Hazard Podcast - A Headache on the Hudson

In Edgewater, a bustling urban town across the Hudson River from Manhattan, a polluted lot of a former factory sits right on the water. Today it’s a Superfund site being cleaned up, set to one day become a piece of prime real estate for redevelopment. But that cleanup has created problems of its own, and as the process drags on, the threat of flooding from the river grows.

Support for Hazard NJ is provided by Peril and Promise, a public media reporting initiative covering the human stories of climate change and its solutions, with major funding provided by Dr. P. Roy Vagelos and Diana T. Vagelos. You can learn more at pbs.org/perilandpromise

Read the episode transcript below:

Jordan Gass-Poore' -- Host

THE SMELL OF MOTHBALLS MYSTERIOUSLY WAFTED THROUGH MUCH OF EDGEWATER, NEW JERSEY IN 2017.

THE SMELL CAUSED SOME PEOPLE TO HAVE HEADACHES... BURNING EYES... AND NAUSEA.

THIS WENT ON FOR MONTHS... UNTIL RESIDENTS DISCOVERED THE SOURCE OF THE ODOR... THE QUANTA SUPERFUND SITE... WHICH SITS JUST FEET AWAY FROM THE HUDSON RIVER.

AND THERE WAS A REASON IT SMELLED LIKE MOTHBALLS.

CONSTRUCTION AT THE QUANTA SITE HAD RELEASED NAPHTHALENE... A HAZARDOUS AIR POLLUTANT... AND THE MAIN INGREDIENT IN... YOU GUESSED IT... MOTHBALLS.

BUT WITH CLIMATE CHANGE INCREASING STORM SURGE FLOODING IN NEW JERSEY... THE SMELL MAY BE THE LEAST OF THIS COMMUNITY'S WORRIES.

THIS IS HAZARD... A LIMITED SERIES ABOUT THE IMPACTS OF CLIMATE CHANGE ON SUPERFUND SITES HERE IN NEW JERSEY.

I'M JORDAN GASS-POORE... AN INVESTIGATIVE JOURNALIST FROM TEXAS.

I RECENTLY WENT BACK TO MY HOME STATE OF TEXAS AND VISITED HOUSTON AND SOME OF THE TOWNS NEARBY.

THIS AREA IS OIL COUNTRY... AND THE SMELLS PROVE IT.

DRIVING AROUND WITH THE WINDOWS ROLLED DOWN WAS A BAD IDEA. FIRST IT SMELLED LIKE ROTTING EGGS... THEN WEIRDLY LIKE COTTON CANDY... AND THEN BACK TO ROTTING EGGS.

I'VE HEARD SOME PEOPLE SAY THESE ARE THE SMELLS OF MONEY. I SAY THEY'RE THE SMELLS OF SICKNESS AND DESPAIR.

MOST SUBSTANCES THAT CAUSE FOUL SMELLS OUTDOORS AREN'T AT LEVELS THAT CAN HARM PEOPLE'S HEALTH.

THIS WAS THE CASE FOR THE SMELLS IN EDGEWATER. EPA OFFICIALS SAID AS MUCH BACK IN 2018... WHEN CONTRACTORS WERE OUT THERE DIGGING AROUND IN THE SOIL OF THE QUANTA SITE.

THEY WERE TRYING TO PREVENT COAL TAR AND OTHER OIL BYPRODUCTS FROM MIGRATING INTO THE HUDSON RIVER AND NEARBY PROPERTIES.

Michele Langa -- Staff Attorney, NY/NJ Baykeeper

Just because you smell, you know, a garbage truck passing by doesn't necessarily mean that it's harmful to you, it just means that it smells bad.

Jordan Gass-Poore' -- Host

THAT'S MICHELE LANGA... AN ATTORNEY FOR THE NY/NJ BAYKEEPER. THEY'RE THE GROUP THAT ADVOCATES FOR CLEANING UP THE REGION'S WATERWAYS... AND IN EDGEWATER THAT MEANS KEEPING AN EYE ON THE QUANTA SITE.

Michele Langa -- Staff Attorney, NY/NJ Baykeeper

The residents around we're having issues with smell, that sort of, like, moth barley kind of smell that comes from the remnants of what was here, and it smells as a nuisance on its own, right? Like, you can't open your windows, you can't really enjoy a breezy day, if it smells so bad that it makes you ill. And they determined that it wasn't anything that is physically harmful, just an odor, but the odor in-and-of itself is an issue too.

