By Stephen McBay (mcbay.stephen@epa.gov)
After cleanup work was completed and after a review of years of groundwater monitoring data, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has announced its intention to delete the Reich Farms Superfund Site from the National Priorities List and requests public comments on this proposed action.
The National Priorities List is the EPA’s list of sites that are priorities for long-term evaluation and response under Superfund. Previous activities at the site, located in Toms River, New Jersey, included the improper disposal and storage of hazardous waste that contaminated soil and groundwater with toxic chemicals such as volatile organic compounds.
“All cleanup work at Reich Farms has been successfully completed and years of monitoring data show that it can be safely removed from the EPA’s Superfund list,” said EPA Acting Regional Administrator Walter Mugdan. “Over many decades, EPA has overseen cleanup work at this site and has kept the community informed as well as engaged in our cleanup activities, monitoring, and scientific studies. Deletion of this site is the next logical step.”
FOURTH FIVE-YEAR REVIEW REPORT FOR THE REICH FARMS
The three-acre Reich Farms property, which comprises part of the overall site, is located on Lakewood Road in the Pleasant Plains section of Toms River. The property is surrounded by commercial and residential areas. Deletion of a site from the National Priorities List occurs when site cleanups are successfully completed, and no further cleanup is required to protect human health or the environment, as is the case for this site.
In the early 1970s, drums containing wastes from Union Carbide Corporation’s (UCC) Bound Brook chemical manufacturing facility were disposed of on the property. UCC, the potentially responsible party, removed the drums and some contaminated soil in 1971. Residual wastes leaked from the drums contaminating the soil and eventually the underlying groundwater with organic chemicals. In September 1983, EPA placed the site on its National Priorities List of Superfund sites.
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