doi:10.2489/jswc.75.2.33A

FEATURE How did the Passaic , a Superfund site near Newark, , become an Agent Orange dioxin TCDD hotspot? Kenneth R. Olson and Mike Tharp

he Passaic River name was derived from an Algonquian word meaning Figure 1 T “peaceful .” In the mid-1900s, and the location of the storm surge barrier locations in Long this peaceful valley in New Jersey, United Island Sound and Lower New York Bay. States, became a major exporter of a pow- The Bronx Long Island erful herbicide, Agent Orange, which was Sound Hudson used as a chemical weapon during the Paterson River Vietnam War. The unintended conse- Grand quences of the use of this deadly herbicide Passaic River Central were often fatal to military personnel, chemical plant workers, and Vietnam- New Jersey New York East East River ese civilians (Thomas and Kang 1990; River La Barrier Guardia Jersey Long Island Schecter et al. 1995). Those affected in Newark City Manhattan Copyright © 2020 Soil and Water Conservation Society. All rights reserved. Journal of Soil and Water Conservation some way by Agent Orange number in the Journal of Soil and Water Conservation Newark Air Port Statue of Liberty millions (NAS 1974; Schecter et al. 1995). Newark JFK Bay Jamaica Bay Moreover, evidence is mounting that the effects of exposure to Agent Orange linger Staten Jones Inlet through generations of people (Institute Arthur Island Upper Barrier Kill New East Rockaway Barrier of Medicine 1994; Constable and Hatch York Bay Atlantic 1985; Stockbauer et al. 1988). Addition- Ocean Lower New Outer Harbor Gateway Legend ally, in the , one of the most York Bay Raritan Bay N Gateway massive environmental cleanups in his- Sandy Water Hook Barrier Point tory—costing billions of dollars—has New York Cities been necessary to try to protect residents Airports New Jersey 4.5 km 75(2):33A-37A of New Jersey and neighboring areas from New Jersey 75(2):33A-37A 3 mi the lasting impacts of the Agent Orange chemical manufacturing plant on the Pas- saic River. The current 2,3,7,8-tetrachlorodiben- lion with a need for US$6 billion more for waterway to the ocean. The Passaic River www.swcs.org www.swcs.org zodioxin (C12H4Cl4O2; TCDD) pollution cleanup and another US$6 billion for natural now drains into the and flows in the Passaic River dates back to the 1940s, resource restoration. The dioxin TCDD- parallel with the lower Hudson River well before the Vietnam War when the US contaminated sediment in the Passaic River along the west side of Staten Island and military used Agent Orange to kill jungle has a very long half-life in sediment (Olson into Raritan Bay and the Atlantic Ocean. vegetation and Vietnamese food crops and Morton 2017, 2019) and remains an The river is 120 km (80 mi) long with including cassava (Manihot esculenta), maize environmental and food supply problem in a 2,422 km2 (1,505 mi2) watershed and (Zea mays), sweet potato (Ipomoea batatas), the Passaic River and Newark Bay. To this has been developed as a source of power and nuts. However, Agent Orange was inef- day, the harvesting of fish and crabs from the and water. It flows into the Great Swamp fective when sprayed on the South Vietnam lower Passaic River is banned (New Jersey lowland between the ridge hills of rural rice (Oryza sativa) crop. Agent Blue, the Department of Environmental Protection and suburban northern New Jersey. The arsenic (As) based rice killer was used on 2009). The sediment is still too contaminated Passaic River headwaters are in Mendham. the rice paddies. with dioxin TCDD and remains a threat to The river flows south into Morristown A company called Diamond Alkali both the food supply and human health. manufactured Agent Orange in its Newark factory, which was next to the Passaic River. PASSAIC RIVER GEOLOGY AND HISTORY Kenneth R. Olson is a US Army Vietnam vet- The contaminants—spilled, washed, or The Passaic River formed from a massive eran and professor emeritus of soil science in the Department of Natural Resources, College leaked Agent Orange—drained into the proglacial lake that developed in north- of Agricultural, Consumer, and Environmental Passaic River via trenches and pipes. The ern New Jersey approximately 13,000 Sciences, University of Illinois, Urbana, Il- chemical plant has now been destroyed and years ago. The glacial ice sheet blocked linois. Mike Tharp is a US Army Vietnam vet- contaminated soil incinerated. However, the the normal drainage to the north. eran who won a Bronze Star; he’s a former Wall Street Journal and The New York Times reporter Passaic River has become a Superfund site, The overflowing lake drained out through and experienced war correspondent. and cleanup costs to date total US$1.3 bil- the new path (figure 1), the present-day

