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SRP Publications Annual Reports 1998

I. Introduction (cont.)

98 SRP ANNUAL REPORT

Pesticide Task Force Releases Draft Report

The Historic Pesticide Contamination Task Force formally issued a draft report for public comment in January 1999 that recommends how to modify New Jersey's cleanup process to address the risks presented by historical pesticide contamination. The report also provides guidance on when and where sampling should be conducted to determine if a problem exists with historic pesticide use, such as the location for a planned housing development or an active school playground. These recommendations are highlighted on page seven.

NJDEP Commissioner Robert C. Shinn Jr. formed the Task Force in April 1996 to help the Department identify technically and economically viable alternative strategies that will protect human health and the environment at sites with contamination due to historical use of pesticides. The primary concern with historical pesticide residues is human health risk from inadvertent ingestion of contaminated soil, particularly by children. The presence of moderately elevated pesticide residuals in soil presents not only potential health concerns, but also marketplace concerns.

Initial public comments included a broad range of concerns that mirrored the serious issues Task Force members had been discussing for the past two years. The Task Force held a final meeting in 1999 and is forwarding its report to the NJDEP commissioner for further action. NJDEP also committed to targeting specific school and park areas with a known history of farm activities for state-sponsored testing.

Several years ago, increasing development of New Jersey's remaining farmland resulted in many developers and lenders requiring that sites proposed for development undergo an evaluation of environmental conditions. In fact, it was such a requirement that triggered the investigation into potential impacts of pesticide residues. No requirement exists for testing agricultural soil prior to development.

The Department estimates that up to five percent of the state's acreage may be impacted by the historical use of arsenical pesticides. The presence of pesticide residues may be a concern in currently operating farms and orchards as well as properties that have already been developed. Research conducted by the Department indicates similar problems exist in other states and countries.

During their deliberations, Task Force members focused on how the Department determines risk and sets cleanup criteria. While supporting the overall report, the Task Force members, individually, would place different emphasis on the various conclusions, findings and recommendations. Many members continue to have questions about various elements of the report. The Task Force believes that implementation of the remedial options identified in the report are protective of human health and the environment. The Task Force agreed to offer certain recommendations while the Department continues to evaluate relevant environmental data, conduct needed research, monitor economic impacts of these policies and revisit these recommendations as needed.

The Task Force focused its efforts on several pesticides of concern based upon their extensive agricultural use during a number of years in New Jersey, their persistence in the environment after application, and their presence in sites across the state in concentrations that exceed the Department's residential soil cleanup criteria. The pesticides of concern, which have not been widely used in many years, are arsenic, lead, DDT (and its metabolites, DDE and DDD), dieldrin and aldrin.

During the last 100 years, the agricultural community has routinely and consistently applied pesticides to control pests in order to increase crop yield. Application rates, duration of use and persistence in soil are the major factors contributing to the likelihood that residual pesticides may be present in soil at concentrations above the Department's unrestricted soil cleanup criteria.

Once the areas of likely application are identified, it is then important to determine the behavior or fate of the pesticides in the environment to obtain a better idea of where and in what form pesticide residuals are expected to occur. Other environmental factors, which influence a pesticide's environmental fate, include its ability to become bound to the soil and its solubility. There are also human factors that influence where these residuals are likely to be found, such as site use and soil management.

One of the inherent problems with the presence of arsenic and lead, in contrast to the organochlorine pesticides, is that these are two naturally occurring metals and that it is often difficult to distinguish between concentrations from the application of pesticides and those that occur naturally.

The Task Force was unable to determine the potential economic impacts that may result from its recommendations because New Jersey is the first state in the nation to take actions to control exposure from historical pesticide contamination. However, both the Task Force and Department believe that it was very important to proceed with this evaluation and develop recommendations to educate the public and to make recommendations to mitigate risk from historical pesticide contamination in a timely manner.

Recommendations also included remedial options for new and existing development sites such as the consolidation and covering of contaminated soil on site under roads and structures or capping contamination with clean soil.

The Task Force recommended that the Department allow contaminated soil to be blended with clean soil from on- or off-site sources to achieve concentrations at or below the Department's residential soil cleanup criteria. This represents a substantial departure from current state policy, and the Task Force recommended soil blending as a remedial option only at sites with historical pesticide contamination.

 
Pesticide Task Force Recommendations
[ ] Sampling of former agricultural areas, and any necessary remediation, should be conducted prior to site development;
[ ] Sampling of former agricultural areas, and any necessary remediation, should be conducted for areas with exposed soil that are intensively used by children, such as schools, daycare centers and playgrounds;
[ ] Sampling and remediation at sites that have already been developed, except as noted above, should be conducted where the current or potential future occupant desires. The Department should provide guidance concerning sampling methods and exposure control alternatives to any person concerned with historic pesticide contamination;
[ ] The Department should provide an appropriate sampling methodology specifically designed for the investigation of pesticide residues in soil at agricultural properties;
[ ] The Department should authorize a remedial alternative involving soil blending for pesticide residues in soil in former agricultural areas when it is protective of human health. The Task Force recognizes that soil blending represents a substantial departure from current state policy. Therefore, the Task Force recommends that soil blending apply only to historical pesticide contamination sites.

 

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