Hackensack Fall/ Winter 2020, Volume X XIII, Issue 3 ® TIDELINESTIDELINESHackensackRIVERKEEPER — Celebrating over twenty years of clean water advocacy. From Superfund to Recovered How Superfund Cleanups Restore and Revive By Michele Langa There are more Superfund sites in the state of New Jersey than any other state in the nation with over 100 sites on the National Priorities List (NPL). Not exactly a “first” worth celebrating. What is worth celebrating, however, is the re- markable work that has been and is currently being done to turn these Superfund sites into cleaned and A photo of Berry’s Creek taken after the official EPA announcement of reusable land for New Jerseyans. the Record of Decision signing. While it looks harmless, high levels So what exactly is the Superfund? of contaminants lay buried in the sediment. The Superfund program exists through the Comprehensive Envi- Act suggests, it was designed to en- liability to those responsible. How- ronmental Response, Compensa- able the EPA to respond swiftly to ever, the success of the Superfund tion, and Liability Act (CERCLA), environmental emergencies, com- program hinges on the availability enacted in 1980. As the title of the pensate injured parties, and assign Continued on page 3 Anatomy of a Raid: Ferry Machine Company 1/24/19 Our Watershed Watch Hotline Comes Through for Clean Water By Captain Bill Sheehan both the time and space to share dumping used machine oil into NOTE: It’s a very unusual for us with you the whole story of what a stormdrain located in the back to publish an article about some- began with a phone call… of their parking lot; a drain that thing that happened nearly two On a day back in 2017 I discharges directly to the river. years ago but when things got real received an anonymous tip via I drove over to see what I in Little Ferry, NJ the authorities our Watershed Watch Hotline could find. From where I parked asked us to keep it quiet. When (1-877-CPT-BILL) about Ferry I was able to see 55-gallon drums we were finally cleared to tell the Machine Company in Little lined up next to what looked like story, the pandemic was in full Ferry. The caller reported the he’d the drain. Since what I saw swing and our office was a wreck witnessed company employees Continued on page 6 thanks to the fire. So now we have Inside Charlie Stelling Remembered 12 At the Helm 2 Volunteer Corner 13 Real Science for Real People 4 Field Notes 16 Water Sampling 7 RiverFest: Fishing Derby 18 Eco-Program Recap 9 Ambassador Update 19 New Beginning Celebration 10 Victory:NJT rejects Proposal 20 Page 2 Hackensack Tidelines-Fall/Winter 2020 At the Helm Captain Bill Sheehan 231 Main Street Hackensack, NJ 07601-7304 Dear Friends and Supporters, Phone: (201) 968-0808 Hotline: 1-877-CPT-BILL At press time, the results of the [email protected] 2020 Presidential election had not www.hackensackriverkeeper.org been finalized. Regardless of how it shakes out, it’ll be a very long Board of Trustees Rob Gillies, President time before our nation can even William R. Leggett, Vice President begin to undo the horrific envi- Brendan Reskakis, Treasurer ronmental damage that took place Susan L. Golden, Secretary Fortunately, our watershed over the past four years. Sadly, John Birkner, Jr region generally enjoys enlight- Craig M. Dorsett the challenges of climate change, ened leadership and is holding its Susan Gordon ensuring clean water and clean air, Virginia Korteweg own. Hackensack Riverkeeper and ending our dependence on fos- Ivan Kossak, CPA is doing – and will continue to Kelly G. Palazzi sil fuels are like cans being kicked do – everything we can to roll Elizabeth Ravit, PhD down the road. with the punches and focus on our Honorary Trustees Look, our nation was a global watershed at the state and local William “Pat” Schuber environmental leader until 2016. levels. It’s never been easy but Executive Director All across the world our Water- we’ve never stopped fighting for Captain Bill Sheehan, keeper sisters and brothers saw us Hackensack Riverkeeper a fishable, swimmable and live- as the Gold Standard for protecting able river; never stopped fighting HRI Staff humanity’s right to clean water. Hugh Carola, Program Director to protect our woods & wetlands; That leadership role was then Jodi Jamieson, Project Manager never stopped fighting for your Samantha Kreisler, Outreach Coordinator brutally cut off at the knees by the rights to enjoy them. And we Michele Langa, Staff Attorney polluters Trump put in charge of Mike Panos, Donor Relations never will. every federal agency tasked with Elizabeth Salas, Accounting All of what we do is only pos- Lisa Vandenberg, Office Manager protecting and restoring our envi- sible because of the generous