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EPA Invites Public Comment on Proposed Cleanup for Newark Site (White Chemical Corporation)

Release Date: 8/5/2005
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For Release: Friday, August 5, 2005

(#05090) NEW YORK -- The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is seeking community input on its plan to clean up the White Chemical Corporation Superfund site in Newark, New Jersey. Under the proposed plan, nine site buildings will be demolished, an above ground storage tank farm will be removed and approximately 21,000 cubic yards of contaminated soil and sump sediments will be excavated and transported off-site to an appropriate disposal facility.

"Removal of the contaminated material will bring this property one step closer to being ready for redevelopment," said Acting Regional Administrator Kathleen C. Callahan. "EPA will work closely with the City of Newark to help ensure that properties such as this can be returned to the community for a productive use."

The excavated area will be backfilled and the site will be seeded in preparation for redevelopment. This remedy is expected to cost over $7.6 million. EPA will also require an investigation of ground water under the site.

The 4.4 acre White Chemical Corporation Superfund site in Newark is situated on a major thoroughfare with significant residential, commercial and industrial populations. The White Chemical Corporation operated at this site from 1983 to 1990 producing chemical products. From 1989 to the present, the site has been the subject of numerous inspections, investigations and cleanups. Over 9,000 drums, 12,000 laboratory chemical containers and approximately 50,000 gallons of liquids from process tanks have already been removed from this site. Demolition and removal of the buildings, tanks and contaminated soil will reduce the potential for direct contact or inhalation exposure and will reduce the potential for further migration of contaminants from the soils to the ground water.

EPA will explain the proposed remedy and all of the alternatives considered to address contamination at this site at a public meeting on August 9 at 7:00 p.m. at the Newark City Hall Council Chambers, 920 Broad Street. Written and oral comments will be taken at the meeting and throughout the public comment period of August 4 to September 2, 2005. Copies of site-related documents and the proposed cleanup plan are available for public review at the Newark Public Library, 5 Washington Street, phone: 973-733-5412 and at EPA's New York City office. Written comments can be submitted to Jeff Josephson, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, 290 Broadway, 19th Floor, New York, NY 10007-1866 or via email at josephson.jeff@epa.gov.