TOMS RIVER – Environmental group Save Barnegat Bay has partnered with the township of Toms River to file appeals against the State Department of Environmental Protection’s deal with the owners of the Ciba-Geigy Superfund site.
Ciba’s chemical and dye factory buried tons of toxic waste on the site off Route 37, and dumped it in outflow pipes. An uptick in cancer rates in the area has been attributed to the company but proving it scientifically has always been difficult.
Last year, the DEP agreed to a Natural Resource Damage settlement that would allow the property’s current owners, BASF, to profit off of some of the land. This left locals with a bad taste in their mouth.
Save Barnegat Bay’s team of legal and environmental experts said that the DEP failed to quantify the damages done to the offsite environment of Ocean County.
The purpose of a Natural Resource Damage settlement is to put a dollar value on something priceless, according to these experts at a town hall earlier this year. The settlement seeks to make the locals whole for their loss of environment, clean drinking water and more.
The difficulty in doing this is that the exact impact is still being learned, they said. The waste has not yet been cleaned up. There hasn’t been an accurate accounting of the impact in neighboring towns.
The appeal specifies that the settlement doesn’t accurately reflect damage done to the Barnegat Bay, Atlantic Ocean, Kirkwood-Cohansey aquifer and the Toms River itself.
Additionally, the plan doesn’t provide for any environmental restoration plans for anywhere outside the property BASF owns, the appeal noted. What it does provide is a conservation easement on the land, which is in violation of the town’s zoning.
“The sweetheart deal that NJDEP made with BASF is woefully inadequate and does not compensate the people of Toms River and Ocean County for the damage that has been done to our environment by the corporate polluters,” said Mayor Maurice B. Hill, Jr.
The goal of the appeal is to secure funding for projects put forth by all Ocean County towns that were impacted, providing a way to restore the damage done to their natural resources as well.
“We are fortunate that Save Barnegat Bay has stepped up to assemble a top notch team of legal and environmental experts to lead this fight and to finally get justice for the environmental destruction our community has endured for decades,” Hill said.
“This is just the beginning of what will be a long battle for justice for Toms River and the surrounding Ocean County towns and we are ready to go the distance and stand together with Toms River and Ocean County,” said Britta Forsberg, Save Barnegat Bay’s Executive Director.
Last year, BASF and the State Department of Environmental Protection reached this settlement that would keep about 1,000 acres of it preserved for open space, pollinator gardens, trails, and an environmental recreation center.
Locals were angry that 255 acres of the site would be allowed to be developed on Route 37 in an area currently zoned as light industrial. BASF will also be able to profit from a huge solar array. This is being done despite Ciba winning $17 million off the town in a tax appeal.
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