Toxic “forever chemicals” became a ubiquitous part of consumer products because they largely repel water, are stain-resistant and incredibly durable. Those same properties also mean that the chemicals can persist in the environment seemingly, well, forever. That’s left regulators and scientists in New Jersey and around the world grappling with how to permanently destroy the chemicals.

Editor's Note: "Hazard NJ" is an NJ Spotlight News podcast that examines serious pollution issues. Season 2 dives deep into the crisis of toxic pollution caused by PFAS, or "forever chemicals," around New Jersey and beyond. Subscribe to the podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music and more.

Read the episode transcript below:

**Jordan Gass-Pooré -- Host
**THAT'S ME WALKING AROUND CAMP NO-BE-BO-SCO... MAYBE BETTER KNOWN AS CAMP CRYSTAL LAKE FROM THE ORIGINAL FRIDAY THE 13TH MOVIE.

IT'S A BOY SCOUTS SUMMER CAMP IN WARREN COUNTY, NEW JERSEY.

I WAS THERE ON A TOUR BECAUSE... BELIEVE IT OR NOT... I'M A FAN OF THE FRIDAY THE 13TH FRANCHISE.

WALKING AROUND THIS MORE THAN 380-ACRE CAMP... I COULDN'T HELP BUT WONDER IF THE HUNTING GROUNDS OF MACHETE-WIELDING JASON VOORHEES... AND HIS MOM... WERE CONTAMINATED WITH PFAS.

IF THAT LAKE JASON DROWNED IN... ACTUALLY KNOWN AS SAND POND...  CONTAINED FOREVER CHEMICALS... AND IF THAT HAD ANYTHING TO DO WITH HIS SUPERNATURAL ABILITIES.

I GET IT... THESE ARE FICTIONAL CHARACTERS... AND PFAS CHEMICALS ARE REAL.

BUT AS TOUGH AS IT IS FOR TEENS IN THE FRIDAY THE 13TH MOVIES TO KILL JASON... IT MAY BE HARDER TO DESTROY PFAS.

THIS IS HAZARD NJ...

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

WE'VE COME FULL CIRCLE THIS SEASON... FROM THE DISCOVERY OF THE FIRST KNOWN PFAS CHEMICAL... IN A LAB IN CARNEY'S POINT, NEW JERSEY...

...TO THE STATE'S PROACTIVE APPROACH IN REMOVING FOREVER CHEMICALS FROM THE DRINKING WATER...

...TO A UNIQUE PUBLIC HEALTH STUDY CENTERED ON ONE SOUTH JERSEY TOWN... PAULSBORO...

...AND NOW... WE'LL LOOK AT HOW RESEARCHERS IN THE STATE ARE RAMPING UP EFFORTS TO DESTROY THEM... ONCE AND FOR ALL. LIKE THEY DID TO JASON IN THE SEQUELS... OR DID THEY?

PFAS ARE CALLED FOREVER CHEMICALS BECAUSE... LIKE WE'VE MENTIONED BEFORE... THEY'RE NEARLY IMPOSSIBLE TO BREAK DOWN.

THEIR CHEMISTRY MAKES THEM EXTREMELY DURABLE AND RESISTANT TO DEGRADING NATURALLY. THAT'S WHAT HAS MADE THEM SO USEFUL FOR SO MANY THINGS... AND IT'S ALSO WHAT MAKES THEM A THREAT TO HUMAN HEALTH.

SO WHEN IT COMES TO GETTING RID OF PFAS... SIMPLY THROWING OUT THE TRASH ISN'T GOOD ENOUGH.

WHEN ITEMS MADE WITH PFAS END UP IN THE DUMP... THE CHEMICALS WILL... OVER TIME... MIGRATE FROM THOSE ITEMS AND INTO THE SOIL... WATER... AND EVEN THE AIR.

GRAHAM PEASLEE... THE NOTRE DAME RESEARCHER WE HEARD FROM IN EPISODE ONE... SAYS HIS BIGGEST CONCERN WITH PFAS IS THE LANDFILL PROBLEM. REMEMBER THAT BIG STUDY HE AND HIS TEAM DID TO FIND PFAS IN HUNDREDS OF FAST-FOOD WRAPPERS?

**Graham Peaslee --- Professor Emeritus, Department of Physics & Astronomy, University of Notre Dame
**That was published and it went viral. We had about 300 news articles from that. And everybody took home saying, 'Oh my god, my hamburger is gonna kill me.' We even got an Onion satire of our paper. But it was, in fact, the opposite. Because in my household, you know, the teenagers ate the food out of the wrapper in 30 milliseconds. There was no cross-contamination to the food. But it could, if it sat there for a few months. But where does that paper go when you're done? It goes into the landfill. And so, 100% of those chemicals on the food wrappers will come off in 60 days in an aerobic landfill, which means it gets into drinking water, passes right through the treatment centers. And it'll get into our drinking water, it will get into our agricultural water that's sprayed on fruits and vegetables that we then eat. And those PFAS will bioaccumulate into the plants or into the animals that eat them. And then we eat the animals, we will get high levels of PFAS in our blood, which we do, everybody in North America now has them.

**Jordan Gass-Pooré -- Host
**THERE ARE 14 ACTIVE LANDFILLS ACROSS NEW JERSEY... AND HUNDREDS MORE KNOWN OR SUSPECTED FORMER LANDFILLS THAT ARE NO LONGER OPERATING. THAT'S A FRACTION OF THE THOUSANDS OF GARBAGE DUMPS SCATTERED ACROSS THE COUNTRY.

WHEN TRASH DEGRADES IN LANDFILLS AND MIXES WITH RAINFALL... IT PRODUCES A NEW LIQUID WASTE CALLED LEACHATE THAT SEEPS OUT OF THE BOTTOM OF THE DUMP.

THE U.S. ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY IN 2023 ANNOUNCED PLANS TO FURTHER STUDY PFAS IN LEACHATE... AND CREATE NEW REGULATIONS TO DEAL WITH THE PROBLEM.

THEY ANALYZED MULTIPLE SURVEYS AND FOUND THE CHEMICALS IN LEACHATE AT MORE THAN 95% OF MORE THAN 200 LANDFILLS SAMPLED NATIONWIDE.

MODERN LANDFILLS ARE LINED AND DESIGNED TO CAPTURE LEACHATE... BUT SOME LEACHATE CAN ESCAPE UNTREATED.

