See Plans For Ciba-Geigy Site Restoration After Settlement Reached

Update: This article has been updated with comments from Toms River Mayor "Mo" Hill, and Save Barnegat Bay.

TOMS RIVER, NJ — Most of the land at the Ciba-Geigy Superfund Site in Toms River will be preserved as part of a settlement with the site's ownership, despite protests from the town and environmental activists over turning the contaminated land into a park.

On Wednesday, the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection announced a settlement with BASF Corporation, the current owner of the more than 1,200-acre site off of Oak Ridge Parkway.

The Ciba-Geigy site was declared an EPA Superfund site in 1983, after toxins buried in 55-gallon drums on the property were found to be leaching into groundwater. BASF Corporation, a German chemicals company, has owned the site since 2009.

The company will permanently preserve approximately 1,000 acres of the site, which will protect groundwater there and begin to remediate the damage to natural resources there caused by the Ciba-Geigy Chemical Corporation, according to the NJ DEP.

BASF will also conduct nine natural resource restoration projects on 375 acres of the preserved land. Planned projects include an environmental education center, a habitat for pollinators, and some conservation for northern pine snakes, bats, and turtles.

Parts of the project could be completed by spring 2025, while more complicated components could take until winter 2027, according to a tentative schedule posted by the NJ DEP (see below).

Click here to view more detailed plans for the nine natural resource projects.

BASF also has to pay $500,000 to the NJ DEP’s Office of Natural Resource Restoration, which is an increase from a $100,000 amount quoted earlier this year.

Department of Environmental Protection commissioner Shawn LaTourette said that the money will pay for the administration of the project, so the public does not have to spend taxpayer dollars.

An additional 50 acres of land which was originally part of the remaining BASF-controlled parcel will be designated as part of the cleanup, though some of the site will not be protected forever.

LaTourette said the DEP's settlement and the remediation plan specifically address the damages to groundwater and the ecology at the site.

"We have negotiated one of the best natural resource resolutions that the state of New Jersey has ever seen," LaTourette said during a call with media on Wednesday.

The mayor of Toms River, Maurice B. "Mo" Hill, Jr., said the settlement falls far short of "justly compensating" the community impacted by Ciba-Geigy.

"The Natural Resource Damage settlement negotiated behind closed doors without input from Toms River Township or the other towns impacted by the Ciba-Geigy travesty is woefully inadequate and does not come close to justly compensating the community for the damage done to our environment," Hill said in a statement.

Cleanup at the Superfund site continues, under the supervision of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, and BASF is responsible for those costs. The company will be responsible for maintaining and operating the site for 20 years.

Save Barnegat Bay, which urged the state to hold a public hearing on the matter, planned to host a meeting on Thursday, Aug. 17, at Toms River Town Hall to update residents on its efforts to fight the proposed settlement.

"This is not over," said Britta Wenzel, the director of Save Barnegat Bay, on Thursday afternoon. "There is hope. Actually, this is an opportunity for us to go get our justice."

The Sierra Club's New Jersey chapter said the settlement does not go far enough "to hold polluters accountable nor ensure a fully cleaned up site for recreational use."

“The Ciba Geigy Superfund Site is one of New Jersey’s most toxic sites," said Anjuli Ramos-Busot, Director of the NJ Sierra Club, in a statement. Despite the positive modifications made by the NJDEP, there are crucial pieces of information that remain unclear. Toms River residents deserve full transparency and accountability from polluters, and there needs to be further information available about the levels of contamination and damages done to the natural environment."

Read more about the Ciba-Geigy site:

• Proposed Ciba Settlement 'Not About Punishment': DEP Commissioner
• Reflections On 'Chemical Town'
• Book Explores Toms River's Toxic History With Industrial Pollution
• Ciba-Geigy Corp. Proposes Multimillion-Dollar Settlement

This article contains reporting from Patch's Karen Wall.