New Jersey
Settles $3 Million Case for East Hanover Ground Water Contamination
Site
(02/120) TRENTON -New
Jersey Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) Commissioner
Bradley M. Campbell today announced a $3 million settlement
to compensate the State of New Jersey and East Hanover Township
for contamination of the local drinking water supply in
a 10-square mile area of the Morris County community.
“This year’s drought emergency
highlights the urgency of protecting the public interest
in clean water. As trustee of water resources, we are aggressively
stepping up efforts, which are long overdue, to follow through
with that important mandate,” said Commissioner Campbell.
DEP executed an agreement with 19 parties
to settle their alleged liability in connection with the
East Hanover ground water contamination site. The settling
parties will pay the Department more than $2 million, which
includes $1 million for natural resource damages and more
than $1 million for costs incurred by the state to prevent
public exposure to the contamination. In addition, the settling
parties will pay East Hanover Township $1 million for costs
the municipality incurred to address the ground water contamination.
The settling parties with property in the area of the ground
water contamination that have not been fully investigated
and cleaned up also agreed to remedy their contamination
problems under DEP oversight.
"We intend to pursue vigorously those
who pollute our air and water and do harm to our state's
valuable natural resources," said New Jersey Acting
Attorney General Peter C. Harvey. DEP works with the Department
of Law and Public Safety using the authority provided by
the state’s Spill Compensation and Control Act to
settle cost recovery and natural resource damage cases.
DEP allocates money from contaminated site
natural resource damage settlements for restoration projects
and land purchases in the same watershed or general area
of damage. Examples of restoration include: wetland creation/enhancement,
non-point pollution control projects, purchase of aquifer
recharge areas, research for restoration of endangered species,
and public education projects.
Ground water contamination was first discovered
in East Hanover Township in the early 1980s, when volatile
organic compounds (VOCs) were detected in a water sample
collected from a municipal supply well. A treatment system
was installed on the supply well. DEP subsequently conducted
a study that identified ground water contamination in various
parts of the township and identified several industrial
sites as possible sources of the contamination. The Department
later sampled 127 private potable wells in the township
to evaluate the extent of the ground water contamination.
The results of the sampling showed that several of the potable
wells were contaminated with VOCs at levels exceeding New
Jersey Drinking Water Standards and many others had lower
levels of contamination. Between 1998 and 1999, DEP and
the township connected approximately 240 properties with
private wells to the existing water supply system and extended
water lines to one area.
The settling parties are: Voltronics Corporation; G &
F Management; Vincent and Irene Muccione; Viscot Industries,
Inc.; MCE/KDI Corporation; Colgate-Palmolive Company; Deforest
Investment Co. L.L.C.; Philomena Gasparine; Estate of Sylvio
Gasparine; Prime Fabricators, Inc.; Township of East Hanover;
Novartis Pharmaceuticals Corporation; Foster Wheeler Energy
Corporation; Dorine Industrial Park Partnership; Precision
Rolled Products, Inc.; Phelps Dodge Corporation (f/k/a Cyprus
Amax Mineral Company); GTE Operations Support Incorporated;
Ingersoll-Rand Company and Royal Lubricants Company, Inc.
DEP is increasing enforcement to restore
ecological injuries, which can include payment of monetary
damages, if entities are found responsible for contamination
and injury to natural resources. DEP’s natural resource
damage program will be expanded to include more contaminated
sites across the state like those causing injury to ground
water supplies in East Hanover Township. In the last nine
months, DEP has successfully achieved more than $8.1 million
in natural resource damage settlements, an amount greater
than reached in the previous six years.
“I was astounded to find on taking
office in January that the Department had not pursued, or
left unsettled, thousands of cases against polluters responsible
for a wide range of damages to New Jersey’s natural
resources,” said Campbell. “We are putting this
program back on track and are committed to aggressively
pursuing damage settlements for the residents of this state
who have lost the ability to use and enjoy some of our most
precious natural resources, including drinking water sources
and wetlands.”
Natural resource injuries from a discharge
of hazardous substances can be both ecological injuries
to wetlands, wildlife, ground water or surface water and
human use injuries such as the closure of a waterway to
fishing, a beach to swimming or an aquifer to supply potable
water. Natural resource damage is the dollar value of the
restoration that is necessary to compensate the residents
of New Jersey for the injury to natural resources. |