LEACHATE THAT IS COLLECTED IS TYPICALLY SHIPPED OFF FROM THE LANDFILL TO A WASTEWATER TREATMENT PLANT... SO IT CAN BE FILTERED AND CLEANED ALONG WITH SEWAGE AND STORMWATER BEFORE BEING RELEASED BACK INTO THE ENVIRONMENT.

BUT PFAS IS STILL A NEW PROBLEM... AND MANY WASTEWATER TREATMENT PLANTS AREN'T EQUIPPED TO HANDLE THE CHEMICALS.

AS REGULATORS WEIGH HOW TO BEST ADDRESS PFAS IN LANDFILL LEACHATE... THE WASTE INDUSTRY IS BRACING FOR SOME POTENTIALLY COSTLY CHANGES.

**Kristyn Oldendorf --- Senior Director of Public Policy & Communications, Solid Waste Association of North America
**We do see landfills as a solution. Like landfills are regulated. It's an engineered system. You know, we can kind of safely collect this material. There's a lot of proactive movement to figure out the best technologies to sort out the PFAS. You go to any waste-related conference lately, it is just full of really great technologies around PFAS.

**Jordan Gass-Pooré -- Host
**THAT'S KRISTYN OLDENDORF... THE SENIOR DIRECTOR OF PUBLIC POLICY AND COMMUNICATIONS FOR THE SOLID WASTE ASSOCIATION OF NORTH AMERICA.

**Kristyn Oldendorf --- Senior Director of Public Policy & Communications, Solid Waste Association of North America
**The solutions are there. They're growing. We do see our industry as a solution. But at the same time, especially in the public sector, there's cost to that. So, if you have a publicly owned landfill, you know, publicly funded, and now you have to invest in all this new technology, you know, what does that mean? We'd love to see some more funding opportunities, especially for the public sector. But, you know, private as well. You have a lot of privately-run landfills that have municipal clients. So that also leads to a cost, you know, if they need to re-increase their tipping fees, that's the cost back to the public sector. So, our industry collects waste. We don't produce it. We don't really often have a say in what goes into it, you know, but whatever it is, we're collecting it. You know, we're kind of prepared to do that. We're preparing to do that with PFAS, but I think the concern or burden is that financial aspect and just being able to prepare for that long-term planning financially, and just, like, what do you need to plan for at your landfill?

**Jordan Gass-Pooré -- Host
**AND THEN... THERE'S THE INCINERATORS. PLACES WHERE ALL KINDS OF TRASH IS SENT TO BE TORCHED... CREATING BOTH ELECTRICITY TO POWER LOCAL COMMUNITIES... AND AIR POLLUTION FOR THOSE COMMUNITIES TO BREATHE IN.

NEW JERSEY HAS A LONG HISTORY OF BURNING ITS TRASH. BY THE 1980S THE GARDEN STATE HAD A BIG PROBLEM. LANDFILLS WERE FILLING UP AND THERE WASN'T ENOUGH SPACE FOR NEW ONES... BUT THE TRASH HAD TO GO SOMEWHERE.

**Kent Manahan -- New Jersey Nightly News, 1982
**New Jersey's counties are under a state order to come up with new ways to dispose of garbage. The state's running out of dumping space, and experts say landfills and ocean dumping hurt the environment. One alternative is incinerating garbage in order to produce energy.

**Jordan Gass-Pooré -- Host
**THEN-GOVERNOR TOM KEAN MADE IT CLEAR THAT IT WAS UP TO EACH OF NEW JERSEY'S 21 COUNTIES TO FIND A SOLUTION FOR THE WASTE... AND HE PUSHED FOR EVERY COUNTY TO BUILD A NEW TRASH INCINERATOR.

**Gov. Tom Kean -- R, Governor of New Jersey 1982-1990
**We worked through the counties, so that each county had to agree to either in juncture, if they were small counties, or alone, if they weren't, to do incinerators, which was looked at as a way of getting rid of some of this toxic material before it went in the ground and the water. So that was our hope, and that was a theory, and we put a lot of pressure on the counties, each of them, to come up with a plan, where they were going to get rid of the solid waste. Some of them resisted like crazy.

**Jordan Gass-Pooré -- Host
**GOVERNOR KEAN LEFT OFFICE AS ONE NEW JERSEY'S MOST POPULAR POLITICIANS EVER... BUT THIS PLAN FOR AN INCINERATOR IN EVERY COUNTY? WELL... IT WASN'T ONE OF HIS MOST WELL-RECEIVED.

**Brenda Flanagan -- New Jersey Nightly News, 1982
**Demonstrators from all over New Jersey marched in front of the Wheelabrator-Frye company office in New Brunswick. County freeholders last month amended their solid waste master plan to let the company build a resource recovery incinerator. The Statewide Movement Opposing Killer Environments, called SMOKE, says the incinerator will spew poisons into the atmosphere, and warns no incinerator should be built until the state establishes strict criteria.

**Jordan Gass-Pooré -- Host
**KEAN'S PLAN WAS NEVER FULLY REALIZED. TODAY THERE ARE FOUR INCINERATORS BURNING TRASH IN NEW JERSEY... EACH IN RELATIVELY LOW-INCOME COMMUNITIES... WESTVILLE... CAMDEN... RAHWAY... AND NEWARK.

THE ONE IN NEWARK WAS BUILT IN THE IRONBOUND NEIGHBORHOOD DESPITE INTENSE PUBLIC PUSHBACK.

ANA BAPTISTA... A LONG-TIME ENVIRONMENTAL JUSTICE ADVOCATE... GREW UP IN THE IRONBOUND. SHE REMEMBERS THE PROTESTS AND THE PUBLIC MEETINGS AGAINST THE INCINERATOR THAT HER PARENTS TOOK HER TO.

**Ana Baptista -- Trustee, Ironbound Community Corporation
**It was really widely reviled by the by the residents, and it was seen really as like an insult to the community, like, you're dumping on us, and you're going to continue to dump on us, and now the whole county, and, you know, all the areas around us can dump on us. And so people were really angry about it. I remember as a kid, it was a pretty, pretty unifying sentiment against the incinerator and the politicians who were supporting it. But, unfortunately, politics of the moment did not allow an opening to really challenge the facility siting there and the creation of the plant.

**Jordan Gass-Pooré -- Host
**TODAY... THE NEWARK INCINERATOR IS THE LARGEST IN NEW JERSEY. IN 2023... IT BURNED 960,000 TONS OF MUNICIPAL SOLID WASTE... AND USED THAT TO CREATE ENOUGH ELECTRICITY TO POWER 41,000 HOMES FOR A YEAR.