Jordan Gass-Poore' -- Host

TO CONTROL THE SMELLS... THE EPA AND CONTRACTORS WORKING AT THE QUANTA SITE PUT UP TENTS WHILE THEY CAPPED THE TOXIC MATERIAL IN CONCRETE TO PREVENT IT FROM SPREADING.

BUT THE SITE'S CONTAMINATED SEDIMENT IN THE HUDSON RIVER HASN'T BEEN CLEANED UP YET... AND THERE'S A RISK THAT THOSE TOXIC CHEMICALS WILL SPREAD FROM INCREASES IN STORM SURGES CAUSED BY MAJOR HURRICANES.

THE SITE CONTINUES TO POLLUTE THE HUDSON RIVER. SO MUCH SO THAT THE FISH IN THE WATER ARE UNSAFE TO EAT.

ON TOP OF THAT... THERE ARE ONGOING ISSUES AT THE SITE WITH STORMWATER RUN-OFF.

WITH ALL THAT PAVEMENT NEARBY... THERE'S NO WAY FOR THE WATER FROM RAIN AND SNOW TO SOAK INTO THE GROUND. SO... IT JUST RUNS OFF... INTO THE HUDSON RIVER... CARRYING WITH IT THE OIL THAT LEAKS FROM CARS AND OTHER POLLUTANTS.

THE AREA SURROUNDING THE SITE IS DENSELY PACKED WITH CONDOS... APARTMENTS... AND BUSINESSES... BUILT ON WHAT HAD BEEN AN INDUSTRIAL HUB DATING BACK MORE THAN A CENTURY.

I TOOK THE BUS FROM MANHATTAN TO EDGEWATER AND MET UP WITH TINA MACICA IN HER CONDO NEAR THE QUANTA SITE.

TINA SAYS SHE KNEW ABOUT THE SUPERFUND SITE BEFORE SHE MOVED IN... BUT WASN'T EXPECTING IT TO SMELL SO BAD.

Tina Macica -- Edgewater Resident

It was like mothballs, like an oily mothball smell. It was going on for months. And we were all complaining.

Jordan Gass-Poore' -- Host

EPA OFFICIALS SAID THEY DO NOT ANTICIPATE ANY LONG-TERM HEALTH EFFECTS FROM THE NAPHTHALENE VAPORS.

TINA'S CONDO... THE DUNKIN DONUTS I WENT TO AFTER OUR MEETING... THE PARKING GARAGE... THEY'RE ALL BUILT ON TOP OF NEW JERSEY'S LEGACY OF TOXIC INDUSTRY.

STARTING IN THE LATE EIGHTEEN HUNDREDS... THE QUANTA SITE WAS HOME TO VARIOUS COMPANIES THAT MANUFACTURED ROOFING AND PAVING MATERIALS... PRODUCED SULFURIC ACID... STORED AND RECYCLED WASTE OIL...

AND PROCESSED COAL TAR... A THICK... BLACK LIQUID THAT OCCURS WHEN COAL IS BURNED AT VERY HIGH TEMPERATURES.

PRODUCTS MADE FROM COAL TAR ARE USED TO TREAT A VARIETY OF SKIN CONDITIONS... AND AS A WATERPROOFING MATERIAL FOR ROOFS.

BUT SOME OF THE CHEMICALS IN COAL TAR ARE KNOWN TO BE PROBABLE HUMAN CARCINOGENS.

FOR DECADES... ALLIED CHEMICAL CORPORATION... WHICH WOULD BECOME HONEYWELL INTERNATIONAL... OPERATED A COAL TAR DISTILLATION PLANT ON THE SITE.

THE COMPANY SOLD THE PROPERTY IN THE 1970s... AND QUANTA RESOURCES STARTED USING THE SITE TO STORE AND RECYCLE WASTE OIL.

IN 1981... THE NEW JERSEY DEPARTMENT OF ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION SHUT DOWN THE COMPANY BECAUSE OF HIGH LEVELS OF PCBs FOUND IN THE STORED WASTE OIL.

THEIR INVESTIGATION FOUND STORAGE TANKS WITH A CAPACITY OF MORE THAN NINE MILLION GALLONS OF OIL... TAR... ASPHALT... SLUDGE... AND OTHER KNOWN AND UNKNOWN LIQUIDS.

SOME OF THESE TANKS HAD OVERFLOWED WITH RAINWATER... OTHERS HAD COLLAPSED AND SPILLED.

UNDER QUANTA'S MANAGEMENT... OIL LEAKED CONSTANTLY INTO THE HUDSON RIVER AND CONTAMINATED THE SOIL.