JOURNAL OF SOIL AND WATER CONSERVATION MARCH/APRIL 2020—VOL. 75, NO. 2 33A Natural Historical Park, passes through the end of the growing season (Galston Figure 2 , and then along the 1943). Galston also noted that in higher The Great Falls of the Passaic River. western side of the Great Swamp. The concentrations, it would cause soybeans Passaic River drains northeast to Paterson to lose leaves. Galston’s discovery led to and over the Great Falls of Passaic (figure the development of a precursor (TIBA) to 2) and into Dundee Lake. The Dundee Agent Orange (Olson and Morton 2019). Dam was built in 1845. Approximately 4 In 1943 Galston moved to the California km (2.4 mi) below the dam, the river is Institute of Technology to work with navigable to Raritan Bay before emptying Nobel Prize winner George Beadle on into the Atlantic Ocean. World War II defense-related research. The Passaic flows through the most Galston joined the navy in 1944 and industrialized and urbanized areas of New served as a natural resources officer while Jersey. The lower river suffered industrial stationed in Okinawa, Japan, until World abandonment (figure 3) and severe pollu- War II was over. tion in the twentieth century. The chemical In 1951, biological warfare scientists manufacturing site is on the and at Fort Detrick, Maryland, began inves- subject to erosion of the soil and sediment tigating the possible uses of defoliant Figure 3 Copyright © 2020 Soil and Water Conservation Society. All rights reserved.

contaminated by toxic waste including herbicides based on Galston discoveries The gravel parking lot where the chemi- Journal of Soil and Water Conservation dioxin TCDD, polychlorinated biphenyls while working with TIBA. US military cal plant was removed in Newark, New (PCBs), and mercury (Hg) (Fallon 2019; researchers eventually produced the toxic Jersey, along the Passaic River. The floodwall is visible in the background. Brickley and Morgenson 2018). During defoliant Agent Orange, which was used periods of heavy rainfall or snowmelt, in the 1950s by the British air force dur- the Passaic River has flooding prob- ing the Malayan Emergency and later in lems—especially at the confluence of the the 1960s by the US Air Force, Navy, and Pompton and Passaic . Historically, Army during the Vietnam War. building has been allowed on these - Since the 1940s, the 2,4-dichloro

