Officials To Polluters: Pay Up To Clean Up Passaic River

PASSAIC COUNTY, NJ — State legislators are trying to force an Argentina-based oil company to help pay and remediate part of the river despite the company filing for bankruptcy.

The lower 8 miles of the Passaic River is contaminated with dioxin, a toxic compound that has been linked to cancer, pesticides and polychlorinated biphenyls, from the former Diamond Alkali Co., which operated in Newark. The company made DDT, Agent Orange and other agricultural chemicals there in the 1950s and 1960s. Dioxin and pesticides were found in sediment in the Lower Passaic River and local groundwater in the 1980s. Other companies that operated along the river also contributed to the pollution, officials said.

Legislators heard testimony from about the about the extent of the contamination at a panel discussion Tuesday. Assemblyman Kevin Rooney (D-40) said the testimony was "troubling."

Rooney is co-sponsoring a resolution urging state and federal authorities to investigate YPF S.A.'s bankruptcy filing as a possible way of getting the company out of remediation responsibility. Assemblyman Tim Eustace (D-38) is the legislation's primary sponsor. A similar resolution exists in the state Senate.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) declared the area Superfund site. A $1.3 billion cleanup plan was approved in March 2016, which includes dredging 3.5 million cubic yards of contaminated sediment from the river.

However, YPF S.A. and its subsidiary Maxus Energy Corp., which operated the former Diamond Alkali site, filed for bankruptcy last June, three months after the cleanup plan was announced.

"The pollution caused by industrial activities of a half-century ago are leaving a deadly trail for us today," said Rooney. "I am one of 80 Assembly members representing more than 8 million state residents who can be impacted by the dioxin and mercury pollution in the river, which finds its way into fish and shellfish that could end up on someone's dinner plate."

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