Environmental Justice: Lower Passaic River, Fish & Newark Residents

[Tobias Fox]

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Tony Bianchini <tbian...@lowerpassaiccpg.com>
Date: Mon, Apr 28, 2014 at 5:39 PM

Hi Tobias,

 

It was good to speak with you today.

 

Here’s some more information for you. Let me know if you are able to attend the upcoming public meeting and feel free to pass along to whoever you think would be interested.

 

Background: On April 11, 2014, EPA Region 2 proposed a plan to dredge sediment from the bottom of the Lower Passaic River from River Mile 0 (near Newark Bay) to River Mile 8.3-mile (near the Newark/Belleville border).  EPA’s plan estimates that dredging would take place on the River 24 hours a day, 6 days a week for 40 weeks of the year until completion of the bank-to-bank project. Dredged material would be transported to a new, local sediment processing facility (in a community near River) and stabilized prior to being shipped out of the state by rail.  If you’re interested, you can read more about the EPA’s proposed plans for the River at: http://passaic.sharepointspace.com/Public%20Documents/2014-04-10%20Lower%208%20Proposed%20Plan%20final_compiled.pdf

 

We’ve spoken in the past about this proposed plan from the EPA and have some major concerns with it.

 

Notably:

·         While the remediation is underway of the lower 8 miles is underway, what is the EPA doing to reduce risk to humans who are catching and eating fish out of the River?

·         If the River is dredged bank-to-bank, will it be safe to fish and swim in the water? We know that there is pathogen pollution in the River’s water column which won’t be addressed by the sediment cleanup.

·         The EPA plan doesn’t include any projects outside of the River that will improve the surrounding communities and encourage people to visit the River again. The Sustainable Remedy and aquaponics programs that the CPG has proposed (fact sheets attached) would accomplish both of these goals.

·         The EPA plan says that the project will be completed in 5 years, but as our recent project in Lyndhurst showed us (another fact sheet I’ve attached), dredging on the River is made very difficult by the tides and the State’s aging infrastructure – there are 15 bridges that cross the River between RM 0-8.3 and many are at least 80-100 years old. The River Mile 10.9 project involved the dredging and capping of 16,000 cubic yards and took 10 months to complete. We’re concerned that the EPA isn’t factoring in all of the obstacles when they say that a 4.3 million cubic yard dredge could take just 5 years to complete.

 

This project will have an impact on communities along the Lower Passaic River and we encourage you to submit your public comments to the EPA through letter or email or by attending one of the upcoming EPA public hearings and presenting testimony. The public comment period is open from April 21^st until June 20, 2014.

 

You can submit a comment by letter, fax or email to:

Alice Yeh, Remedial Project Manager

Environmental Protection Agency

290 Broadway, 19th Floor

New York, New York 10007-1866

 Fax: (212) 637-4439

E-mail: PassaicLower8Mil...@epa.gov

 

The EPA will hold three public meetings in the community.

 

The first is on May 7^th at 7 p.m. at the Portuguese Sports Club (55 Prospect Street, Newark, NJ 07105). The second is on May 21 at 6 p.m. at Franklin School (100 Davis Avenue, Kearny, NJ 07032) A public meeting in Belleville will be scheduled in June and I’ll keep you updated.

 

Thanks. Hope to hear from you soon.

 

Tony Bianchini

Lower Passaic River Study Area Cooperating Parties Group

Cell: (973)742-0089

Email: tbian...@lowerpassaiccpg.com