Sayreville Officials State, “No Shadow Lake Dredged Materials Will Becoming To Sayreville”; What Is Middletown’s Plan?

For Immediate Release:

August 1st, 2012

(Middletown, NJ) The Middletown Township Committee announced earlier this month they will move forward with plans to dredge Shadow Lake, even though there does not seem to be agreement on where the arsenic-contaminated soil will go once extracted.

The Department of Environmental Protection supposedly approved of the former National Lead industrial site in Sayreville as the final resting place for the estimated 150,000 cubic yards of Shadow Lake sediment; however, the Sayreville Economic and Redevelopment Agency (SERA) has not agreed to accept the shipment and will not accept contaminated soil. The Sayreville site is scheduled to become the future location of The Point, a redevelopment project that will include housing, retail, office and entertainment uses.

Sayreville residents have expressed concern over the possibility of the dredged material passing standards and remained skeptical about the soil transfer.

The Middletown Township Committee has not proposed a back up plan, or what it might cost in new bonds or (worst case) our own open space land to pay for an alternative dumping site. Yet, they press forward potentially at our later expense.

Fellow citizens, this summer, as you pack up with your children for the quintessential family road trip, do not make the same mistake as our Township Committee. Plan the route from start to finish, check your itinerary, and make reservations for lodging at your final destination. Even if your desired hotel is AAA- approved, don’t start driving unless you know they will have room for you when you arrive. Your family should expect nothing less. As Middletown residents we should expect nothing less, also.

Don Watson, Chairman
Middletown Democratic Executive Committee

Sayreville To Middletown " You Can Keep Your Stinking Dirt! "

Last week an article appear in the Local section of the Asbury Park Press, about how officials in Sayreville have come forward and stated to residents that arsenic and heavy metal dredging spoils from the bottom of Middletown's Shadow Lake, will not be welcomed in their town.


Middletown has been saying for over a year now that the DEP has approved of a plan to cart the material to Sayreville's abandoned National Lead site. However, that 453 acre site is being redeveloped as a housing, retail, office and entertainment complex called The Point and residents aren't to happy with the idea of bringing contaminated fill dirt to their town.


Here's the story, you can read all about it.


So what is Middletown to do? They have no back up plan and Middletown officials, Tony Fiore and others, have  stated that they don't care if the 150,000 tons of dredged material sits in Stevenson Park forever, as long as they spend the $3.7M to dredge the third of the lake that falls within the township's jurisdiction. 


This is a boondoggle waiting to happen and shouldn't proceed until residents know exactly how much this dredging will cost the town if the dredged spoils have to sit on the grounds of Stevenson Park for years and carted off later (or never).  


All of Middletown's residents are paying for this dredging with their tax dollars, while this project only affects  and benefits a few people that live by and around the lake. It's time to step back and demand a back-up plan before proceeding.

Middletown Township Committee Meeting 7/2/12

Here is the latest video of the Middletown Township Committee at work. It is of the July 2nd, 2012 workshop meeting. The meeting lasted all of 35 minutes so it should be easy viewing.

At the workshop meeting a resolution was passed to amend the unadopted budget for the current year and another resolution was adopted to begin the bidding process on the dredging of Shadow Lake.

Resident Leo Christofolli asked during the public comment portion of the meeting if approval was given to dispose of the dredge material at the designated location in Sayreville. Mayor Tony Fiore and the Township Attorney said that the permits to dredge the lake were issued and they are going to proceed even though no permanent location for the dredged materials has been approved. Mr. Fiore stated it will remain on Stevenson Park until the DEP decides where it will be located..




And as always, you can download a copy of the meeting agenda that contains the discussion items and the proposed resolutions and ordinances that were voted on or presented during the meeting. A box around an item is a link, bringing you further into the document to that resolution or ordinance. At the end of the resolution there will be a link bringing you back to the agenda. Attached to this agenda is also the monthly bill list, so that everyone can see how the Township is spending our tax dollars.

