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Here you
can see what they are proposing and what they think it means and then you can read what it
really means to the entire town. I would love to know what makes the CCPL board members
think they are even qualified to come up with a game plan for a cleanup of this scale when
some of the best minds in the country are working diligently on it right now.
This town doesn’t need to have a superfund site it doesn’t need to be in the news every
week that isn’t going to accomplish anything. This is how two former council members treat
the town they claim to love so much; they are destroying it. If they want to sue DuPont go
ahead if you think you could win if DuPont is actually responsible they should pay
compensation to the people and families who are affected but this shouldn’t destroy the
entire town in the process.
Please I urge you to call your local, state and federal officials and ask them to not get
involved, this site is being taken care of and it does have state and federal oversight and
guidelines to adhere to. As far a suing for damages and medical conditions and
compensation this is an individual choice.
1. Proposing this site for NPL would make this site one of the country's highest priority sites for cleanup. Currently, the
toxic groundwater plume is only being monitored using the same methods that have failed the town for decades. The
USEPA would take the site away from the NJDEP, put DuPont on short leash, and require more oversight and less
room for delays and excuses. DuPont would be required to follow specific timelines and schedules for cleanup, and
for each report submitted, the public has the ability to submit comments, raise concerns and voice opinions.
a. Has anybody contacted the USEPA and asked if they would require DuPont to
do anything differently or if they have any suggestions on how to move this site
forward? To date everything I have read and researched nobody has a real
clear idea on how best to clean this site. So what we could look forward to as a
Superfund Site is the USEPA come in and install the exact same mitigation
systems that are being installed today. They would then call on the same
people to come to the site and do more studies and try to come up with a
cleanup plan. also did I forget to mention during the takeover/handover period
of anywhere from 18 to 36 months nothing would be done at all, this means if
you were going to be having one of these systems installed to help protect
yourself and your family you now have to wait for the USEPA. This site being
regulated under the RCRA guidelines which give the oversight to the USEPA.
2. A Superfund designation will put the community in control of the cleanup, instead of the polluter. The community
would no longer have to rely on the word of DuPont, their paid consultants and their sympathizers.
a. The reason DuPont is in charge of the remediation of the site is they are being
held to a standard. What this means is they are required to clean the site to a
specific standard not in a specific way, if they do something that doesn’t work
they have to keep trying until they get it right. If you tell them to clean the site
a specific way and it doesn’t work they are off the hook because they did what
they were told and it didn’t work so now they are not obligated to continue.
Sort of like a double jeopardy law. By the way the same goes for hiring your
own contractor to install the mitigation system, if something doesn’t work or it
fails and causes you to get sick DuPont is off the hook because they won’t vouch
for the quality of the contractor you picked so now it’s on you to deal with.
3. The current USEPA administration would make highly‐trained staff and resources available to ensure that our vapor
mitigation systems are installed quickly and professionally.
a. The USEPA are not going to come in and do any of the work themselves
especially since DuPont is here and ready and willing to pay for this the USEPA
will not require anything different DuPont is responsible and are the ones that
pick the contractor bylaw. The army corp. will not come in and do any of this
work so if the EPA needs to pick a different contractor they are going to have to
comply with public work laws. This means they are going to have to put out to
bid either the entire project of house by house and the contract by federal law
has to go to the lowest bidder. The current contractor could be one of the
contractors bidding on the work or you could get better ones or worse ones the
bottom line is it goes to the lowest bidder, Good or bad.
4. The site would be eligible for federal money and grants. If DuPont failed to follow strict USEPA directives, the USEPA
will take over, complete the cleanup, and bill DuPont up to 3 times the cleanup costs. This will make DuPont far more
accountable and more likely to do a thorough cleanup even though a responsible party has been identified.
a. As far as any federal grants go this is still taxpayer money and chances are
DuPont won’t be billed at all let alone 3 times the amount and even if they are
they won’t be billed until after the cleanup is complete until then it is us paying
for DuPont’s cleanup. By the way DuPont pays approximately $850,000.00 a
year in property taxes this would also be passed onto the rest of the residents in
Pompton Lakes, because if the site is declared Superfund the property is no
longer owned by DuPont and they don’t have to pay the taxes and we all know
the federal government doesn’t pay property taxes. This just places the burden
of the loss in revenues on to the rest of the town.
