By Ted Goldberg, NJ Spotlight News
State environmental authorities announced a settlement agreement with chemical giant BASF earlier this year to restore natural resources damaged by decades of pollution at the Ciba-Giegy Superfund site in Toms River. Now, Toms River and the local environmental advocacy group Save Barnegat Bay have gone to court to block the settlement deal.
The settlement would preserve 1,000 acres of the site and calls for BASF to pay the state $500,000 and make parts of the land available for public access, with new park amenities. The deal also allows BASF to pursue future development on 250 acres at the site.
But the deal has been heavily criticized in the local community, where the original pollution is widely speculated to have been the cause of a rash of childhood cancer cases in the 1980s and 1990s. They argue the state is failing to uphold strict environmental protections, and is essentially selling out the local community by making a weak deal with BASF instead of taking the company to trial.
Al Telsey, an attorney representing Save Barnegat Bay in the new litigation, says experts hired by the environmentalists have estimated nearly $1 billion worth of natural resource damages to have been caused at the site, far more than the $192 million estimated by the state Department of Environmental Protection.
The DEP declined to comment; a spokesperson cited a policy against commenting on pending litigation.
If you liked this post, you’ll love our daily environmental newsletter, EnviroPolitics. It’s packed daily with the latest news, commentary, and legislative updates from New Jersey, Pennsylvania, New York, Delaware…and beyond. Don’t take our word for it, try it free for an entire month. No obligation.