Congressman Pallone Tours Four Superfund Sites with EPA Regional Administrator

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:

Wednesday, May 2, 2012

Announces completion of a contaminated soil cleanup at Imperial Oil in Morganville

NEW JERSEY – Congressman Frank Pallone, Jr. (NJ-06) joined U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Regional Administrator Judith Enck today to tour four Superfund Sites in the sixth congressional district and highlight the success of the program. While at Imperial Oil in Morganville, Pallone and Enck announced the completion of a $50 million contaminated soil cleanup at the site. They also visited the Horseshoe Road and Atlantic Resources sites in Sayreville, and the Chemical Insecticide site in Edison.

Superfund was established in 1980 to address the country’s most hazardous waste sites and protect public health and the environment. New Jersey has the most Superfund toxic sites in the nation and Middlesex County has the most in the state. To ensure adequate funding to cleanup the sites, Pallone introduced the Superfund Polluter Pays Act. The bill would shift the burden of paying for Superfund cleanups from taxpayers to the oil and gas companies that frequently create these sites. 

“The completion of cleanup at the Imperial Oil Superfund site reinforces the success of this program,” said Pallone. “The cleanups are essential to protecting the environment and the health of residents that live and work nearby, and also create good local jobs. In 2011 Superfund cleanups created about 2,300 jobs in New Jersey.”

The completion of the soil cleanup at Imperial Oil enables the redevelopment of the property for new uses. Today the formerly contaminated site features trees, grass, restored wetlands, a pond and a bike path. The soil cleanup at the site was accelerated by $33 million in new funding through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (ARRA).

Pallone and Enck were joined on the tour by Marlboro Township Mayor Jonathan Hornick, Edison Mayor Antonia Ricigliano, Freeholder Lillian Burry, Freeholder James Polos, Assemblyman Patrick Diegnan and other local officials.

Pallone Announces Sayreville Landfill is No Longer a Superfund Toxic Waste Site

Washington, DC – Congressman Frank Pallone, Jr. Tuesday announced the Sayreville Landfill Superfund Site is free of toxic chemicals and that the site has now been removed from the Superfund list of the country’s most toxic waste sites. EPA’s Superfund program is responsible for the ongoing cleanup of numerous sites including the Imperial Oil and Raritan Bay Slag Superfund sites in New Jersey.

“This is a testament to the importance of the Superfund program and it’s a success for New Jerseyans who live in close proximity to this site,” said Pallone. “This site was harmful to the environment, but EPA’s commitment to cleaning up the site will make it possible for this land to be potentially put to use to the benefit of the taxpayers.”

Pallone has been a long-time advocate of fully funding the Superfund program and has raised concerns that the program lacks adequate funding because it is no longer funded by a tax on the chemical and petroleum industry. Because Congress has not reauthorized the polluter-pays taxes, the cleanup of Superfund sites is paid for out of the general treasury.

In April 2011, Pallone introduced H.R. 1634, the Superfund Polluter Pays Act, to restore polluter-pays provisions for cleaning up America’s most toxic and polluted sites. The bill mandates a cents per barrel tax on crude oil or refined oil products and dollars per ton on certain toxic chemicals The President’s FY 2012 budget, which calls for reauthorization of these taxes, estimates that they would raise about $2 billion per year and $20.8 billion over 10 years.

Over 30 drums were removed from the Sayreville Landfill Superfund site, a system to control stormwater and contain methane gas was installed and the site was capped. The work was done with the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection and overseen by EPA.

Sign Of The Times... Opiate Addiction Ruining Your Life?

(Photo by MiddletownMike)

While driving home from work this afternoon, I noticed for the first time the billboard above.

The billboard is locate on Hwy 35 south in Sayreville, just before going over the Cheesequake drawbridge.

I drive home this way each and everyday and until today I have not seen it before, which leads me to believe that this sign recently went up, more than likely over the past few days.

So if there are any questions about where potential clients of the Middletown Methadone clinic may be coming from, it is a very good assumption that many could be coming from the Middlesex County area and beyond, not just from the immediate surrounds.

( If anyone has noticed this sign before this afternoon let me know, I am curious about how much of a daze I must be in while coming home from work each day, not to have noticed it sooner )