Where are the salmon and the orcas? Tribe, scientists grapple with their unprecedented disappearance

*| Lummi Nation spiritualist Richard Solomon offers a prayer for the southern-resident orcas on a private beach in the San Juan… (Alan Berner / The Seattle Times)*

By Lynda V. Mapes Seattle Times environment reporter

ABOARD THE LENGESOT IN THE SALISH SEA — The tote was loaded and full of water, the cedar boughs cut and stacked on deck. But as Lummi tribal members headed out on their traditional waters to offer a ceremonial feeding of live chinook salmon to the endangered southern-resident killer whales, neither whale nor fish was anywhere to be found.

Tuesday marks a month since the southern residents were last seen in their usual home waters in and around the San Juan Islands. Usually, present nearly every day at this time of year, the orcas have shown up only a handful of times this year, and then, only for brief visits before quickly leaving again for waters of the outer coast.

In this historic summer of unthinkables, day after day is passing without the orcas and fish that normally enliven the waters of the inland Salish Sea.

Meanwhile, the chinook runs to the Fraser River the whales are usually hunting in their ancient foraging grounds have cratered. And on a recent weekday on the waters of northern Puget Sound and the San Juan Islands, but for a cluster of oil tankers staging offshore from the refineries in and around Cherry Point, the waters were quiet and still.

“Do you have any fish?” Raynell Morris asked on her cellphone, calling one fisherman after another from the boat. Senior policy adviser in the Sovereignty and Treaty Protection Office of the Lummi Indian Business Council, she and other Lummi tribal members normally would have loaded the tote with fish for the whales before heading out. But with no fish to be had at home, they decided to chance getting some from fishermen as they were out on the water.

As she dialed, Richard Solomon prepared. A spiritualist for the Lummi Nation, his prayers were to be offered along with the fish for J17, a matriarch of the southern residents not yet seen this spring or summer, and feared dead. And for K25, also missing. And for the extended family of the southern residents, or in the Lummi language, qwel lhol mech ten: the people who live under the sea.

After hours of searching for whales and fish, the Lummi decided to offer what they could.

Kurt Russo, a strategist with Lummi Nation Sovereignty and Treaty Protection, carries cedar boughs to be used in prayer as Lummi Natural Resource Enforcement Officer Aaron Hillaire ties up the boat. (Alan Berner / The Seattle Times)

Aaron Hillaire, of the Lummi Nation, docked the tribal police boat used for the voyage at an ancient Lummi village site in the San Juans, dating back more than 4,000 years. Solomon had painted his face for spiritual protection. An ermine skin flashed white from his cedar hat. Morris, carrying the cedar boughs, followed him as he walked ashore.

Solomon stopped and rinsed his face with cool, clean water. On the way to the village site, he suddenly stopped again, and plucked ripe blackberries, fat and succulent. He held onto them though, without eating a one.

Then Morris and Solomon walked down the beach to the water’s edge, where with song and prayer, they offered the berries, floated on cedar boughs, to the whales.

Lummi spiritualist Richard Solomon wears weavings made by Lummi hereditary chief Bill James. (Alan Berner / The Seattle Times)

Afterward, sitting amid driftwood logs on the beach, Solomon scooped up a heap of white shell fragments in his fisherman’s hands, still red from ceremonial paint. He held the shells, and their memories. They had calved off from an archaeological deposit called a shell midden: bits of shell and bone left in the ground from cooking. The midden was layered in white bands in the ground stacked head-high along the shore.

As he walked back to the boat, Solomon paused, looking out over the cove, and sang his grandmother’s song. She had grown up here. It felt so good to be back, he said, with the memories of this place. “This is when we get to time travel,” he said, still holding the shells, pouring them slowly, carefully, from one palm to the other. They made a soft rattling sound.

