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EPA to Revise Permit Requirements for DuPont Pompton Lakes Cleanup

Release Date: 04/30/2014
Contact Information: Mary Mears (212) 637-3673, mears.mary@epa.gov

(New York, NY) The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency today announced that it will revise and re-propose the plan to remove sediment contaminated with mercury and lead from the Acid Brook Delta and other parts of Pompton Lake in Pompton Lakes, New Jersey. The EPA had previously finalized a plan, which was contained in a permit requiring cleanup of the Acid Brook delta along with certain other areas in the lake, but additional information including results of recent sampling in Pompton Lake have provided EPA the basis for revising that permit. The new permit requirements are currently being developed by EPA, with a goal of proposing a draft permit by the fall. This new proposal will contain refined requirements on how E.I. du Pont de Nemours & Company, Inc. must clean up areas of serious contamination in the Pompon Lake sediment. The new proposed permit will be at least as protective and will be more detailed than the permit previously issued.

As with the previous cleanup plan and permit modification, the EPA’s new proposed permit will require E.I. du Pont de Nemours & Company, Inc. to fund and perform the work. The new proposal will still require DuPont to perform substantial dredging of mercury contaminated sediment from the bottom of Pompton Lake and removal of contaminated soil from an adjacent shoreline area. All of the sediment will be sent to a licensed disposal facility.

There will be a public meeting and a full opportunity for public comment on the new proposed permit modification before it is finalized.

Mercury in the sediment and soil can build up in the tissue of fish and other wildlife and pose a threat to people who eat them. Exposure to mercury can damage people’s nervous systems and harm the brain, heart, kidneys, lungs and immune systems.

The EPA will continue to work closely with the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection and DuPont, as well as local stakeholders, on cleanup efforts related to the DuPont Pompton Lakes Works site.

For more information about the DuPont Pompton Lakes site, please visit
https://www.epa.gov/Region2/waste/dupont_pompton/index.html.

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