INCINERATORS MUST HAVE AIR POLLUTION PERMITS TO OPERATE. THOSE PERMITS SET GUIDELINES FOR WHAT THE FACILITIES ARE... AND ARE NOT... ALLOWED TO SPEW FROM THEIR STACKS.

STUFF LIKE CARBON MONOXIDE... SULFUR DIOXIDE... PARTICULATE MATTER... VOLATILE ORGANIC COMPOUNDS... DIOXIN... LEAD... MERCURY... ARE SOME OF THE THINGS THAT ARE REGULATED THROUGH THESE PERMITS. BUT PFAS ARE NOT.

**Ana Baptista -- Trustee, Ironbound Community Corporation
**The incinerator is a, you know, a huge source of dioxin, lead, mercury. And, you know, I think the incinerator in Newark, at one point, was the largest single source of lead in the region. So it has a whole bundle of really toxic emissions that people are concerned about. I don't know that PFAS is the one that is the one of most concern, but it's certainly part of the mix.

**Jordan Gass-Pooré -- Host
**THAT COULD CHANGE... IF NEW JERSEY... NEW MEXICO... AND NORTH CAROLINA GET THEIR WAY.

THESE THREE STATES PETITIONED THE EPA LAST YEAR TO HAVE SOME OF THE MOST COMMON PFAS CLASSIFIED AS HAZARDOUS SUBSTANCES UNDER THE FEDERAL CLEAN AIR ACT.

SHAWN LATOURETTE... COMMISSIONER OF THE NEW JERSEY DEPARTMENT OF ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION... EXPLAINS.

**Shawn LaTourette -- Commissioner, New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection
**Then we can execute on the Clean Air Act and get it controlled as an air emissions matter, too, right? What about the garbage incinerators, and there's PFAS in everything, and they're burning the trash. That's not being captured in the smokestack now.

**Jordan Gass-Pooré -- Host
**FOR NOW... TRASH CONTAINING PFAS IS BEING BURNED BY GARBAGE INCINERATORS WITHOUT ANY SPECIFIC REGULATIONS.

SO HOW EFFECTIVE ARE INCINERATORS AT DESTROYING PFAS? WELL... IT'S COMPLICATED. THE EPA DID NOT MAKE ANY SCIENTISTS OR OFFICIALS AVAILABLE FOR AN INTERVIEW... BUT THEY DID SEND US LENGTHY ANSWERS TO OUR WRITTEN QUESTIONS ABOUT INCINERATION.

BASICALLY... THERE ARE THREE MAIN FACTORS TO CONSIDER: THE TEMPERATURE THE INCINERATOR BURNS AT... THE AMOUNT OF TIME THAT A GIVEN MATERIAL IS EXPOSED TO THE HIGHEST TEMPERATURE... AND THE AMOUNT OF TURBULENCE THAT OCCURS INSIDE THE INCINERATOR.

EVERY INCINERATOR IS UNIQUE... SO THOSE THREE FACTORS MAY BE DIFFERENT IN EACH ONE.

THE EPA SAYS THAT MUCH MORE RESEARCH NEEDS TO BE DONE TO SEE HOW EFFECTIVE INCINERATORS ARE FOR PFAS DESTRUCTION.

GENERALLY... THE EPA BELIEVES THE TYPICAL INCINERATOR IS ABLE TO BREAK DOWN THE ORIGINAL PFAS IN TRASH... LIKE THE COMMON CHEMICALS PFOA AND PFOS.

THE TRICKY PART COMES AFTER THAT. IF THOSE ORIGINAL PFAS AREN'T EXPOSED TO A HIGH ENOUGH HEAT FOR A LONG-ENOUGH AMOUNT OF TIME THEY MAY SIMPLY BREAKDOWN INTO DIFFERENT KINDS OF PFAS... WHICH MAY POSE SIMILAR HEALTH THREATS.

THERE ARE SOME INCINERATORS AROUND THE COUNTRY THAT ARE DESIGNED TO HANDLE HAZARDOUS MATERIALS... THOSE ARE THE KINDS OF PLACES WHERE OLD STOCKS OF FIREFIGHTING FOAM ARE SENT FOR DISPOSAL. THESE FACILITIES ARE DESIGNED TO BURN HOTTER THAN A TYPICAL INCINERATOR... AND ACCORDING TO THE EPA ARE LIKELY MORE EFFECTIVE FOR DESTROYING PFAS.

BUT THE FOUR MUNICIPAL SOLID WASTE INCINERATORS IN NEW JERSEY ARE NOT MEANT FOR HAZARDOUS MATERIALS... AND IT'S UNCLEAR IF THEY ARE CAPABLE OF FULLY DESTROYING PFAS COMPOUNDS... BECAUSE... ACCORDING TO THE EPA... 1,000 DEGREES CELSIUS IS ON THE UPPER EDGE OF HOW HOT THESE PLACES TYPICALLY BURN. THAT'S A KEY THRESHOLD EPA SAYS IS GENERALLY NEEDED TO BREAK DOWN PFAS... AND THESE FACILITIES MAY NOT ALWAYS BE REACHING IT.

REWORLD... THE COMPANY FORMERLY CALLED COVANTA... OPERATES THREE OF THE INCINERATORS IN NEW JERSEY... INCLUDING THE ONE IN NEWARK.

THE COMPANY DIDN'T MAKE ANYONE AVAILABLE FOR AN INTERVIEW... BUT IN A STATEMENT THE COMPANY SAID... THAT WHILE IT DOESN'T EXPLICITLY ACCEPT PFAS WASTE... IT IS AWARE THAT THE CHEMICALS ARE PRESENT IN MANY PRODUCTS THAT END UP IN THE WASTE STREAM... AND IT IS CONFIDENT THAT ITS INCINERATORS BURN HOT ENOUGH TO DESTROY PFAS.

WITH SO MANY UNKNOWNS... AND WITH GROWING CONCERN ABOUT PFAS EMISSIONS FROM INCINERATORS... WE ASKED GOVERNOR KEAN WHAT HE THINKS ABOUT THE PROBLEM.

**Gov. Tom Kean -- R, Governor of New Jersey 1982-1990
**Listen to the science. If the science dictates that it's a danger, then you have to do things differently or do things in conjunction with that scientific inquiry. I don't think there's any other choice. Science is much better now than it was in my day, and we've got to listen to it.