Ken Balcomb, of the Center for Whale Research, keeps the official count of southern residents, and usually announces the whales born and died since the previous July. But for scientists, too, it is a summer so far without precedent. Research scheduled for summer encounters with the whales has been impossible to conduct.

Balcomb said he would go out in search of the southern residents to take stock if they haven’t come home by mid-August, when Canadian scientists end their field season. Those researchers have recently been seeing the southern residents on the west side of Vancouver Island, he said. L pod was even seen off the coast of California, in Monterey Bay in April, searching for fish.

Morris said she was not yet ready to call the offering the Lummi made for J17 and K25 a memorial. But she knows their family is in trouble.

“We are here for them, and all the whale people,” Morris said. “Famine; there is no word in Lummi for what is happening.”

Lynda V. Mapes: 206-464-2515 or lmapes@seattletimes.com; on Twitter: @LyndaVMapes. Lynda specializes in coverage of the environment, natural history, and Native American tribes.

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Graves beneath Schuylkill Yards? Developer meets with experts — and Quakers — to discuss what to do

Stephan Salisbury reports for Philly.com

In the wake of revelations that its massive Schuylkill Yards development around 30th Street Station might be rising in the midst of extensive historic burial grounds, Brandywine Realty Trust called an informal meeting last week to discuss what the situation might portend for the project.

Brandywine and its partner, Drexel University, owner of much of the land that will be used for the $3.5 billion development, learned in March that the site sits atop two burial grounds begun by Quakers around the time of the city’s founding in 1682.

Known as the Upper and Lower Burial Grounds, the cemeteries became heavily used potter’s fields through much of the 18th and 19th centuries, until the land was acquired by the Pennsylvania Railroad in 1850.

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After publication in The Inquirer this month of an account of the potential for disruption of historic gravesites, Brandywine contacted members of the city’s design, historic preservation, and archaeological communities, as well as state officials and representatives of the Society of Friends to discuss how best to proceed.

At a private meeting Thursday in the Brandywine offices on the 17th floor of the Cira South building south of the station, a historical report on the site was presented to attendees by George Thomas, a well-known architectural historian. Gerard H. Sweeney, Brandywine president, chief executive, and trustee was present, according to several attendees.

**HISTORICAL SOCIETY OF PENNSYLVANIA**1864 watercolor painting by David J. Kennedy of coffins protruding from the ground at Lower burial ground near the present site of 30th St. station. Historical Society of Pennsylvania.

Thomas said that, given the extensive building and railroad construction in the area, it was unlikely any human remains survive on the site.

“It can be safely concluded that the site has been scraped, graded, excavated, and otherwise completely altered so that the likelihood of human remains on the proposed building sites has been much reduced,” he said in the executive summary of his report, which Brandywine released to The Inquirer.

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New Jersey Audubon weighs in on plastic bag fee vs. ban

Kelly Mooij, NJ Audubon Society

This opinion piece by Kelly Mooij of the NJ Audubon Society appeared in today’s Asbury Park Press:

Consider this: Plastic carryout bags are used for an average of just 12 minutes but live on in our environment for hundreds of years. Created from oil, plastic bags are non-biodegradable, harm wildlife, debilitate recycling facilities and pose threats to public health.

At least 600 species of wildlife have been harmed by plastic pollution, according to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. Seabird species such as ospreys and cormorants are particularly vulnerable to the effects of ingesting plastic particles, leading to intestinal blockage and reproductive failure. To paint an even bigger picture, projections warn that by 2050 there will be more plastic than fish in our oceans.

In a state where residents use approximately 4.4 billion bags each year, it’s clear that we don’t have any time to waste to bag up this mess. The good news is that the wheels are in motion.

A bill that would impose a 5-cent fee on carryout bags currently awaits Gov. Phil Murphy’s pen, but it needs some work. NJ Audubon is urging the governor to conditionally veto A3267/S2600 to close significant loopholes that would exclude certain populations and stores from complying, allow stores to provide thicker plastic bags to customers free of charge, and preempt municipalities from passing their own bag laws.

