Break Free bill to become a standalone bill. That group includes the National Recycling Coalition, Institute for Local Self-Reliance (ILSR), and Zero Waste USA. 

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EPA Proposes Interim Plan to Address Groundwater Contamination at Superfund Site in Gloucester City and Camden, NJ

 
Image  CONTACT: mcbay.stephen@epa.gov
 

(August 24, 2021) – The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has proposed an interim plan to address groundwater contaminated with radium at the Welsbach/General Gas Mantle Superfund site located in Camden and Gloucester City, New Jersey. EPA is taking public comment on its plan and will host a virtual public meeting on September 8.

“This proposed plan continues EPA’s work to protect residents of Gloucester City and Camden from contamination associated with this site. Having already taken many actions to address the source of contamination, in this case, we are focusing on contaminated groundwater,” said Acting Regional Administrator Walter Mugdan.

“This is an interim plan that we propose to implement as we continue to assess the groundwater to see if we need to do more to address it in the long term. We feel this interim plan is the best approach and we look forward to continue to work closely with the impacted communities.”

EPA is proposing an interim cleanup plan, called a remedy, which will allow natural processes to break down radioactive elements in the groundwater into less harmful substances, coupled with putting into place institutional controls, such as restrictions on the use of the impacted groundwater, and conducting long-term monitoring of the groundwater to ensure that the breakdown of radioactive elements is happening as anticipated.

EPA reached its decision based on information including results of the sampling of the groundwater between 2018 and 2020.

The Welsbach/General Gas Mantle Superfund site is divided into four phases of work called operable units, which are discrete pieces of the wider cleanup effort. This proposed plan addresses the fourth operable unit (OU4), which is groundwater. Under a cleanup plan for operable unit 1 (OU1) EPA is currently addressing radiologically impacted soil in the study area in Gloucester City, New Jersey.

The interim remedy proposed today would be implemented during the OU1 cleanup of the radiologically contaminated soil. Once that soil, which is a source of groundwater contamination, is fully addressed the interim groundwater remedy will be reevaluated and EPA will establish a permanent groundwater cleanup plan.EPA completed the cleanup work for OU2 in 2017, which included decontaminating building surfaces at the Armstrong Building (the last remaining building from Welsbach’s gas mantle operations) and disposing of the radiologically contaminated soil/waste to an approved off-site location.

After careful study, EPA determined that no cleanup action was needed for OU3, which includes wetlands, surface water, and sediment as they posed no radiological threat to people or the environment.EPA will continue to monitor the groundwater and will conduct a review of the site conditions at least every five years to ensure the effectiveness of the interim remedy.

Work under today’s proposed plan is estimated to cost $460,000.

The EPA will hold a virtual public meeting to discuss its proposed interim plan on September 8, 2021, at 6:00 pm. To register for the public meeting, please visit https://welsbach-ggm.eventbrite.com. Written comments on the proposed plan, postmarked no later than close of business September 24, 2021, can be mailed or emailed to Thomas Dobinson, Remedial Project Manager, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, 290 Broadway – 19th Floor, New York, NY 10007, Email: dobinson.thomas@epa.gov

For site background and to view the proposed interim plan, visit: https://www.epa.gov/superfund/welsbach-ggm

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Public hearings start today on proposed NRG peaker plant upgrade in Astoria, NY

Rendering of NRG’s Astoria Replacement Project. (Photo credit: NRG)

By Angélica Acevedo QNS

Community members will get a chance to comment virtually on the controversial proposed upgrade to the NRG power plant in Astoria on Tuesday, Aug. 24.

The New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) will hold the first public hearing on the proposal at 1 p.m. and 6 p.m. The second hearing will be held on Thursday, Aug. 26, at 1 p.m. and 6 p.m.

The proposal has garnered staunch disapproval from dozens of local elected officials, Mayor Bill de Blasio, and community climate advocates as well as support from local business advocates and union reps.

NRG, a large Houston-based energy, and fossil fuel company, is seeking the state’s approval for their Astoria Replacement Project, a plan they say will replace and upgrade existing generators at their Astoria peaker plant — located in the Con Edison-owned station at 31-01 20th Ave. — with natural gas-fired power. Peaker plants operate when there’s a high demand in electricity by burning fossil fuels that emit harmful air pollutants into the air.

NRG wants the plant to remain a peaking facility, but says they’ll add new technology to provide “immediate clean air benefits.”

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