On Thursday, May 11, the New Jersey Department of Health and Senior Services will hold a community information session to answer Alexandria Township residents’ questions related to a draft public health assessment of the Crown Vantage Landfill, an inactive industrial landfill that borders the Delaware River in Hunterdon County.  Residents of Frenchtown and Milford who live near the site also are invited to attend.

          Working with the federal Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry (ATSDR), the DHSS recently completed the draft public health assessment of the landfill site in Alexandria Township.  The site was found to be a public health hazard because of public exposure to site contaminants.  The site is easily accessed by hikers and by people canoeing and tubing on the river.

          Crown Vantage Landfill was used by nearby mills, including a paper mill, and contains press room wastes, rolls of paper and paper fiber sludge.  It also contains fly ash – a by-product of incineration.  Fly ash samples from the site were found to contain elevated levels of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons and metals such as lead and chromium.

The public health assessment recommended that air monitoring be conducted during site remediation; that on- and off-site contaminants be fully identified; that steps be taken to reduce migration of contaminants to the Delaware River; and that more signs be posted to inform the community about the site.

At 7 p.m., the findings of the draft public health assessment will be formally presented in a community meeting in the library of the Alexandria Township Middle School, 557 County Highway 513, Pittstown.  The New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection also will be available at the meeting to answer environmental questions.

Before the meeting, beginning at 6 p.m., technical experts from ATSDR and DHSS will be available to speak one-on-one with residents about their health-related questions.  ATSDR and DHSS staff can provide physician referral information to those concerned about site-related environmental exposures.         

          DHSS is accepting public comments on the draft public health assessment until May 26.  Please submit written comments, postmarked by May 26, to Health Assessment Project Manager, Consumer and Environmental Health Services, Department of Health and Senior Services, P. O. Box 369, Trenton, NJ 08625-0369.

          Copies of the assessment will be available at the May 11 information session.  They are also available for review at the Holland Alexandria, Frenchtown and Milford branches of the Hunterdon County Library, as well as at the Alexandria, Frenchtown and Milford borough halls.  To obtain a copy of the assessment, call DHSS at (609) 584-5367.

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