This is not a bad bill, and a bag fee will certainly not be bad for our environment as some reports have claimed. Rather, it’s an excellent first step to curb the use of plastic bags through behavior change that can be made significantly stronger with a few amendments.

Fees across the U.S. have dramatically reduced and prevented plastics from entering our environment. Washington, D.C.’s 2010 implementation of a 5-cent bag fee resulted in a 60 percent reduction in plastic waste. Six months after Boulder, Colorado implemented a 10-cent bag fee, use of single-use bags declined 68 percent.

Completely eliminating plastic bags is a goal shared by many. However, reducing plastic bag use by more than half within months of enactment cannot be called anything but progress. The current bill grandfathers in all cities and counties that pass ban ordinances before the governor signs the bill. Jersey City, the second largest city in the state, is the latest to act to ban bags. If the governor strengthens the bill on his desk, hundreds of thousands of New Jerseyans will be covered under a bag ban and the rest of the state will comply with a fee, reducing bag pollution significantly in the near term.

This is a first step, not the end of the discussion. A hybrid structure, popularly demonstrated in California, is ideal and consists of a ban on plastic bags and a fee on all other bags. We look forward to working toward a hybrid model in New Jersey as well as addressing other sources of plastic pollution such as straws and polystyrene, but immediate action is needed now.

A strengthened version of the bill on Murphy’s desk will move our state forward. This bill represents real action to deal with a problem we’ve been talking about for years. We can’t afford to miss this opportunity to break the plastic habit. Our waterways and wildlife will thank us.

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Gibbsboro residents claim Sherwin-Williams cancer link

Gibbsboro, NJ Mayor Ed Campbell at former Sherwin-Williams paint manufacturing plant

Carol Comegno reports for The Courier-Post:

A group of Gibbsboro, NJ residents filed federal legal action Tuesday claiming disposal of toxic waste from a former paint factory has caused a cancer cluster.

Nine families or individuals who live throughout Gibbsboro filed the lawsuit in U.S. District Court in Camden as a personal injury class action against Sherwin-Williams.

The lawsuit alleges Sherwin-Williams, a Fortune 500 company, contaminated the town’s soil and groundwater with unsafe levels of lead, arsenic and other carcinogens that have caused a cancer cluster in the borough.

The plant, a paint burn site, a separate dump, Kirkwood Lake, lakeside properties, and multiple connected streams and their banks are part of a Superfund cleanup site that stretches for 1.5 miles through Gibbsboro and into Voorhees. The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is overseeing the project.

Some members of the nine plaintiff families have been diagnosed with cancer or other serious health conditions, including children and one child as young as 3 months old, the suit contends. The contamination has migrated to surrounding residences and businesses within Gibbsboro, causing a cancer cluster within the town, according to the lawsuit.

Most of the plaintiffs live outside the boundaries of the designated Superfund sites.

“It is my firm belief that there has been contaminant migration beyond some of the Superfund sites and that this has caused cancer among some of the plaintiff adults and their children, including a 3-month-old baby,” said Haddonfield lawyer Craig Mitnick, who represents the residents.

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South Jersey paint factory caused ‘cancer cluster,’ lawsuit alleges

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Toxic Algae Found in Some New York City Ponds

A sign warned of an algae bloom in the Lake in Central Park, advising to keep animals away and not to drink from, wade in or fish in the water. Credit, Sam Hodgson for The New York Times

Lisa W. Foderaro reports for the New York Times:

Summer is here, and the lakes and ponds that dot New York City’s parks are awash in algae. Much of it is just unsightly. But some types, like the blue-green algae in the Lake in the southern half of Central Park, can be harmful, causing rashes on people and posing a lethal risk to dogs.

Blue-green algae can be hard to see. Its hallmark is a uniform green hue, sometimes with large swirls — as if someone spilled pale green paint on the darker green surface.

