Long Branch, NJ --- U.S. Rep. Frank Pallone, Jr. (D-NJ), a senior member of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, today called on Ciba Specialty Chemicals Corporation to remove more than 30,000 drums from a lined landfill in Dover Township.

Pallone's request comes one day after New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) Commissioner Bradley Campbell urged the chemical company to take action and warned that the state will consider suing Ciba if it does not remove the drums from the landfill, located on a 1400-acre property of Route 37 West. According to a letter from Campbell to Ciba, recent samples of leachate showed an increase in levels of several chemicals from 2003 to 2004.

"In this situation, state officials and Ciba should take whatever steps are necessary to provide the greatest level of protection for public health," Pallone said. "I applaud Commissioner Campbell for taking such a strong stance, and I join him in calling on Ciba to remove the drums.

"It's unacceptable that Ciba refuses to take full responsibility for the mess it created in Dover Township," Pallone continued. "It's time for Ciba to do the right thing for the good of its neighbors and get rid of these drums not only so their own property is safe, but, more importantly, so the surrounding community can be confident that toxic materials will not eventually be released from the drums."

The drums, which have been in the lined landfill known as Cell 1 for more than 20 years, contain hazardous solvents that could leak out and damage the landfill's PVC lining, potentially allowing chemicals to enter the soil and the groundwater nearby.

Ciba-Geigy Corporation, the predecessor to Ciba Specialty Chemicals, pled guilty in 1992 to illegally dumping pollutants into Cell 1 and an unlined landfill known as Cell 2. Cell 2 is being cleaned up as part of a federal Superfund site remediation.