**Jordan Gass-Pooré -- Host
**SCIENTISTS IN THE GARDEN STATE AND AROUND THE WORLD ARE HARD AT WORK TRYING TO FIND THE BEST... AND SAFEST... WAYS TO DESTROY PFAS.

ONE PROMISING METHOD COMBINES HEAT AND PRESSURE TO DESTROY NEARLY ALL OF SOME PFAS CHEMICALS IN WATER. REMEMBER... THERE'S THOUSANDS OF CHEMICALS IN THE PFAS FAMILY.

IT'S CALLED SUPER CRITICAL WATER OXIDATION... OR SCWO... AND IT WORKS BY USING A SMALL REACTOR TO PRESSURIZE AND HEAT WATER AT EXTREMELY HIGH TEMPERATURES TO RIP APART THE CARBON FLUORINE BONDS... CHARACTERISTIC OF FOREVER CHEMICALS.

THINK OF IT AS A PFAS PRESSURE COOKER.

**Zhiming Zhang -- Assistant Professor, College of Engineering, Rowan University
**For the water to be super critical means the water is at a temperature, a certain temperature and a pressure above its critical point where the water can act like both a gas and a liquid.

**Jordan Gass-Pooré -- Host
**THAT'S ZHIMING ZHANG... AN ASSISTANT PROFESSOR OF CIVIL AND ENVIRONMENTAL ENGINEERING AT ROWAN UNIVERSITY IN GLASSBORO, NEW JERSEY.

HE'S WORKING ON WAYS TO USE THIS TECHNIQUE TO BREAK DOWN DANGEROUS PFAS CHEMICALS INTO HARMLESS BYPRODUCTS.

OVERALL... THIS TECHNIQUE TAKES JUST SECONDS OR MINUTES... DEPENDING ON THE AMOUNT OF PFAS IN THE WATER. ZHANG AND HIS TEAM THEN CHECK TO MAKE SURE ALL OF THE CHEMICALS HAVE BEEN DESTROYED.

VERSIONS OF THIS TECHNIQUE HAD BEEN PREVIOUSLY DEVELOPED TO BREAK DOWN OTHER TYPES OF CHEMICALS.

BUT HE SAYS DESTROYING PFAS IS MORE CHALLENGING.

**Zhiming Zhang -- Assistant Professor, College of Engineering, Rowan University
**The carbon fluorine bond is one of the strongest bonds in chemistry. That makes the PFAS resistant to heat, to chemical reactions, to environmental degradation.

**Jordan Gass-Pooré -- Host
**THAT MEANS TRYING TO DESTROY PFAS THROUGH INCINERATION MAY BE INEFFECTIVE... ENERGY INTENSIVE... AND EXPENSIVE.

ZHANG'S METHOD COULD BE AN ALTERNATIVE TO THIS.

BACK IN EPISODE TWO... WE VISITED RIDGEWOOD, NEW JERSEY... WHERE THE VILLAGE'S WATER COMPANY IS REMOVING PFAS CONTAMINATION BY ABSORBING THE CHEMICALS INTO GRANULAR ACTIVATED CARBON FILTERS.

THESE FILTERS WORK WELL TO CAPTURE THE PFAS FROM THE WATER. BUT THE PROBLEM IS THAT ONCE IT'S CAPTURED... THE CHEMICALS DON'T GO AWAY.

WHEN RIDGEWOOD'S USED FILTERS ARE NO LONGER EFFECTIVE... THEY GET SENT BACK TO THE MANUFACTURER AND BLASTED WITH EXTREME HEAT IN AN INCINERATOR TO BE CLEANED FOR REUSE.

ZHANG SEES A FUTURE WHERE WATER SYSTEMS LIKE RIDGEWOOD SEND THEIR USED... PFAS-LADEN FILTERS TO SUPER CRITICAL WATER OXIDATION FACILITIES FOR CLEANING SO THEY CAN BE REUSED... INSTEAD OF RELYING ON INCINERATION.

**Zhiming Zhang -- Assistant Professor, College of Engineering, Rowan University
**In most of the drinking water treatment facilities are still using activated carbon in most cases. So, once they use the activated carbon to filter the water through, to retain the PFAS on the activated carbon, they get clean water to be distributed to the water network. Well, the retained PFAS on the activated carbon can be transported to, like, for SCWO treatment. Otherwise, if those are going to be disposed of they have to be disposed of in the hazardous landfill, which is also costly. So, I think it would be a good combination using both activated carbon as the first step and then treat this activated carbon using SCWO as a second step.

**Jordan Gass-Pooré -- Host
**AT THE NEW JERSEY INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY IN NEWARK... ARJUN VENKATESAN IS ALSO TRYING TO FIGURE OUT HOW TO DEAL WITH USED WATER FILTERS.

NOT JUST THE BIG WATER FILTERS THAT PUBLIC WATER SYSTEMS USE TO SERVE WHOLE COMMUNITIES... BUT ALSO THE LITTLE CARTRIDGES THAT GO IN HOME FILTERS IN KITCHENS AROUND THE COUNTRY.

**Arjun Venkatesan -- Associate Professor, Department of Civil & Environmental Engineering, New Jersey Institute of Technology
**I've known people who use Brita filters who never replace the filter. So, you're kind of accumulating these chemicals in your filter, and eventually it's going to leach out. So, you're in much more danger than drinking tap water directly. So, you need to replace these filters very frequently.

**Jordan Gass-Pooré -- Host
**MOST PEOPLE END UP THROWING THESE FILTERS IN THE TRASH... WHERE THEY END UP IN EITHER LANDFILLS OR INCINERATORS.

**Arjun Venkatesan -- Associate Professor, Department of Civil & Environmental Engineering, New Jersey Institute of Technology
**We have created a PFAS cycle. So, we use them, we concentrate them, we put it back into the environment, and it's eventually going to come back to us again.

**Jordan Gass-Pooré -- Host
**THE ONLY WAY TO BREAK THIS CYCLE... IS TO DESTROY PFAS. RIGHT NOW.

VENKATESAN AND HIS TEAM ARE USING TWO TECHNIQUES TO DESTROY PFAS... ONE CALLED ELECTROCHEMICAL OXIDATION.

ESSENTIALLY... THIS METHOD USES ELECTRICAL CURRENTS THAT ARE PASSED THROUGH A SOLUTION THAT... WHEN COMBINED WITH OXYGEN... DESTROYS SOME PFAS AND OTHER CHEMICALS.