There is no simple fix for blue-green algae, also known as cyanobacteria, which is caused by an excess of nutrients like phosphorous and nitrogen in the water. In most parts of the country, those nutrients result from storm water and agricultural runoff, fertilizers, dog waste and nearby septic tanks.

The New York State Department of Environmental Conservation has tracked the presence of so-called harmful algal blooms since 2012, and this year, the season is off to a robust start. Each week, the department’s website updates a list of sites statewide with suspicious or confirmed blooms. It now includes 30 lakes and ponds.

“By August, we usually have 70 to 80 ponds and lakes on the list,” said Rebecca Gorney, a research scientist for the department, which has no oversight of New York City parks.Read the full story here
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Maurice River, NJ receiving $400K in EPA brownfield grants

The Environmental Protection Agency today announced:

Maurice River Township, NJ, was among 172 communities across the country selected by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) today to receive funding for brownfield site revitalization to help local governments redevelop vacant and unused properties, transforming communities and local economies.

“EPA is committed to working with communities to redevelop Brownfields sites which have plagued their neighborhoods. EPA’s Assessment and Cleanup grants target communities that are economically disadvantaged and include places where environmental cleanup and new jobs are most needed,” said EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt.

Maurice River Township will receive two brownfields grants totaling $400,000 as follows:

Cheli Sand and Gravel Site – $200,000

The $200,000 grant will be used to assess the Cheli Sand and Gravel site, a 13.65-acre abandoned sand and gravel mine/pit on Schooner Landing Road. The buildings that once stood on the property when the business was in operation have been demolished but the demolition debris remains on the site. In 2004, a site inspection raised many environmental concerns, including: underground storage tanks of unknown contents; a 5,000-gallon rail car that likely contained diesel fuel; evidence of illegal dumping of hazardous materials; and
pipe discharge from an on-site building to a wetland off-site.

Once cleaned up, the site may be offered to The Nature Conservancy to expand the 500-acre Manumuskin River Preserve. This project could further the community’s goal of preserving and protecting the sensitive natural resources within the preserve that surrounds the Cheli site.

Ackley Garage Site – $200,000

A $200,000 grant will be used to clean up the Ackley Garage site located on Route 47 within 900 feet of the Maurice River. The three-acre site operated as a gas station, automotive repair shop, general store, and residence until it was closed in the early 1990s. The funding will be used to remove and dispose contaminated soil, and remove contaminated debris, such as empty paint cans and car batteries. The funding will also be used to monitor groundwater contamination.

In addition, EPA grant funds will also be used to conduct community outreach, including distribution of updated fact sheets, development of a community involvement plan, and providing information materials at public meetings. In 2011, Maurice River Township received a $200,000 brownfield assessment grant that was used to assess the Ackley Garage site.

Assessment grants provide funding for a recipient to inventory, characterize, assess, and conduct planning and community involvement related to brownfield sites, while cleanup grants provide funding for a recipient to carry out cleanup activities at brownfield sites. Maurice River Township has received $600,000 in past brownfields assessment and cleanup grants.

Studies have shown that residential property values near brownfields sites that are cleaned up increased between 5% and more than 15%. and can increase property values within 1.24 miles of that site. A study analyzing data near 48 brownfield sites shows that an estimated $29 to $97 million in additional tax revenue was generated for local governments in a single year after cleanup. This is two to seven times more than the $12.4 million EPA contributed to those brownfields.

As of May 2017, more than 124,759 jobs and $24 billion of public and private funding has been leveraged across the country as a result of assessment grants and other EPA Brownfields grants. On average, $16.11 was leveraged for each EPA Brownfields dollar and 8.5 jobs leveraged per $100,000 of EPA brownfields funds expended on assessment, cleanup, and revolving loan fund cooperative agreements.