5. USEPA would form a Community Advisory Group (CAG) allowing public participation and comment on the site
investigation, remedy, and record of decision. Unlike NJDEP, community involvement and public participation is the
cornerstone of the USEPA's Superfund program. Monthly or bi‐monthly meetings would be held by USEPA, putting
pressure on DuPont to address cleanup issues, answer the resident’s questions and update the public on the
remediation.
a. A Community Advisory Group is a great idea but this group needs to be made up
of level headed clear thinking individuals that can look at the situation from
both sides objectively. We are dealing with a serious problem here and
emotions run very high when dealing with things like cancer but we need
advisors that make decisions based on facts not emotion here. This issue affects
the entire town not just the plume area and the decisions that are made and the
actions that are taken need to be made and taken with the entire town in mind.
We are right now in the middle of a downtown redevelopment project (BID) and
we have business and building owners in town that are investing millions in the
town to increase business and stabilize taxes, turn this area into a superfund
and having the media here every week destroys that and the entire town is now
affected and taxes will continue to rise.
6. The site would be eligible for a Technical Assistance Grant (TAG) which our community would use to hire our own
independent, professional consultants. The TAG would assist us in understanding and commenting on the cleanup
plans for the site, lake, plume and off‐site areas. For the first time, we will be able to understand and direct the
cleanup without being walked all over by the polluter.
a. I am pretty sure that the borough council voted to hire a group of consultants to
do just this at the request of the residents but it was the CCPL that didn’t like
the answers this group of consultants was giving because they didn’t find any
fault in what was being done so they didn’t like them and didn’t trust them.
Now they want to apply for federal grants to hire a group of consultants that
will say what they want, I wonder just who gets this money would it be the CCPL
or another activist group trying to push their way into town and force their help
on the town whether the resident want it or not. The community is eligible for
grant money now but this is money that the community should be involved in
how it is spent not just a select group of residents. If this group of residents
want to apply for grant money they should do so under their name not the
borough because this group doesn’t speak for the entire borough.
7. Unlike NJDEP, DuPont would not able to self‐certify their own cleanup, bypass regulatory oversight or cut corners,
which would put the community even further at risk.
a. DuPont is not self‐certifying their own cleanup their contractor is a state
certified company and a certified engineer sign off on all the work that is done
and this is regulated by the state and federal government. This does not qualify
for the licensed site professional program now anyway so they are completely
over seen by the NJDEP & USEPA now.
8. USEPA would look into any potential criminal activity, and refer any criminal activity they find to the Attorney
General.
a. I don’t know what type of criminal activity the CCPL is referring to here but I am
pretty sure nobody 100 years ago planned on contaminating the groundwater
here in Pompton especially since most of that time there were no regulations on
how to properly dispose of these chemicals. This site has been closed for more
than twenty years and none of these chemicals have been used in at least that
time so I don’t know why they would want to waste they time or again more
money to try and find someone to blame. And this is what they are saying here
because criminal charges can only brought against a company or individual that
is hiding or denying involvement in something criminal, you will never find any
one individual responsible for this and DuPont is not hiding from or denying
responsibility for this contamination. This is something that took place over
time and to try and point the finger at one individual or group of individuals you
have to have proof that they intentionally planed on doing harm here.
9. The USEPA would hold DuPont accountable for any Natural Resource Damages. The community would get
compensated for the past damages to our streams, lakes and water supply.
a. Just how would the community get compensated for these damages? Do the
residents get money or does the community get the lakes and streams cleaned
up and restored? It seems to me that this was done in part and is still in the
process of being done with the lake cleanup do to start soon.
10. The community will have access to all site‐related documents at no cost. The USEPA requires DuPont to set up a
repository in our library and town hall where all documents would be stored and made available to the public.
a. The community already has access to these documents now and in the places
described. They are in the library and available through the town hall, all these
documents can be reviewed at no cost if you want copies you only pay for the
copy as you would if you want to copy anything in either of these two places.
This is a sample phone or e‐mail message:
If you do not want a Superfund in Pompton Lakes please call/e‐mail the following people. You must be heard.
Sample Message:
Good Day. I am urgently calling/emailing you today to reach out and ask you please DO NOT, I REPEAT DO
NOT ask the Environmental Protection Agency to assume control of the Pompton Lakes DuPont explosives
site cleanup and off‐site residential plume area as a Superfund. I understand that the EPA has always had
oversight. I still want Pompton Lakes to be cleaned up but not a Superfund.
After reviewing the report released by the Department of Health and Senior Services and Agency for Toxic
Substances and Disease Registry I feel that there is just not enough data to prove or entertain the EPA to come
in and take over the site as a superfund at this time. As a taxpayer of Pompton Lakes I feel that I need more
time to research and educate myself so I can make a responsible decision for me and my family.
Thank you for supporting my request.