THE OTHER... AN ELECTRON BEAM ACCELERATOR. FOR THIS PROCESS...

**Arjun Venkatesan -- Associate Professor, Department of Civil & Environmental Engineering, New Jersey Institute of Technology
**We're just bombarding the contaminated water with a beam of electron. And what we have seen is this is actually quite effective in breaking down PFAS molecules, although, right now, at this stage, it's maybe energy intensive, but, like, there's active research by national labs to look at more efficient electron beam accelerators to do that.

**Jordan Gass-Pooré -- Host
**BUT VENKATESAN SAYS THERE ARE CHALLENGES.

**Arjun Venkatesan -- Associate Professor, Department of Civil & Environmental Engineering, New Jersey Institute of Technology
**We are seeing the disappearance of PFOA and PFOS, but we don't know what they are transforming into. So, they may be forming into other PFAS molecules that we are unable to currently detect.

**Jordan Gass-Pooré -- Host
**EVENTUALLY... THE ELECTRON BEAM ACCELERATOR COULD BE USED AS A TOOL FOR ZAPPING TRAPPED PFAS OFF OF USED WATER FILTERS... LARGE AND SMALL. THE TECHNIQUE COULD EVEN BE A KEY TOOL FOR LANDFILLS TO DEAL WITH PFAS IN THEIR LEACHATE.

**Peter Jaffé -- Professor, Department of Civil & Environmental Engineering, Princeton University
**This is the engineering quadrangle, and we are in the part that civil environmental engineering in the department focuses both on structural engineering and has a large component of environmental engineering and water resources.

**Jordan Gass-Pooré -- Host
**I MET UP WITH PETER JAFFÉ AT HIS LAB ON PRINCETON UNIVERSITY'S CAMPUS.

IT'S HERE THAT JAFFÉ AND HIS TEAM ARE USING A SOIL BACTERIA FOUND ACROSS SOUTH JERSEY TO DESTROY PFAS IN THE ENVIRONMENT.

JAFFÉ HAS SPENT YEARS STUDYING HOW THE BACTERIA... SCIENTIFIC NAME... ACIDIMICROBIUM A6... BREAKS DOWN THESE CHEMICALS.

**Peter Jaffé -- Professor, Department of Civil & Environmental Engineering, Princeton University
**We did our experiments over and over and we sent it to multiple different labs. We did everything in duplicate or triplicate, just to be sure that there was nothing strange happening. And, lo and behold, it's true -- they are degradable.

**Jordan Gass-Pooré -- Host
**THE BACTERIA IS COMMON IN THE ACIDIC... IRON-RICH SOILS OF CENTRAL AND SOUTHERN NEW JERSEY. BUT IT'S VERY SLOW GROWING IN THE WILD.

UNDER THE RIGHT LAB CONDITIONS THOUGH... THE ROD-SHAPED BACTERIA CAN REPLICATE MORE RAPIDLY. DOWN THE LINE... JAFFÉ SAYS THERE ARE A VARIETY OF WAYS THE BACTERIA COULD BE USEFUL.

ONE WAY HARKENS BACK TO THIS SHOW'S FIRST SEASON... ABOUT THE NATION'S MOST POLLUTED PLACES... SUPERFUND SITES.

THE ENZYME THAT ENABLES THE BACTERIA TO GOBBLE UP PFAS COULD BE ISOLATED AND CONCENTRATED IN A WAY THAT COULD BE USED TO CLEAN UP SITES WITH CONTAMINATED SOIL.

FOR NOW... JAFFÉ AND HIS TEAM ARE RUNNING A PILOT PROGRAM WITH THE U.S. DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE AND OTHER GOVERNMENT AGENCIES.

ONE OF THE SITES THEY'RE TESTING IS JOINT BASE MCGUIRE-DIX-LAKEHURST IN THE PINELANDS. WE TALKED ABOUT THIS SITE IN EPISODE TWO BECAUSE OF ITS PFAS POLLUTION CAUSED BY DECADES OF USING AFFF FIRE FIGHTING FOAM.

**Peter Jaffé -- Professor, Department of Civil & Environmental Engineering, Princeton University
**The Pine Barrens are low pH soils and iron rich. We saw the bacterium here.

**Jordan Gass-Pooré -- Host
**THE DOD IS ONE OF THE MAIN FUNDERS OF RESEARCH ON PFAS DESTRUCTION. MOST OF THE AGENCY'S WORK IS AROUND CLEANING UP THAT FIREFIGHTING FOAM CONTAMINATION ON MILITARY SITES.

THERE ARE THOUSANDS OF DIFFERENT PFAS... AND MOST HAVEN'T BEEN WELL-STUDIED OR TESTED. SO FOR NOW... IT'S UNCLEAR IF ANY OF THESE DESTRUCTION OPTIONS WILL WORK FOR ALL OF THEM.

WHILE SCIENTISTS GRAPPLE WITH HOW TO LITERALLY DESTROY PFAS... GOVERNMENT OFFICIALS ARE DECIDING HOW FAR POLLUTERS WILL HAVE TO GO TO CLEAN UP THE MESS.

LAST YEAR... THE EPA LISTED TWO OF THE MOST COMMON PFAS CHEMICALS... PFOA AND PFOS... AS HAZARDOUS SUBSTANCES UNDER THE FEDERAL SUPERFUND LAW.

THIS MEANS THAT SITES WITH MAJOR PFAS POLLUTION COULD BE ADDED TO THE NATION'S SUPERFUND LIST... AND ALLOW FEDERAL AUTHORITIES TO TAKE POLLUTERS TO COURT TO FORCE THEM TO PAY FOR THE CLEAN UP.

IT ALSO MAKES IT EASIER FOR THE AGENCY TO TRACK THE SITES... AND PLAN CLEANUP MEASURES.

BUT THE U.S. MILITARY... CHEMICAL... AND OIL COMPANIES AREN'T HUGE FANS OF THIS. AND A MAJOR SUPREME COURT DECISION LAST YEAR MIGHT HAVE CREATED A LEGAL OPENING TO UNDERCUT THE NEW SUPERFUND RULES.

BACK IN JUNE... THE SUPREME COURT'S CONSERVATIVE MAJORITY DECIDED TO OVERTURN THE SO-CALLED CHEVRON DOCTRINE.

THAT'S A LEGAL PRECEDENT THE COURT SET IN 1984 THAT GAVE FEDERAL AGENCIES... LIKE THE EPA... LEEWAY TO INTERPRET LAWS THAT CONGRESS HAD LEFT VAGUE.