About EPA’s brownfields program

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EPA announces $14M cleanup of Gibbsboro (NJ) dump site

This news release just in from the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)

(New York, N.Y. – March 30, 2017) The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency today announced a legal agreement with the Sherwin-Williams Company to clean up lead and arsenic contaminated soil and sediment at the Route 561 Dump site in Gibbsboro, N.J. The site is near a former paint manufacturing plant and was used as a paint waste dump. The Route 561 Dump site includes businesses, a vacant lot, White Sand Branch creek, and wetlands. Sherwin-Williams will pay an estimated $14 million to clean up the site, and pay the EPA’s expenses in overseeing the work.

“This agreement allows us to move forward on this much needed cleanup of contaminated soil and sediment and to protect the health of people who live and work in this community,” said Catherine McCabe, Acting EPA Regional Administrator. “Cleanup of the Route 561 Dump Site is being paid for by Sherwin-Williams, not the taxpayers, which is an important feature of EPA’s site cleanup program.”

The soil and sediment cleanup at the Route 561 Dump site builds on previous work conducted at the site to address immediate risks. For this phase of cleanup, the EPA will oversee the removal of contaminated soil and backfilling of excavated areas with clean soil. Contaminated soil will be properly disposed of at approved facilities that are licensed to handle the waste. In total, approximately 23,000 cubic yards of contaminated soil will be removed. Following excavation and backfilling, a soil cover will be placed over vegetated areas and an asphalt cap will be placed over portions of commercial properties. The remedy also requires excavation of contaminated sediment from White Sand Branch. The EPA will coordinate with property owners and occupants to ensure that the work is done with minimal disruption. The EPA will monitor the air near work areas throughout the process to ensure the safety of workers and the surrounding community.

EPA is requiring that deed notices be placed on the land to inform the public and limit their exposure to contaminated soil. The EPA will conduct a review every five years to ensure the effectiveness of the cleanup.

The Route 561 Dump site, the Sherwin-Williams/Hilliard’s Creek Superfund site, and the United States Avenue Burn Superfund site are all sources of contaminated soil and sediment, which has spread onto a number of residential properties within Gibbsboro and Voorhees, N.J. Under previous orders by the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection and the EPA, Sherwin-Williams has:

removed 8,096 cubic yards of sludge from a former lagoon area
removed 44,785 gallons of liquid waste
installed a soil vapor extraction treatment system to reduce the volatile organic compounds in soil near two former plant buildings
installed fencing to limit access to some source areas, and
started soil cleanup at residential properties, which is ongoing.

Lead is a neurotoxin and increasing amounts build up in the body. Even at low levels, lead in children can lower I.Q.s, cause learning disabilities, damage hearing, reduce attention spans, and cause hyperactivity and other behavior problems. Arsenic is toxic, can damage people’s health, and can cause cancer. This cleanup reduces the potential for harm to people’s health from coming into contact with, or accidentally ingesting, soil or creek sediment contaminated with lead and arsenic.

The Superfund program operates on the principle that polluters should pay for the cleanups, rather than passing the costs to taxpayers. The EPA searches for parties legally responsible for the contamination and it seeks to hold those parties accountable for the costs of investigations and cleanups.

The EPA held a public meeting in Gibbsboro in June 2016 to take public comment on cleanup options for the Route 561 Dump site and EPA’s proposal. The cleanup plan was finalized by the EPA in September 2016.

The Administrative Order on Consent can be viewed at https://semspub.epa.gov/src/document/02/413752. Project documents for the Route 561 Dump cleanup can be viewed at https://www.epa.gov/superfund/route-561-dump. Follow EPA Region 2 on Twitter at http://twitter.com/eparegion2 and visit our Facebook page, http://facebook.com/eparegion2.

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Bridgegate: No doubt about it, somebody’s lying

Bill Baroni, left, arrives at the Federal Courthouse for a hearing, today. AP Photo/Mel Evans

We’ve already heard David Wildstein, the man that Gov. Christie put on the Port Authority to serve as his ‘enforcer,’ testify that he and Bill Baroni, another Christie appointee, spoke with the governor about the political-retribution, lane closing while it was happening.