plains, which has resulted in homes and phenoxy acetic acid, C8H6Cl2O3 (2,4- businesses now being frequently flooded. D), and 2,4,5-trichloro phenoxy acetic 75(2):33A-37A A plan has been proposed to build a 32 acid, C8H5Cl3O3 (2,4,5-T), herbicides km (20 mi)-long flood tunnel to divert were used separately in the United States the periodic flood waters directly into (Olson and Morton 2019). Agent Orange, original Agent Orange by-product con- Newark Bay (Romano 1992). a 50:50 mixture of 2,4-D and 2,4,5-T, taminant levels (Sills 2014). Military field was only produced for the US military. tests, including some in Florida, were www.swcs.org DISCOVERY, FORMULATION, CREATION, Both of these herbicides have a relatively conducted with Agent Orange that was AND MANUFACTURE OF THE HERBICIDE short half-life when exposed to sunlight. manufactured in the 1960s (Young and AGENT ORANGE DIOXIN TCDD IN THE Unfortunately, the manufacturing process Newton 2004). PASSAIC RIVER VALLEY used to make 2,4,5-T created a by-product The US government passed the Hitchcock and Zimmerman at Boyce or contaminant dioxin, TCDD, which has Defense Production Act in 1950. The gov- Thompson Institute (1935) found absorp- a much longer half-life (50 to 100 years ernment, as a nation at war, compelled 11 tion and movement of synthetic growth or more) (Olson and Morton 2019). The companies to create, produce, and supply substance from soil resulted in a response two herbicides, when buried under anaer- Agent Orange to the military. From 1965 by the aerial part of the plant. In the 1940s obic conditions in the subsoil or attached to 1969, 11 wartime government contrac- botanists tried to initiate flowering by to clay and organic matter particles trans- tors that manufactured Agent Orange only applying small quantities of various chem- ported as sediment, settle to the bottom of produced it for the US military (Olson and icals to different plants. Zimmerman and a river or lake. Initially, the dioxin TCDD Morton 2019), and it was not sold to the Hitchcock (1942) found that 2,3,5-triio- contaminant levels were in the range of public. These companies included Dow dobenzoic acid (TIBA) induced flowering 0.05 ppm (Sills 2014). However, to meet Chemical, Monsanto Company, Hercules in tomato (Solanum lycopersicum L.) plants the needs of the US military, approxi- Inc., Diamond Shamrock Corporation when either applied to soil or used as a mately 4.26 × 107 L (1.126 × 107 gal), the (previously Diamond Alkali), Hooker spray on the leaves of the plants. Agent Orange combustion process was Chemical Company, Riverdale Chemical Arthur W. Galston’s 1943 University accelerated by increasing the temperature Company, Ansul Chemical Company, of Illinois (botany) PhD thesis research 5°C (9°F) (Olson and Morton 2019). As Uniroyal Inc., Occidental Chemical focused on the use of TIBA to make soy- a consequence, the dioxin TCDD levels Company, N.A. Phillips Chemical beans (Glycine max [L.] Merr.) flower and in Agent Orange increased to as high as Company, and Thompson-Hayward fruit sooner so they could mature before 60 ppm, or 3,000 times higher than the Chemical Company. The US government

34A MARCH/APRIL 2020—VOL. 75, NO. 2 JOURNAL OF SOIL AND WATER CONSERVATION also specified how Agent Orange would Figure 4 be produced and then controlled its trans- The loading of ocean-going ships at a port on the linked tidal Passaic and portation, storage, distribution, and use. Hudson rivers system. During the manufacturing process, the workers at the New Jersey Diamond Alkali facility on the Passaic River were exposed to TCDD. Agent Orange was stored on site at Diamond Alkali in 205 L (55 gal) barrels painted with an orange stripe and then loaded on ocean-going ships (figure 4) headed for the South China Sea and the coast of Vietnam. The barrels were shipped and stored on military bases for spraying the jungle and food crops or on navy ships (figure 5) for use on stream banks and mangrove forests. Copyright © 2020 Soil and Water Conservation Society. All rights reserved.

RECOGNITION OF HARMFUL AGENT Journal of Soil and Water Conservation ORANGE EFFECTS Early in 1965 many scientific organizations, led by Arthur W. Galston (then a professor at Yale University), warned the US gov- ernment against the military herbicide program. In all, 5,000 scientists, including 2019; Sills 2014). Dioxin TCDD by-product of the contaminant dioxin TCDD (Zober members of the Federation of American was also in other Rainbow herbicides with et al. 1990; Institute of Medicine 1994; Scientists and American Association of the associated risks to the environment and US Congress House of Representatives Advancement of Science, along with 17 human health (NAS 1974; Sills 2014). This 1992). In 1970 President Nixon, act- Nobel Prize winners, petitioned the US delay in notifying the US government and ing in his role as Commander-in-Chief, military and government to stop the use of military may have increased the 11 chemi- ordered the US military to stop spraying 75(2):33A-37A chemical and biological weapons. Galston cal companies’ past, current, and future legal Agent Orange. The next year, he ordered strongly objected to the use of his early exposure (Olson and Morton 2019). all Rainbow herbicide spraying, including scientific discovery and research in the By the late 1960s, the US government Agent Blue, to be stopped and removed development of the toxic herbicides for and military became fully aware of the from Vietnam. Agent Orange barrels were www.swcs.org use in the Vietnam War (Galston 2009). environmental and health consequences collected at Bien Hoa Airbase (about 32 He thought it was a misuse of science and stated, “Science is meant to improve the Figure 5