**Steve Gold -- Professor of Law, Rutgers Law School
**The justification for it that was presented by conservative legal thinkers and conservative judges was, "Hey, we're only a court. It's not our job to make policy. Congress makes the policy." Here, Congress made the policy and said to EPA, "We're setting general goals. You figure out exactly how to do it. You figure out exactly what we meant, where we were not clear." And the court said, "We're just judges. We're not experts, we're not elected. We're not accountable to an elected president. So, we shouldn't be interpreting this. We should be deferring to agencies." It was viewed as a case of judicial restraint that was viewed as pro-democratic and pro-conservative with a little "c."

**Jordan Gass-Pooré -- Host
**THAT'S STEVE GOLD. HE'S A PROFESSOR AT RUTGERS LAW SCHOOL IN NEWARK. AND HE SPENT ALMOST TWO DECADES ENFORCING FEDERAL ENVIRONMENTAL LAW FOR THE U.S. JUSTICE DEPARTMENT.

THE NEW DECISION TAKES MUCH OF THAT LEEWAY AWAY... LEAVING AGENCIES MUCH MORE TIGHTLY BOUND TO ONLY TAKING ACTIONS DIRECTLY SPELLED OUT BY CONGRESS.

THOSE IN FAVOR OF THE STRICT PFAS REGULATIONS FEAR THE DECISION COULD EVENTUALLY INTRODUCE MORE LEGAL COMPLEXITY AROUND THINGS LIKE WHAT THE EPA CAN CONSIDER A HAZARDOUS SUBSTANCE... OR HOW FAR THE EPA CAN GO IN SETTING NEW DRINKING WATER STANDARDS.

HERE'S GOLD AGAIN.

**Steve Gold -- Professor of Law, Rutgers Law School
**The bigger issue that implicates Chevron is: Can it somehow be said that EPA has acted beyond the authority Congress gave it? I think for the hazardous substance designation that would be very, very difficult. The Superfund law, quite clearly, grants EPA the authority to add new hazardous substances to the list if EPA determines that those substances, when released into the environment, may present substantial danger to the public health or welfare or the environment. With a straight-shooting court, it would be very, very hard to say that EPA exceeded its authority that way. The Safe Drinking Water Act standards are a little bit trickier, because in addition to regulating individual compounds, EPA has regulated mixtures, and there's a debate about whether the Safe Drinking Water Act grants EPA that power.

**Jordan Gass-Pooré -- Host
**AND THE COURTS AREN'T THE ONLY PLACE WHERE THE EPA'S NEWEST PFAS POLICIES MIGHT BE AT RISK.

THE LATEST WAVE OF FEDERAL PFAS ACTION... DRINKING WATER STANDARDS... THE SUPERFUND UPDATE AND MORE... WERE PUT IN PLACE BY PRESIDENT JOE BIDEN'S ADMINISTRATION.

BUT BIDEN LOST NOVEMBER'S ELECTION... AND NOW DONALD TRUMP IS SET TO RETURN TO THE WHITE HOUSE IN JANUARY.

THE HERITAGE FOUNDATION... WHICH IS A HIGHLY INFLUENTIAL CONSERVATIVE THINK TANK... CREATED A POLICY BLUEPRINT FOR THE TRUMP ADMINISTRATION CALLED PROJECT 2025.

IT'S A SWEEPING SET OF CONSERVATIVE GOALS FOR ALL SORTS OF POLICIES... NOT JUST ENVIRONMENTAL. BUT ONE PART OF IT CALLS FOR REMOVING PFOA AND PFOS FROM THE HAZARDOUS SUBSTANCES LIST.

DURING HIS FIRST TERM... THE TRUMP ADMINISTRATION TOUTED IT'S PFAS ACTION PLAN... WHICH TRIED TO TAKE ON THE PFAS PROBLEM IN MULTIPLE WAYS. THAT INCLUDED PROPOSALS TO REGULATE PFAS IN DRINKING WATER... AND THE HAZARDOUS SUBSTANCE DESIGNATION THAT THE BIDEN ADMINISTRATION WOULD LATER REFINE AND FINALIZE.

**Andrew Wheeler -- Former Administrator, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. 2019
**This is the first time we've utilized all of our program offices to deal with an emerging chemical of concern. It is the first time we've put together a multimedia, multiprogram national research and risk communication plan to address a challenge like PFAS. It is also the first time we have held press conferences in all ten of our regions simultaneously on the same topic, and we're doing that because of the importance of this issue in so many communities around the entire country.

**Jordan Gass-Pooré -- Host
**THAT'S ANDREW WHEELER... WHO LED THE EPA UNDER THE FIRST TRUMP ADMINISTRATION. HE UNVEILED THAT BIG PLAN IN 2019.

**Andrew Wheeler -- Former Administrator, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. 2019
**This action plan represents a pivotal moment in the history of the agency, and a pivotal moment for public health and environmental protection.

**Jordan Gass-Pooré -- Host
**BUT MANY ENVIRONMENTAL ADVOCATES CRITICIZED THE EPA UNDER TRUMP... LED BY POLITICAL APPOINTEES WITH DEEP TIES TO POLLUTING INDUSTRIES... FOR DRAGGING ITS FEET ON PFAS ISSUES.

IN ONE CASE FOUND BY THE NEW YORK TIMES... A TRUMP-SELECTED DEPUTY IN THE EPA'S TOXIC CHEMICALS UNIT ORDERED CAREER STAFF TO REWRITE A RULE TO MAKE IT HARDER TO TRACK THE HEALTH IMPACTS OF PFOA.

MEMBERS OF CONGRESS WHO FELT THE TRUMP EPA WAS TAKING TOO LONG TO ACT COMPLAINED THAT TRUMP THREATENED TO VETO BIPARTISAN LEGISLATION AIMED AT DEALING WITH PFAS.

CONGRESSMAN FRANK PALLONE... THE POWERFUL NEW JERSEY DEMOCRAT... SAID AS MUCH IN A 2020 SPEECH ON THE HOUSE FLOOR.

**Rep. Frank Pallone -- D, NJ 6th Congressional District. 2020
**The EPA has known about these risks for decades and has allowed this contamination to spread. Last year, EPA announced its PFAS Action Plan --- it was woefully inadequate and since that time we've learned that EPA is not even keeping the weak commitments it made in that plan. The Trump administration is failing hundreds of impacted communities, and Congress must act for communities like Hoosick Falls, New York; Parchment, Michigan; Parkersburg, West Virginia; and far too many more. We need to act on behalf of states like my own, New Jersey, that are doing everything they can: adopting protective state drinking water standards, pursuing natural resource damage cases, but facing strong opposition from federal agencies under the Trump administration.

