Diamond Alkali, a chemical company in Newark, dumped Agent Orange and other chemicals into the Passaic River, creating a toxic mess that is now one of the nation’s largest Superfund sites. In early March, the EPA ordered Occidental Chemical Corporation,…
The decades-long drip, drip, drip of toxic chemicals from the Price Landfill in South Jersey reached crisis levels in the early ’80s when the hazardous plume threatened to taint the water supply for the Atlantic City area. The site earned…
Efforts to clean up the lower stretch of the Passaic River are getting a $150 million boost, thanks to a new settlement between the federal government and 85 likely polluters. This stretch of the river, running through Newark and nearby…
In Edgewater, a bustling urban town across the Hudson River from Manhattan, the polluted site of a former factory sits right on the water. Today it's a Superfund site being cleaned up, destined to become a piece of prime real estate…
The Pinelands, a 1.1 million-acre swath of pine forest dominating South Jersey, is America’s first National Reserve. The Pinelands have historically been a place prone to catch fire. Today, the area's fire hazard is known to be greatly intensified by decades of illegal toxic dumping.…
The National Lead Company spent years recycling car batteries at a factory in rural South Jersey, allowing battery acid to drain onto the ground. The site's soil and groundwater were left contaminated by heavy metals — a mess that is now on the point of being cleaned up.…
New Jersey Gov. Jim Florio spent 15 years representing the Camden area in Congress. Arguably, Florio's crowning achievement in Washington was writing and then pushing through the Superfund Law. The measure created a federal program that is dedicated to cleaning up some of the nation’s…
Hazard NJ is returning with four new episodes this fall, to offer a fresh look at the relationship between climate change and the Garden State's most toxic Superfund sites. Take a look back at some highlights from our first four episodes, and keep an eye on…
It’s official: The Hackensack River has been designated New Jersey’s 115th Superfund site. EPA officials gathered with state and local leaders this week to announce the big news, which places the river's polluted lower reaches in line for a major cleanup that is expected…
The Superfund program for environmental alleviation was designed to be paid for by a tax on chemical and oil companies. But this tax expired years ago, leaving the program strapped for cash. All this has changed in recent months. Last fall,…
The mud lining the Hackensack River is a mysterious mixture known to contain mercury, cadmium, lead, PCBs and other nasty substances. Now the river is on its way to becoming New Jersey’s 115th Superfund site — and that’s not a…
In July 2005, Roger De Groat stepped outside his home in the secluded, forested community of Upper Ringwood to find a hole the size of a swimming pool where his backyard used to be. For many years, sinkholes have been…
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