OVER THE YEARS... THE STATE DEP REMOVED THE STORAGE TANKS THEY COULD FIND... AND STARTED CLEANING UP THE SITE.

BUT THE DAMAGE HAD ALREADY BEEN DONE.

THE SITE LANGUISHED FOR YEARS UNTIL THE EPA TOOK IT OVER AND DESIGNATED IT A SUPERFUND SITE IN 2002.

BY THEN... EDGEWATER HAD TRANSFORMED FROM AN INDUSTRIAL HUB INTO A WEALTHY BEDROOM COMMUNITY.

Scott Fallon -- Reporter, USA TODAY Network New Jersey

So, you have a lot of people living right next to a Superfund site, probably more so than many other Superfund sites, not only in New Jersey, but across the nation.

Jordan Gass-Poore' -- Host

THAT'S SCOTT FALLON... A SENIOR REPORTER WITH THE BERGEN RECORD WHO COVERS THE ENVIRONMENT.

Scott Fallon -- Reporter, USA TODAY Network New Jersey

You know, you think of a Superfund site, you think of a factory or a chemical plant, you know, that was built far away from where people live. That's not the case. People are right on top of it. These are very densely populated places; these homes are right up against a Superfund site. There's very little boundary between someone's bedroom and the pollution.

Jordan Gass-Poore' -- Host

EPA OFFICIALS SAID LIVING OR WORKING NEAR A SUPERFUND SITE DOES NOT NECESSARILY POSE A RISK TO PEOPLE'S HEALTH.

IN THE CASE OF THE QUANTA SITE... WHILE THERE IS CONTAMINATION IN THE GROUNDWATER... THE EPA SAID THAT'S NOT A SOURCE OF DRINKING WATER... AND THAT RESIDENTS AREN'T COMING INTO CONTACT WITH IT.

FOUND IN THE GROUNDWATER... SURFACE WATER... AND SOIL OF THE QUANTA SITE ARE LARGE QUANTITIES OF TOXIC CHEMICALS... LIKE ARSENIC AND BENZENE.

AND LIKE MOST OF THE SUPERFUND SITES COVERED ON THIS PODCAST... THE ONLY WAY MOST PEOPLE WOULD KNOW THE AREA IS TOXIC... IS BY READING THE EPA SIGNS ON THE CHAIN LINK FENCE THAT SURROUNDS THE SITE.

IN 2020... THE STATE OF NEW JERSEY SUED HONEYWELL... WHICH INHERITED THE CLEANUP LIABILITY FOR THE SITE... FOR ITS ROLE IN DESTROYING WETLANDS AND POLLUTING THE AREA.

TWO YEARS LATER... THAT CASE IS STILL ONGOING.

BY THE FOLLOWING YEAR... THE EPA REPORTED THAT HONEYWELL HAD CLEANED UP 90% OF THE CONTAMINATED SOIL AND GROUNDWATER.

Michele Langa -- Staff Attorney, NY/NJ Baykeeper

Many, many years ago the cleanup began.

Jordan Gass-Poore' -- Host

HERE'S MICHELE... TALKING WITH ME ABOUT QUANTA'S CLEANUP HISTORY... RIGHT BY THE SITE ITSELF.

Michele Langa -- Staff Attorney, NY/NJ Baykeeper

This is kind of one of those sites where everything is kind of going the way it should be for the most part. So, we're just sort of, like, if there's a meeting we attend, if there's paperwork, we read it, but there hasn't really been a lot of need for intervention.

Jordan Gass-Poore' -- Host

AS FOR THE POLLUTION SEEPING INTO THE HUDSON RIVER... CLEANUP IS STILL YEARS AWAY. THE EPA SAID IT DOESN'T EXPECT TO FINALIZE A PLAN FOR THAT WORK UNTIL THE FALL OF 2023.

I'VE BEEN TO THE QUANTA SITE TWICE NOW... AND EACH TIME I'VE TAKEN ADVANTAGE OF THE GOOD WEATHER AND WALKED ALONG THE JERSEY SIDE OF THE HUDSON RIVER... LOOKING OUT AT THE MANHATTAN SKYLINE.

I DEFINITELY SEE THE APPEAL OF LIVING NEAR THIS SUPERFUND SITE. IT'S ALSO REALLY CLOSE TO BUS STOPS AND THE FERRY TO NEW YORK CITY.

BUT I CAN'T QUITE GET OVER WHAT I SAW WHEN I LOOKED AT THE WATER NEAR TINA'S HOME... PATCHES OF OILY SHEENS FLOATING ON THE SURFACE OF THE HUDSON RIVER.