**Jordan Gass-Pooré -- Host
**THE MAN WHO WILL TAKE THE LEAD ON PFAS ISSUES FOR TRUMP'S SECOND TERM WILL BE HIS PICK TO RUN THE EPA... FORMER CONGRESSMAN LEE ZELDIN... WHO PREVIOUSLY REPRESENTED MUCH OF LONG ISLAND.

ZELDIN TOOK A KEEN INTEREST IN PFAS POLLUTION AT NAVAL WEAPONS INDUSTRIAL RESERVE PLANT CALVERTON... A NOW DEFUNCT FACILITY IN HIS DISTRICT WHERE GRUMMAN CORPORATION USED TO TEST FIGHTER JETS.

LIKE AT SO MANY OTHER AIRPORTS AND MILITARY BASES... PAST USE OF FIREFIGHTING FOAM IS THE SOURCE OF CALVERTON'S PFAS PROBLEM.

AS A CONGRESSMAN... ZELDIN TRIED TO HOLD THE U.S. NAVY ACCOUNTABLE FOR PFAS POLLUTION AT THE BASE.

HERE HE IS SPEAKING AT A PRESS CONFERENCE IN 2021.

**Lee Zeldin -- Nominee for U.S. EPA Administrator. 2021
**When it comes to Long Islanders' drinking water, there is no room for error. And there are many individuals in this area who have been suffering as a result of decades-long activity at the Naval Weapons Industrial Reserve Plant. Now, originally, the Navy didn't want to do any of the surrounding testing at all. In 2018, they agreed to do it for a one-mile radius. In light of new developments, we are urging the Navy to step-up and not only to expand testing, but to cover the costs of remediation. A failure to act is not an option. But every step of the way, the Navy, with regards to this effort, has dragged its feet.

**Jordan Gass-Pooré -- Host
**ON CAPITOL HILL... ZELDIN VOTED FOR BILLS TO REQUIRE PFAS STANDARDS IN DRINKING WATER... LIMIT PFAS AIR POLLUTION... REQUIRE PFAS CLEAN UP ON MILITARY BASES... STOP INDUSTRIAL PFAS DUMPING INTO WATERWAYS... CREATE NEW RESTRICTIONS ON PFAS INCINERATION... AND REQUIRE NEW HEALTH TESTING PROGRAMS FOR THE CHEMICALS.

BUT OUTSIDE OF PFAS ISSUES... ZELDIN HAD A MUCH LESS ENVIRONMENTALLY FRIENDLY RECORD.

HE HAS A LIFETIME SCORE OF JUST 14% FROM THE LEAGUE OF CONSERVATION VOTERS FOR HIS VOTES AS A CONGRESSMAN.

AND AFTER TRUMP ANNOUNCED ZELDIN WAS HIS PICK TO RUN THE EPA... ZELDIN PLEDGED TO RUN THE AGENCY IN A WAY THAT WOULD FOCUS ON BOOSTING INDUSTRY.

THAT TYPE OF RHETORIC IN THE PAST HAS MEANT ROLLING BACK ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTIONS... BUT ONLY TIME WILL TELL.

HERE'S WHAT ZELDIN SAID ON FOX NEWS THE DAY TRUMP ANNOUNCED HIS NOMINATION.

**Lee Zeldin -- Nominee for U.S. EPA Administrator.
**One of the biggest issues for so many Americans was the economy, and the president was talking about unleashing economic prosperity. Through the EPA, we have the ability to pursue energy dominance, to be able to make the United States the artificial intelligence capital of the world, to bring back American jobs to the auto industry, and so much more.

**Jordan Gass-Pooré -- Host
**WHATEVER HAPPENS AT THE FEDERAL LEVEL UNDER TRUMP... NEW JERSEY LEADERS HAVE PLEDGED TO HAVE THE STATE REMAIN A LEADER IN DEALING WITH PFAS.

**Shawn LaTourette -- Commissioner, New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection
**It is not the case that we, the royal we, the societal we, on either the national or the state level, have gotten our arms around every tentacle of the PFAS problem. We have not. Not on the state level, and most certainly not on the federal level. And there's a good question as to whether over the next four years we will make any more progress on the federal level. We'll see. We'll see, I remain hopeful, because everyone should be interested in the public health.

**Jordan Gass-Pooré -- Host
**SHAWN LATOURETTE... COMMISSIONER OF THE NEW JERSEY DEPARTMENT OF ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION... IS CLEAR-EYED ABOUT THE PFAS CHALLENGE.

A CAREER ENVIRONMENTAL LAWYER WITH A FOCUS ON TOXIC POLLUTION... HE WAS FIRST BROUGHT INTO THE DEPARTMENT TO SHAPE THE GARDEN STATE'S PLAN TO HOLD BIG CHEMICAL COMPANIES ACCOUNTABLE.

**Shawn LaTourette -- Commissioner, New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection
**What we had to do was sue all of them, ultimately. Solvay was the first to settle. Arkema will come next. The next domino will fall. DuPont will come to that table. So will Chemours. So will 3M. And when we first started this, after I had then become commissioner, I took meetings with executives from some of these companies, and I was very clear with them, there's not a question about whether or not they pay for what they have done, there is only the question of when.

**Jordan Gass-Pooré -- Host
**DEALING WITH PFAS REMAINS A TOP PRIORITY IN NEW JERSEY.

THE STATE IS STILL ON THE CUTTING EDGE OF RESEARCH... IS OFTEN AHEAD OF THE CURVE IN CREATING NEW REGULATIONS... AND HAS HAD NO HESITATION IN TAKING PFAS CASES TO COURT.

FOR THE PAST FOUR YEARS... LATOURETTE AND HIS DEPARTMENT HAVE BEEN ALIGNED WITH THE BIDEN EPA.

BUT LATOURETTE KNOWS THAT THE NEXT FOUR YEARS MAY BE A DIFFERENT EXPERIENCE.

**Shawn LaTourette -- Commissioner, New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection
**I think they'll ignore me. I won't let them. What I've told folks about a change in administration, is number one: I'm not scared. New Jersey has led the nation in this subject matter, PFAS and environmental protection, generally, and we will just keep doing that, and whether it's to my colleagues at the DEP, folks in the sector of environmental, non-government organizations, and even folks at the EPA, what I would tell them is: I am not giving up, and neither should you.

