Letter: Military Toxic Waste In Middletown

The expressed opinions or views of this letter does not necessarily represent the opinion of the MiddletownMike blog:

Dear Editor,

The Department of Defense is America’s biggest polluter.

It is known that locations such as the now-closed Fort Monmouth and it's earlier shuttered Camp Evans contain some levels toxic waste from military projects of the past, when record keeping and safety protocols were much different than today. So far, nothing located has been deemed in excess of “safe” levels.

But as these locations begin to be further adapted to civilian use, it is important we have a full picture of what contaminants are actually there.

Independent contractors should be hired by the State of New Jersey to locate any previously unknown chemical or radiological materials present at these locations, to protect the public from potential exposure to unknown contaminants.

Still active military locations such as the Naval Weapons Station Earle and Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst should be prioritized for contaminant identification and environmental remediation, to protect both the safety of the civilian public and military families.

The people of Middletown, Colts Neck, Tinton Falls and Lakehurst should begin asking more questions of their active military neighbor's environmental practices.



Eric Hafner
Toms River