MICHELE SAYS A FEW YEARS AGO... THE EPA PUT UP BARRIERS IN THE WATER... SIMILAR TO THE ONES IN A POOL... TO CONTROL THE SPREAD OF OIL.

Michele Langa -- Staff Attorney, NY/NJ Baykeeper

The oil tends to sort of flow to the surface, so this just prevents it from flowing out into the main stem of the river, which would then carry it down tide. So, this kind of just keeps it here until somebody can come and, basically, just sort of scoop it out, which is good. I mean, this is the sort of thing that they use for just general, like, oil spill-type response. It just contains it doesn't, you know, remove it or anything like that. It just holds it in.

Jordan Gass-Poore' -- Host

MICHELE DOES POINT OUT THAT THERE'S A PARKING LOT AND A PARKING GARAGE NEAR THE POLLUTED WATER... SO THE OIL COULD HAVE COME FROM STORMWATER RUNOFF... NOT THE QUANTA SITE.

BUT BECAUSE THE SUPERFUND SITE IS SO CLOSE TO THE HUDSON RIVER... NO ONE IS RULING IT OUT AS THE SOURCE OF CONTAMINATION.

AND AS THE CLIMATE CONTINUES TO CHANGE... STORM SURGES POSE A RISK FOR THE QUANTA SITE... AND THE RESIDENTS NEARBY.

SCOTT SAYS THIS HAS HAPPENED IN EDGEWATER BEFORE... DURING HURRICANE SANDY IN 2012.

Scott Fallon -- Reporter, USA TODAY Network New Jersey

How much did that spread the pollution? EPA has said that it didn't spread it that much, but how much of an investigation really went into that? I don't know. It's pretty much common sense that when you have a major storm event and major flooding events, with pollution that's in a riverbed, and pollution that is on land as well, that water is going to move that stuff. And Sandy happened long before they started work to clean up the Quanta site.

Jordan Gass-Poore' -- Host

THE CLEANUP DONE SO FAR AT THE QUANTA SITE REQUIRED ENTOMBING A CENTURIES' WORTH OF TOXIC CHEMICALS THROUGH A PROCESS THAT INVOLVES COMBINING A CONCRETE MIXTURE WITH CONTAMINATED SOIL.

Tina Macica -- Edgewater Resident

You know, you have a high water table here, we have a lot of local flooding.

Jordan Gass-Poore' -- Host

TINA SAYS SHE WOULD HAVE PREFERRED THE CONTAMINATED SOIL TO BE REMOVED FROM THE SITE.

Tina Macica -- Edgewater Resident

We have an issue here where everybody's building lot line to lot line, and not using their setbacks, they're not putting in storm mitigation measures. We're getting a lot more flooding here. So, you know, concrete only lasts for so long. I know they like to say, "Oh, we have a certain strength of concrete," but over time that will start to break down again and be released into the environment.

Jordan Gass-Poore' -- Host

WHICHEVER METHOD IS USED TO FINALLY FINISH CLEANING UP THE QUANTA SITE... MICHELE SAYS IT NEEDS TO BE CLEANED UP NOW.

Michele Langa -- Staff Attorney, NY/NJ Baykeeper

We're all in the same tight region together, where there's, like, millions of us here. If we don't plan for what's coming, it's really going to make it hard for all of us to live comfortably.

Jordan Gass-Poore' -- Host

IF CLIMATE CHANGE DOESN'T SPUR CLEANUP EFFORTS... MAYBE DEVELOPMENT WILL.

THERE'S TALKS OF MIXED-USE... LUXURY APARTMENTS BEING BUILT ON THE QUANTA SITE ONCE IT'S CLEANED UP.

THAT MEANS MORE PEOPLE... MORE CARS... MORE POTENTIAL FOR CLIMATE-RELATED DISASTERS...

BUT MICHELLE SAYS IT DOESN'T HAVE TO BE THAT WAY IF COMMUNITIES WORK TOGETHER.

Michele Langa -- Staff Attorney, NY/NJ Baykeeper

You know, the state's been talking about their climate resiliency planning, things like that. You can't just have Edgewater developing, and then, you know, expect, everybody else is just going to do what they're going to do. And then nobody's talking to anybody -- that doesn't work.

Credits

Hazard NJ is written, edited and hosted by Jordan Gass-Poore’

Executive Producer – Jamie Kraft

Executive in Charge of Production – Joe Lee

Producer – Michael Sol Warren

Production Assistant – Chris Pandza

Production Manager – Chloe Motisi

Sound Designer & Engineer – Mark Bush

Composer – Nick Pennington

Art – Matthew Fleming