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Washington, D.C. --- U.S. Rep. Frank Pallone, Jr., a senior member of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, announced today that Superfund sites in Marlboro and Sayreville will receive funding through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA), which was passed by Congress and signed into law by President Obama in February. With 114 sites on the National Priorities List (NPL), New Jersey has more Superfund sites than any other state in the country.
The federal Superfund Program is administered by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and provides funding to clean-up environmental pollutants from contaminated sites. The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act increases funding for this program by $600 million to be used for the clean-up of toxic waste sites across the country.
In New Jersey, Imperial Oil in Marlboro will receive between $10 million and $25 million and Horseshoe Road in Sayreville will receive up to $5 million in Recovery Act funds.
Pallone has been fighting for years to reinstate the Superfund tax so that polluters once again pay the costs of cleaning up our most contaminated sites. The New Jersey congressman is the lead sponsor of the Superfund Polluter Pays Act of 2009, which would reauthorize the original Superfund fees through Fiscal Year 2019 and make polluters, not taxpayers, pay the costs of cleaning up our worst toxic sites.
"The Superfund Program has been faced with inadequate funding since 2003, making it nearly impossible to remediate the 1,255 Superfund sites across the country," Pallone said. "The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act has provided the necessary and immediate funds to help accelerate the hazardous waste cleanup of both sites and ensure the public health of nearby residents. However, there are still many sites in New Jersey and across the country that will need funding for future cleanups and that is why we must reinstate the polluter pays tax so that the industries polluting our land and water are responsible for the clean up of these sites."
"I am pleased that this American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) funding through EPA, will help to expedite these and several other Superfund projects across the state," Governor Jon S. Corzine said. "While more funding for additional sites is needed, our overall goal must always be to protect the health, safety and environment of our residents."
The 15-acre Imperial Oil site in Marlboro has been on the NPL of Superfund sites for 25 years. The site has had many lives as both a reprocesser of waste oil and a producer of arsenical pesticides. With thousands of Marlboro residents living close by, this site compromises the health of the community.
The Horseshoe Road site is a 12-acre property located in Sayreville near the Raritan River. The former chemical processing site includes three adjacent areas; the Horseshoe Road Drum Dump, the former Atlantic Development Corporation facility and the Sayreville Pesticide Dump. These three areas have been grouped together as one site on the NPL. The site first came to the EPA's attention in 1981 when a brush fire at the Horseshoe Road Drum Dump exposed approximately 70 partially filled drums containing acetonitrile, silver cyanide and ethyl acetate.
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