lot of mankind, not diminish it—and its Navy ships that were used to transfer the chemicals from the commercial ships use as a military weapon was ill-advised,” to the brown navy to spray on the stream banks. in a California Institute of Technology Archives Oral History Project (Cohen 2002). Professor Galston was eventually recognized in 2004 by the University of Illinois Alumni Association for his scien- tific discovery and subsequent efforts to prevent its misuse by the US government and military. By 1953, the chemical companies, including BASF, had also discovered the dioxin TCDD health effects on workers after an explosion (Zober et al. 1990) but were slow to inform the US government and military of the extent and magnitude of the dioxin TCDD contaminant in Agent Orange after the combustion temperature was raised 5°C (9°F) (Olson and Morton

JOURNAL OF SOIL AND WATER CONSERVATION MARCH/APRIL 2020—VOL. 75, NO. 2 35A km [20 mi] northeast of Saigon/Ho Chi river. In 1971, Diamond Alkali sold the In 2005 the State of New Jersey sued Minh City) from all the military airbases Lister Avenue, New Jersey, facility. The Maxus Energy Corporation (the US unit in Vietnam and shipped to Atoll Johnston Passaic River carried dioxin TCDD both of Argentina’s oil giant YPF Sociedad Island in the Pacific Ocean. Many of upstream and downstream, contaminating Anomima) and OxyChem over a delay in the barrels were leaking and had to be a 27 km (17 mi)-section of the riverbed the cleanup. The US$220 million that the resealed. This exposed the barrel handlers in one of New Jersey’s most populated state spent cleaning up a section of the river and transporters to dioxin TCDD. Agent area and linked to Kill Van Kull (figure was recovered from Maxus and OxyChem Orange with high levels of dioxin TCDD 1) and adjacent to the Hudson River and partnership under terms of a court settle- either leached into the ground or was car- New York City. The dioxin-contaminated ment (Baxter 2011). Cleanup activities by ried by runoff water into the waterways, sediment has reached Newark Bay (fig- the partnership in 2012 and 2014 included streams, rivers, ponds, and lakes (Olson ure 1), which is connected by the Kill Van the removal and disposal of dioxin TCDD, and Morton 2019). During the dry sea- Kull to the Hudson River just north of PCBs, and Hg-contaminated soils and son, dioxin TCDD-contaminated dust Staten Island. sediment from two areas along the Passaic from the perimeter road and border fence The Port Authority of New York and River (Grant 2011). The most concentrated was blown into the adjacent landscapes. New Jersey has spent millions dredging inventory of dioxin TCDD contaminated Fifty years after the US military stopped dioxin TCDD-contaminated soil and sed- sediment was adjacent to the Lister Avenue spraying Agent Orange, there is still a iment from the port. Dioxin TCDD binds site, and it was dredged by Tierra Removal. Copyright © 2020 Soil and Water Conservation Society. All rights reserved.

