TRENTON— Preparations are underway to remove 40,000 cubic yards of the highly toxic sediment from the Passaic River near the former Diamond Alkali plant in Newark, the Environmental Protection Agency said today. Workers will reinforce the river's floodwalls and build a metal enclosure in the river to prevent contaminated soil from re-entering the water as it's dredged, EPA said...
Gary Manla, lead equipment operator for the Passaic Valley Sewerage Commissioners Passaic River/Newark Bay Restoration Program, watches from atop a skimmer boat as it removes trash and debris from the Passaic River in Newark in this 2003 file photo.TRENTON— Preparations are underway to remove 40,000 cubic yards of the highly toxic sediment from the Passaic River near the former Diamond Alkali plant in Newark, the Environmental Protection Agency said today.
Workers will reinforce the river's floodwalls and build a metal enclosure in the river to prevent contaminated soil from re-entering the water as it's dredged, EPA said in a news release. Dredging is expected to begin in the spring.
The toxic soil will be piped to a processing facility that will be constructed a quarter-mile downstream. It will then be dewatered, loaded into sealed containers and taken away by train for disposal, EPA said.
The second phase of the project, which is still under review, will involve the removal of 160,000 more cubic yards of toxic sediment from the river, EPA said.
The two phases of work, estimated to cost $45 million, will be paid for and performed by Tierra Solutions, Inc., which agreed to the cleanup under a 2008 agreement with EPA.
The dredging is part of a larger EPA effort to clean the most heavily polluted eight-mile portion of the waterway nearest to the plant. The agency estimates the entire cleanup will cost $1 billion to $4 billion, but has not yet unveiled a final plan.
Diamond Alkali operated a pesticide and herbicide manufacturing facility from 1951 to 1969, polluting the river with an extremely toxic form of dioxin left over from the production of the Vietnam-era Agent Orange, DDT and other chemicals.
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