In federal court today, Baroni told a different story.

Ryan Hutchins of Politico reports:
Bill Baroni, one of two defendants on trial over a scheme to close access lanes to the George Washington Bridge, took the witness stand in federal court on Monday, painting himself as a marginalized leader who was led to believe by his subordinate that that the closure of the access lanes was part of a traffic study. Baroni, who served as Gov. Chris Christie’s top appointee at the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, said he thought David Wildstein — the admitted mastermind of the scheme — was telling him the truth at the time of the lane closures in September 2013.
The former Republican state senator, in direct contradiction of Wildstein’s testimony in the same case, said the two had a discussion with Christie at the Sept. 11 memorial that made no mention of Fort Lee Mayor Mark Sokolich or the traffic problems that were occurring in the town as a result of the lane closures.
While Wildstein had testified under oath that Baroni “bragged” to the governor that Sokolich was not getting his calls returned, Baroni said no such conversation ever took place. In reality, he said, the governor was told by Wildstein about an ongoing traffic study that could help improve traffic at the bridge and let Christie swoop in as a hero to motorists.

“David Wildstein discussed with the governor the traffic study that was going on at the bridge in order to see if he would be able to move mainline traffic faster into the toll booths, so Gov. Christie could announce he was able to fix the traffic problem at the George Washington Bridge,” Baroni testified, saying he was part of the conversation for three or four minutes.
Baroni is charged alongside Bridget Anne Kelly, Christie’s former deputy chief of staff. They were indicted last May on charges of conspiracy, fraud and civil rights violations. They are accused of closing local access lanes to the bridge — the world’s busiest — to punish the Democratic mayor for not endorsing Christie’s re-election bid. Read the full Politico story here

The question now is which version of the governor’s role will Bridget Anne Kelly support when she takes the stand.

Kelly Heyboer of the Star Ledger writes:

The hint came in the midst of a routine cross examination of a government witness in the Bridgegate trial.

Michael Critchley, the prominent defense attorney, was grilling one of Gov. Chris Christie’s senior aides on the stand in the Newark courtroom on Tuesday about the 2013 lane closures at the George Washington Bridge. “Did you know that Bridget Kelly and the governor had discussions about the governor’s knowledge of the lane closures before they occurred?” Critchley asked Deborah Gramiccioni, Christie’s former deputy chief of staff.
“Did you know that Bridget Kelly and the governor had discussions about the lane closures during the occurrence of the lane closures?” the attorney pressed.
Gramiccioni answered no to both questions and Critchley quickly moved on to other topics.
But the cryptic questions remained. Was Critchley hinting that his client, Kelly, would testify she spoke to the governor about the lane closures while they were happening? And would she say she mentioned the political retribution plot?

Read Heyboer’s full story here

This trial is better than Law and Order because you don’t need to wait a week for the next shoe to drop. What are we in for next? What will Kelly say? Who’s telling the truth? Tell us what you think by clicking the tiny ‘comments’ line below.

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PA Attorney General Kathleen Kane guilty on all counts

Attorney General Kathleen Kane guilty on all counts (Inquirer photo Jessica Griffin)

Pennsylvania Attorney General Kathleen Kane was convicted Monday of perjury, obstruction and other crimes after squandering her once bright political future on an illegal vendetta against an enemy.

Four years after Kane’s election in a landslide as the first Democrat and first woman elected attorney general, a jury of six men and six women found her guilty of all charges: two counts of perjury and seven misdemeanor counts of abusing the powers of her office.

Montgomery County District Attorney Kevin Steele persuaded the jurors that Kane orchestrated the illegal leak of secret grand jury documents to plant a June 2014 story critical of her nemesis, former state prosecutor Frank Fina. Kane then lied about her actions under oath, the jury found.