fish and shrimp ban on a lake outside the to the clay and soil organic matter (Olson At river mile 10.9 the highly concentrated Journal of Soil and Water Conservation Bien Hoa Airbase hotspot, the most con- and Morton 2019) and can be transported inventory of highly contaminated mudflat taminated hotspot in Vietnam. The dioxin to the Passaic River during periods of on the east bank of the river near Lyndurst TCDD attached to the sediment, which heavy rainfall. Before 1998, floodwalls and was dredged and capped (Baxter 2011; then settled at the bottom off the lake. slurry walls had been constructed (figure Brickley and Morgenson 2018). The Passaic Bottom-feeding fish and mollusks then 3) to reduce the runoff sediment transport River is one of the most polluted hotspots fed off the floor of the lake, and the dioxin into the Passaic River and Newark Bay. in the United States and site of one of the TCDD was ingested and concentrated in largest cleanup efforts ever. In 2014 the their tissue. When contaminated fish and SOILS AND SEDIMENT SAMPLING USEPA announced a US$1.7 billion plan shrimp are eaten, it can still get into the FOR DIOXIN TCDD to remove 3.2 × 106 m3 (1.13 × 108 ft3) of current food supply and increases human In 1983, sampling of soils and sedi- toxic sediment contaminated with dioxin

health risks. Research by the United ments by the State of New Jersey and TCDD, PCBs, and Hg (USEPA 2019). 75(2):33A-37A States. Department of Defense later led to US Environmental Protection Agency The sediments in the lower 13 km the discovery that the contaminant TCDD (USEPA) near 80 Lister Avenue in Newark (8 mi) of the Passaic River were found in Agent Orange caused birth defects in and in the Passaic River revealed high levels to be a major source of the contamina- laboratory rats (NAS 1974). of dioxin TCDD (Mansnerus 1998). There tion in other sections of the Passaic River www.swcs.org were also high levels of PCBs and Hg as a and Newark Bay. In March of 2016 a THE SOURCE OF DIOXIN TCDD consequence of the manufacture of other remedy for the contaminated sediment CONTAMINANT IN PASSAIC RIVER chemical products. In 2001, the USEPA, of the lower Passaic River was chosen SEDIMENTS: DIAMOND ALKALI in partnership with New Jersey and other and included an engineering cap which FACILITY IN NEWARK, NEW JERSEY federal agencies, cleaned up the Lister was installed from bank to bank. In an In the 1940s, the Diamond Alkali facility Avenue manufacturing site. The building attempt to avoid increasing the future in Newark, New Jersey, and on the banks was torn down and hauled to a landfill, flooding hazard and maintaining the of the Passaic River, was used to manufac- and the site became a gravel parking navigation , part of the dioxin ture DDT and other chemical products. lot (figure 3); the dioxin-contaminated TCDD-contaminated sediment had to be In the 1950s Diamond Alkali began to soil was removed and incinerated. Today removed to make room for the cap. The manufacture Agent Orange. Diamond only a gravel lot remains as part of an removed dredge material was dewatered Alkali workers stated in court testimony abandoned industrial complex. The and transported by barge to a sediment- that they were exposed to Agent Orange remediation actions taken in the Passaic permitted processing facility on the banks by-product dioxin TCDD. These work- River included a pre-1998 floodwall and of the Passaic River and Newark Bay for ers claimed that the factory floors in the subsurface treatment system. The contam- disposal (Grant 2011; Fallon 2019; Baxter 1950s and 1960s were so slick with spilled inated sediment in the river originating 2011). The estimated cost was US$1.38 and leaking Agent Orange and TCDD at the Lister site and neighboring lots was billion. The USEPA estimated the cost of that it was treacherous to walk on them. capped to prevent additional release of the cleanup of the lower 27 km (16 mi) of The contaminant TCDD was washed by dioxin TCDD to the river. The site has the Passaic River and Newark Bay (figure poorly protected workers into trenches been monitored by Occidental Chemical 1) to be US$6 billion, in addition to US$6 and flowed into drains and pipes, which Corporation (Brickley and Morgenson billion in earlier natural resource damages. emptied into the Passaic River, a tidal 2018; Fallon 2019). Cleanups for the remainder of Newark

