New Jersey is a Prime Area for Environmental Cleanup—and Seeger Weiss is there to help the Victims

Experienced personal injury lawyers, Seeger Weiss, know all too well how some manufacturers’ disregard worker’s health and safety. This can be especially true when they are more concerned about showing a profit for their investors than following OSHA health and safety regulations. Our New Jersey-based lawyers can help.

Leading the Charge for Environment Cleanup

The long history of heavy industry in New Jersey has left the state with the largest inventory of U.S. Superfund sites, and industrial cleanup continues to be an important platform for its politicians and city officials.

New Jersey is an important industrial center, but it has paid the price in environmental pollution, in dirt, noise, and congested roads. The “Garden State,” as it’s called, became famous in the 18th century for its beautiful, fertile farmlands. It’s hard to believe that a state originally known for its farmlands is now among the most urbanized and crowded states in the nation.

Unfortunately, today the spread of industry and housing has cost New Jersey much of its farmland, which has become the most valuable per acre in the United States.

Christine Todd Whitman Spearheaded Environment Concerns as Governor

In 1993, Christine Todd Whitman was elected to be the 50th Governor of New Jersey and was the first woman ever to hold that position in the United States. As governor, Whitman delivered on the promise to provide cleaner air, water and land to the citizens of New Jersey during her seven years in the statehouse. Her success includes:

• The number of days New Jersey violated the federal one-hour air quality standard for ground level ozone dropped from 45 in 1988 to four in 2000.
• Beach closings reached a record low, the state earned recognition by the Natural Resources Defense Council for setting up the most comprehensive beach monitoring system in the nation.
• A new watershed management program was instituted which resulted in New Jersey leading the nation in opening shellfish beds for harvesting.
• Governor Whitman also won voter approval for the state's first stable funding source to preserve one million acres of open space and farmland.

After serving as governor, Whitman became the EPA Administrator of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency until 2003, where she continued to fight for a cleaner environment on a national scale. Now, she’s with The Clean and Safe Energy Coalition (CASEnergy Coalition) whose providing a voice in the public dialogue over current and future energy needs, particularly in the area of nuclear power.

Two Superfund Sites in New Jersey

Two Superfund sites (the Diamond Alkali [Passaic River] site and the Hudson River PCB site ) are identified for environmental cleanup by the EPA for their significant sediment contamination in the NY/NJ Harbor system. Both are developing the information necessary to evaluate possible cleanup and restoration plans. EPA continues to monitor cleanup efforts to ensure continued protection of human health and the environment.

Site One: Diamond Alkali: For about 30 years, various companies manufactured pesticides and herbicides, including those formulating "Agent Orange," at facilities in Newark, New Jersey are now part of the Diamond Alkali Superfund site. EPA added the site to the Superfund National Priorities List on September 21, 1984, because of hazardous substances (dioxin, pesticides and volatile organic compounds) present at the site and in the Passaic River, which borders the property. The site composed of three parts: the former pesticides manufacturing plant and surrounding properties at 80 and 120 Lister Avenue, the Lower Passaic River Project Study Area and the Newark Bay Study Area. EPA treats each as a unique part of its investigation and cleanup efforts.
Occidental Chemical Corporation, a successor to the previous owner, the Diamond Shamrock Chemicals Company, performed interim cleanup work at the Lister Avenue properties and is performing a study of Newark Bay with EPA oversight.

Site Two: Hudson River: From about 1947 to 1977, the General Electric Company (GE) in Newark discharged as much as 1.3 million pounds of polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) from its capacitor manufacturing plants at the Hudson Falls and Fort Edward facilities into the Hudson River. Now, the long awaited and historic dredging of the Upper Hudson River to remove this PCB-contaminated sediment has begun near Roger's Island in Fort Edward, NY. The first phase of the six-year dredging project is being conducted under an agreement with the General Electric Company.

The Hudson River PCBs Site encompasses nearly 200-miles from Hudson Falls, New York to the Battery in New York City and includes communities in fourteen New York counties and two counties in New Jersey.

Creating a World Class Estuary

On a brighter note, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers New York District had a major role in the development and management of water resources in the New York and New Jersey Harbor for more than 200 years. From maintenance and channel dredging to drift removal and environmental restoration, the District has been involved in many port improvement plans.

Today, they are faced with the challenge of deepening the New York and New Jersey Harbor while preserving its natural estuary. A huge challenge, but one they are committed to, with the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey. Their efforts are heroic and will help maintain the New York and New Jersey Harbor as a world-class estuary.