Kane, 50, who rose from a hard-scrabble upbringing in Scranton to win a statewide post in her first bid for office, showed little emotion as the verdict was read. Her twin sister Ellen Granahan was with her in court.

The jury deliberated for 4 1/2 hours before pronouncing Kane’s guilt in a verdict that her lawyer Gerald Shargel called “a crushing blow.” He vowed to appeal. Shargel said no decision had been made about whether Kane would resign from office. Gov. Wolf, who had called for Kane to resign after her arrest, said Monday night that she should now do so immediately.

Kane, for her part, left the courtroom without addressing reporters. Steele called the jury’s decision just. “We had somebody who felt that she was above the law,” he the attorney general.

Montgomery County Judge Wendy Demchick-Alloy ordered Kane to surrender her passport by noon Tuesday. The judge barred her from retaliating against witnesses in the case and said if she did so, she would be jailed.

Kane sought revenge agains Fina because she believed he was the source for a March 2014 Inquirer story reporting that she had secretly shut down an undercover sting operation that had caught Philadelphia officials on tape accepting cash. Fina, for many years the head of corruption cases for the Attorney General’s Office, launched the sting before Kane took office.

Michelle Henry, who joined Steele in presenting the prosecution case, painted Kane as heedless of the law as she carried out her crimes.

“She knew it was wrong, she knew it was against the law, and she didn’t care,” Henry told the jury. “She did it for revenge. And after that happened, she covered it up with lies.”

As Kane fought with Fina, their war kept spreading to new fronts. In a feud that riveted the state’s legal and political communities, Kane and Philadelphia District Attorney Seth Williams – both Democrats and the state’s two top law enforcement officials – became enemies.

Williams, who hired Fina as a city proseutor after he left the state payroll, ended up resurrecting the sting investigation. At last count, five defendants – four former state legislators and a former president judge of Philadelphia Traffic Court – had pleaded guilty or no-contest to corruption charges.

Williams accused Kane of erroneously suggesting that race played a role in the selection of targets in the investigation.

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Ringwood halts plan to build recycling center on dump

Ringwood officials have suspended plans to build a recycling center on top of a mountain of contaminated soil at the Ford Motor Co. Superfund site until federal regulators complete an investigation of another dangerous chemical found there recently. Scott Fallon and Holly E. Stewart report for The Record:

The decision this week by the Borough Council to halt preliminary work on the center was met with cautious optimism by residents who want all 166,000 tons of toxic paint sludge dumped by Ford 50 years ago dug up and hauled away. The Environmental Protection Agency last year allowed the borough and Ford to move ahead with plans to build the center and a barrier placed over the site, even though the agency had originally required the pollution to be removed. Proposed by the borough and paid for by Ford, the recycling center at the O’Connor Disposal Area and the barrier have been estimated to cost $6.9 million – $25.7 million less than it would cost to excavate the contamination. The move upset many nearby residents who say the pollution has made them sick and caused premature death. The borough had backed the recycling center for more than two years when The Record published articles in February about the discovery of 1,4-dioxane, a probable carcinogen, in groundwater and brooks at the site. Related: New danger found at Ringwood Superfund site The news prompted residents to pack community meetings, where they renewed calls for all of the contaminated material at O’Connor to be hauled away. It also caused Ringwood officials to question whether they should move ahead with a plan that leaves the pollution on site in perpetuity. “It is troubling to me because [1,4-dioxane] is something new after 30 years of data that has been relatively the same,” Borough Manager Scott Heck said Thursday. The site has long been known to be contaminated with benzene, arsenic and lead, among other contaminants. While some officials recently expressed doubt on the future of the recycling center, it wasn’t until Tuesday night when the Borough Council unanimously approved a resolution that suspended “any work & regarding the recycling center until a complete investigation and understanding of the source of 1,4-dioxane has been determined.” Read the full story here Like this? Use form in upper right to receive free updates
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