36A MARCH/APRIL 2020—VOL. 75, NO. 2 JOURNAL OF SOIL AND WATER CONSERVATION Bay and lower Passaic River are still being ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS Olson, K.R., and L.W. Morton. 2017. Why were planned (Brickley and Morgenson 2018; Published with funding (Hatch Project 875-979) and the soil tunnels of Cu Chi and Iron Triangle Fallon 2019). support from USDA National Institute of Food and in Vietnam so resilient? Open Journal of Soil Exposure to even low levels of contam- Agriculture, Water Division, and the Director of the Science 7:34-51. inants through crab and fish consumption Illinois Office of Research, College of Agricultural, Olson, K.R., and L.W. Morton. 2019. Long-term fate may have long-lasting health effects on Consumer, and Environmental Science, University of of Agent Orange and dioxin TCDD contami- people living along the lower Passaic River. Illinois, Urbana, Illinois. nated soils and sediments in Vietnam hotspots. The USEPA alerted the public about the Open Journal of Soil Science 9(1):1-34. prohibitions and advisories on harvesting REFERENCES Romano, J. 1992. Passaic Flood Tunnel: A turning crabs or fish in the tidal Passaic River and Baxter, C. 2011. Second New Jersey chemical com- point. The New York Times, November 8, 1992. Newark Bay. The advisories and prohibi- pany held liable for lower Passaic River pollution Schecter, A., L.C. Dai, L.T. Thuy, H.T. Quynh, H.D. tions are based on levels of Hg, PCBs, and cleanup. NorthJersey.com Cau, P.H. Phiet, N.T. Nguyen, J.D. Constable, dioxin in tested crabs and fish and are dif- Brickley, P., and G. Morgenson. 2018. Agent Orange and R. Baughman. 1995. Agent Orange and the ficult to enforce. legacy – A $12 billion cleanup and fight over Vietnamese: The persistence of elevated dioxin who pays. Wall Street Journal, December 3, 2018. levels in human tissues. American Journal of SUMMARY AND CONCLUSIONS Cohen, S.K. 2002. Galston, Arthur, W. Oral History Public Health 85(5):516-522. The Passaic River parallels the Hudson Project. Pasadena, CA: California Institute of Sills, P. 2014. Toxic War: The Story of Agent Orange. Copyright © 2020 Soil and Water Conservation Society. All rights reserved.

River and was an industrial river, which Technology Archives. Nashville, TN: Vanderbilt University Press. Journal of Soil and Water Conservation included plants that manufactured Agent Constable, J.D., and M.C. Hatch. 1985. Reproductive Stockbauer, J.W., R.E. Hoffman, W.F. Schramm and Orange that was used in the Vietnam effects of herbicide exposure in Vietnam L.D. Edmonds. 1988. Reproductive outcomes of War in the 1960s. Stretches of river along recent studies by the Vietnamese and others. mother’s with potential exposure to 2,3,7,8-T Newark are postindustrial, abandoned Teratogenesis, Carcinogenesis, and Mutagenesis dioxin. American Journal of Epidemiology landscapes, and the sediment at the mouth 5(4):231-250. 128:410-419. of the Passaic River near Newark Bay Fallon, S. 2019. EPA targets Bergen, Passaic coun- Thomas, T.L., and H.K. Kang. 1990. Mortality and remains contaminated with dioxin TCDD, ties for Passaic River dioxin cleanup. But is it morbidity among Army Chemical Corps Vietnam PCBs, and Hg. The USEPA designated a enough? July 30, 2019. NorthJersey.com. Veterans: A preliminary report. American Journal 27 km (16 mi) stretch of the Passaic River Galston, A.W. 1943. The physiology of flowering of Industrial Medicine 18:665-67. as a Superfund site. In 2013 several corpo- with especial reference to floral initiation in soy- USEPA (US Environmental Protection Agency). rations agreed to pay New Jersey US$130 beans. PhD Thesis. University of Illinois. 2019. Case Summary: US$165 million settlement 75(2):33A-37A million for ecological damages related to Galston, A.W. 2009. An accidental plant biologist. to start cleanup work on the Passaic River in the Passaic River pollution (Baxter 2011). Plant Physiology 128(3): 786-781. New Jersey. Washington, DC: US Environmental To date, US$1.38 billion have been spent Grant, M. 2011. Environmentalist, official argue Protection Agency. on cleanup. The USEPA estimated the intent of 130 million to be obtained from Passaic US Congress House of Representatives. 1992. www.swcs.org remaining cost of cleanup of the lower River Polluters. NorthJersey.com. Committee on Government Operations, Passaic River and Newark Bay at US$6 Hitchcock, A.E., and P.W. Zimmerman. 1935. Human Resources Intergovernmental Relations billion in addition to US$6 billion for Absorption and movement of synthetic growth Subcommittee. Hearing on Health Risks of substances from soil as indicated by the responses Dioxin. June 10, 1992.

