A plan for restoring and assessing a New Jersey Superfund site, for decades contaminated during electronics production, has been released.
The Final Restoration Plan and Environmental Assessment, completed in August, was announced in a joint press release Oct. 15 issued by Natural Resource Trustees of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, and the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection.
The plan provides details for about 20 projects aimed at aquatic and wildlife habitat restoration at the Cornell-Dubilier Electronics Superfund site, in the Raritan River watershed in South Plainfield, New Jersey.
Funding for the plan and implementation comes from more than $25 million in Natural Resource Damage settlements between 2008 and 2015, the release stated.
"The Trustees are authorized to act on behalf of the public to develop a plan to restore, replace, or acquire the equivalent of the natural resources and recreational opportunities affected by contamination," the press release stated.
The press release includes a story map of the projects selected in the restoration plan. Those projects include removing up to eight dams along the Raritan River and the North and South Branch Raritan Rivers, as well as freshwater wetland restoration in the Rockaway Creek watershed. Plans also include "a nature-like fishway installation" to improve fish passage in the Raritan River, creating a nature park, as well as renovating a boat launch site and building a fishing platform in Manville.
Cornell Dubilier Electronics produced electronic components at the 26-acre site from 1936 to 1962, according to information on the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's website. During that time, the company's poor waste handling practices lead to releases of polychlorinated biphenyls and chlorinated volatile organic compounds, primarily trichloroethylene. Those chemicals leached into the area's soil, sediments and groundwater.
The EPA designated the area a Superfund site in 1998.The EPA has conducted multiple remedial phases to address "long-term threats to human health and the environment" while focusing on "immediate threats," the EPA stated on its website.
The current four-phase remediation action began in May 2015. The plan calls for removing and disposing off-site capacitor debris along the east bank of Bound Brook, as well as removing contaminated sediment along a three mile stretch of the pond. Cleanup efforts are expected to continue into 2023.