sup- Russ Wilke, Paddle Center Manager ronment. I shudder to think what port we receive from people like Volunteer Extraordinaire will happen if he’s still president. you. Thanks to you we were able Bill Meier, IT Specialist The Clean Water Act repealed? to work through the pandemic and Watershed Ambassador EPA disbanded? provide safe, quality recreation and Tyler Tierney And if Biden won, the new ad- education programs that allowed ministration will have to navigate Jodi Jamieson, Managing Editor folks to escape the COVID lock- Hugh Carola, Copy Editor through a “minefield” of ultracon- downs, if only for a few blessed servative federal judges who enjoy hours. And that in spite of the fire! We gladly accept submissions of articles, photog- lifetime appointments. raphy and advertisements from the community; We are ever thankful for your Either way, we need to recog- however, we retain editorial discretion. faithful support and promise to We do not necessarily endorse any individual nize that the anti-environmental or company whose advertisements are found in continue fighting for our beloved these pages. attack that began on January river and the unique, diverse 20, 2017 will have long-lasting habitats that make up the amaz- Hackensack Tidelines consequences. If the pandemic has is published 3 times per year ing “urban wilderness” that is our on recycled paper. taught us anything, it’s that the pol- watershed. Riverkeeper is a registered trademark and ser- luters who empowered the Trump vice mark of Riverkeeper, Inc. and is licensed administration simply do not care Best wishes for 2021 and beyond, for use herein. Waterkeeper is a registered trademark and about our future. That’s whom service mark of Waterkeeper Alliance, Inc.and we’re up against – now and for the is licensed for use herein. foreseeable future. Hackensack Tidelines-Fall/Winter 2020 Page 3 Superfund to Recovery continued from page 1 The former PJP Landfill in Jersey City was once, literally, a Superfund site on fire. Today it’s the proposed site for the future Skyway Park, that will add much needed green space and public access to the area. of funds to enable the initiation capping the area with clean fill has a site in-and-of itself, is equiva- of costly cleanups and emergency a beneficial effect on the overall lent to an assurance of future response actions. The Superfund health of the ecosystem and water health and prosperity for the river. model is based on a “polluter pays” quality. Removing that contami- Although cleanups are under way system, where responsible parties nation, levels of which are far or completed at the six Superfund (PRPs) are identified and required too high for the river to eliminate sites and dozens of other contami- to fund the cleanup either directly naturally, jump starts the recovery nated sites along the Hackensack or via reimbursement to EPA for and allows for continued improve- and its tributaries, for the most work completed. ments, assuming no new contami- part a cleanup of the riverbed has Why does it matter if decades-old, nation appears. never occurred. long-since-buried pollution gets What does any of this have to do with The river and its tributaries present a multitude of health risks. cleaned up now? the Hackensack River? Swimming is banned by the state Superfund listing is designed The Hackensack River was on because of the danger of ingest- to address the worst hit areas of the verge of making it on to the Su- ing harmful bacteria, mainly from contaminated sediment with a perfund National Priorities Listing sewage overflows and stormwater targeted, intense cleanup meant (NPL) through EPA in 2015 and runoff. EPA and the DEP have to swiftly remove the contamina- was a shoo-in for approval prior to long worried about the health tion with as little harm done to the the November 2016 election. Now, effects for people who fish and il- surrounding water as possible. In the River’s listing and Superfund legally crab in the Hackensack and doing this, harmful contaminants monies that accompany it are in its tributaries. The state maintains that have filtered up through the danger of fading. The intense work bans on eating fish or crabs caught sediment and water column over done by EPA to sample and exam- in the Hackensack because of high time are scooped out and replaced ine the River is slowly becoming levels of mercury that build up in with clean fill. So while our water old and the NJDEP has still yet to their tissue. A full-fledged, com- quality may appear to be good, concur with their recommendation prehensive cleanup of the Hacken- there was always this deeper for listing the Hackensack River to sack River will bring us that much contamination lurking below the the NPL.