past natural resource damages. After 50 years, US companies, such as Diamond of aerial plant parts. Contrib. Boyce Thompson Young, A.L., and M. Newton. 2004. Long overlooked Alkali (now Diamond Shamrock), stopped Institute 1:447-476. historical information on Agent Orange and manufacturing Agent Orange with the Institute of Medicine (US). 1994. Veterans and Agent TCDD following massive applications of 2,4,5-T by-product dioxin TCDD. However, the Orange: Health Effects of Herbicides Used in containing herbicides. Eglin Air Force Base, contaminant with a very long half-life Vietnam. Washington, DC: National Academy Press. Florida. Environmental Science and Pollution when attached to sediment under anaero- Mansnerus, L. 1998. Newark’s toxic tomb; Six Research 11:209-221. https://doi.org/10.1007/ bic conditions remains an environmental acres fouled by dioxin, Agent Orange’s deadly BF02979627. problem in the tidal Passaic River and byproduct, reside in the shadow of an awakening Zimmerman, P.W., and A.E. Hitchcock. 1942. Newark Bay. To this day fish and crabs downtown. The New York Times. Nov. 8, 1998. Flowering habit and correlation of organs from the Passaic River are too contami- NAS (National Academy of Sciences). 1974. The modified b triiodobenzoic acid. Contrib. Boyce nated with dioxin TCDD for human effects of herbicides in South Vietnam: Part A. Thompson Institute 12:491-496. consumption and remain a threat to the Summary and Conclusions. Washington, DC: Zober, A., P. Messerer, and P. Huber. 1990. Thirty- food supply and human health (New National Academy of Sciences. four year mortality follow-up of BASF employees Jersey Department of Environmental New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection. exposed to 2,3,7,8-T dioxin after 1953 accident. Protection 2009). 2009. Notice to general public – fish should not International Archives of Occupational and be eaten. Fish Advisory posted January 23, 2009. Environmental Health 62(2):139-157.

JOURNAL OF SOIL AND WATER CONSERVATION MARCH/APRIL 2020—VOL. 75, NO. 2 37A ERRATUM

doi:10.2489/jswc.75.3.426

Erratum for Olson and Tharp, How did the Passaic River, a Superfund site near Newark, New Jersey, become an Agent Orange dioxin TCDD hotspot?

Volume 75(2), p. 33A: Lines 1-6 in the Author Information box should read as follows: “Kenneth R. Olson is a US Army Vietnam Era vet- eran and professor emeritus of soil science in the Department of Natural Resources, College of Agriculture Consumer and Environmental Sciences, University of Illinois, Urbana, Illinois.”

Reference K.R. Olson and M. Tharp. 2020. How did the Passaic River, a Superfund site near Newark, New Jersey, become an Agent Orange dioxin TCDD hotspot? Journal of Soil and Water Conservation 75(2):33A-37A, DOI: https://doi.org/10.2489/jswc.75.2.33A.

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