JERSEY CITY – On Tuesday, Nov. 1 at 6:30 p.m., the Chromium Cleanup Partnership will hold a meeting on the next stage of chromium cleanup in Jersey City.
According to the partnership, now that about 10 percent of the contaminated material on Garfield Avenue has been removed, the next phase of land remediation is set to begin. The goal is to have 25 percent of toxic material removed by next summer, and all of it gone by 2014.
The Chromium Cleanup Partnership is an alliance between the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection, Jersey City, a court-appointed administrator, and PPG Industries.
The meeting will be held at the Mary McLeod Bethune Life Center, at 140 MLK Drive.
Those who can’t attend the Nov. 1 meeting can ask questions by e-mailing infor@chromecleanup.com or by calling Brian McPeak at (201) 777-2099.
For nearly six decades, the Mutual Chemical Company, which was later taken over by Honeywell, ran a chromium production plant on Jersey City’s West Side Avenue. Elsewhere, PPG ran another chromium chemical plant on Garfield Avenue for nearly 40 years.
The Occidental Chemical Corp. ran a third similar facility in Kearny.
Since then, chromium, which produces a byproduct known as hexavalent chromium, has been linked to cancer and other diseases.
New Jersey reached a settlement with Honeywell International, PPG Industries Inc., and Occidental Chemical Corp. to reimburse the state for cleanup costs associated with dozens of chromium-contaminated sites, including sites in Jersey City.
Under the settlement, the three companies have agreed to reimburse the state $5 million each.
The settlement stems from a 2005 lawsuit the state filed in Hudson County Superior Court against Honeywell International, PPG Industries Inc., and Occidental Chemical Corp.
The state lawsuit alleged that after the three companies folded their plants, New Jersey taxpayers were left paying millions of dollars for land remediation and ongoing monitoring of these sites.
Under the tentative settlement the three companies have also agreed to accept responsibility for more than 40 formerly contaminated sites – known as “orphaned sites” – that no company had agreed to take responsibility for in the past. Most of these orphaned sites are located in Jersey City.
The settlement of this case is separate from another suit filed by Jersey City residents against Honeywell and PPG in U.S. District Court.- E. Assata Wright