**Jordan Gass-Pooré -- Host
**I'M NOT PSYCHIC... I CAN'T TELL THE FUTURE... BELIEVE IT OR NOT... BUT WHAT I'VE LEARNED OVER THE PAST TWO YEARS WORKING ON HAZARD NJ IS THAT AS BAD AS THINGS GET... THERE ARE ALWAYS PEOPLE WHO WILL STAND UP FOR WHAT'S RIGHT...

...PEOPLE WHO REFUSE TO ALLOW COMPANIES OR GOVERNMENTS TO DUMP HAZARDOUS CHEMICALS INTO THEIR DRINKING WATER... WHO QUESTION WHY THEIR NEIGHBORHOOD HAS SUPERFUND SITES... A LANDFILL... AND AN INCINERATOR... WHILE OTHERS DON'T.

IT'S HARD FOR ME TO NOT LIVE IN THE DOOM AND GLOOM. AND BEING THE HUGE HORROR FAN THAT I AM... I KNOW THAT LIKE JASON... THE VILLAIN ALWAYS RETURNS.

BUT AS FAR AS I KNOW... PFAS HASN'T BEEN FOUND AT THE CAMP IN WARREN COUNTY I TOURED EARLIER IN THIS EPISODE. AND NEITHER HAS JASON.

THAT DOESN'T MEAN THIS SEASON ABOUT PFAS HASN'T CHANGED HOW I GO ABOUT MY DAY.

IT'S GOT ME THINKING TWICE ABOUT DRINKING MY COFFEE FROM ANYTHING OTHER THAN A STAINLESS-STEEL MUG... AND ORDERING TAKE OUT.

FOR THE PAST TWO YEARS... I'VE TALKED ABOUT TOXIC SITES... WITH YOU... AND WITH MY FRIENDS AND FAMILY. TRUST ME... I AM THE LIFE OF THE PARTY.

I'LL CATCH MYSELF ASKING MY AUNT IN TEXAS IF THEY'VE TESTED HER WELL WATER... AND THAT I KNOW A GUY WHO CAN GET HER A CHEAP WATER TESTING KIT.

OKAY... YOU'VE HEARD ME TALK NOW FOR MORE THAN 30 MINUTES. I'LL GET RIGHT TO THE POINT... THIS IS THE FINAL EPISODE OF THE HAZARD NJ PODCAST. I'M NOT GOOD AT GOODBYES. SO... I'LL LEAVE YOU WITH THIS... A CLIP FROM THE MOVIE GARDEN STATE.

HAZARD NJ IS AN NJ SPOTLIGHT NEWS PRODUCTION... YOU CAN SUPPORT OUR REPORTING BY HEADING TO NJSPOTLIGHTNEWS.ORG/DONATE.

Credits

Hazard NJ is reported and written by host Jordan Gass-Pooré and producer Michael Sol Warren

Executive Producer – Jamie Kraft

Executive in Charge of Production – Joe Lee

Production Manager – Chloe Motisi

Research Assistant — Judah Duke

Sound Designer & Engineer – Mark Bush

Composer – Nick Pennington

Art – Matthew Fleming

“Forever chemicals” have been so widely used, for so many purposes, for so many decades, that they are now in all of our blood. But what does that mean for our health? A team of Rutgers University researchers is trying to help answer that question by studying the blood of residents in Paulsboro, New Jersey, where a high-profile pollution incident left the town’s water supply contaminated for years.

Editor's Note: "Hazard NJ" is an NJ Spotlight News podcast that examines serious pollution issues. Season 2 dives deep into the crisis of toxic pollution caused by PFAS, or "forever chemicals," around New Jersey and beyond. Subscribe to the podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music and more.

Read the episode transcript below:

**Jordan Gass-Pooré -- Host
**YOU CAN'T SEE IT...

...SMELL IT...

...OR TASTE IT.

BUT IT'S INSIDE NEARLY ALL OF US.

PFAS ARE THE FOREVER CHEMICALS THAT LURK IN OUR BLOOD. HOW THEY GOT THERE... WELL... IN THIS HORROR STORY... THE EVIL LIES IN OUR TAP WATER.

THIS IS HAZARD NJ... A LIMITED SERIES THAT SERVES UP THE TOXIC TRUTH ABOUT PFAS IN NEW JERSEY'S WATER... ONE GLASS AT A TIME.

ON THIS EPISODE... WE LOOK TO ONE NEW JERSEY TOWN'S POLLUTED PAST TO BETTER UNDERSTAND ITS MURKY FUTURE.

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

THE FIRST RATED R MOVIE I EVER SAW IN THEATERS WAS ERIN BROCKOVICH. FOR THOSE UNFAMILIAR WITH THE MOVIE... IT'S BASED ON A TRUE STORY... ABOUT A WOMAN IN THE '90S WHO DROPS A LOT OF F-BOMBS AND HELPS INVESTIGATE WATER CONTAMINATION IN A SMALL CALIFORNIA TOWN.

I'M SURE I'M NOT THE ONLY MILLENNIAL CLIMATE JOURNALIST WHO CITES THIS MOVIE... AND THE REAL-LIFE ERIN BROCKOVICH... AS A REASON FOR GETTING INTO THIS BEAT.

NOW... ERIN BROCKOVICH IS SOUNDING THE ALARM ABOUT PFAS. AND I AM TOO.

THIS EPISODE HAS PARALLELS TO THAT CASE IN CALIFORNIA. IT'S ABOUT A SMALL TOWN WHOSE WATER WAS CONTAMINATED BY A BIG COMPANY. BUT THERE'S UNIQUE TWISTS AND TURNS.

WELCOME TO PAULSBORO, NEW JERSEY... WHERE PFAS HAS SEEPED INTO THE LIVES OF THE TOWN'S RESIDENTS.

**Patricia Puntier -- Paulsboro resident
**I never trust the water. I don't recommend it for folks.

**Carmen Costa -- Former Paulsboro resident
**You're consuming this stuff. And it was always something in the back of your mind. And then people who weren't from town who would come to town, they'd be like, 'What is that smell?' And it was always, like, 'Welcome to Paulsboro.' And for a while, it was kind of a joke: That's why our athletes were so good, because of the water and the smog.

**Jordan Gass-Pooré -- Host
**THERE'S SOMETHING IN THE WATER IN PAULSBORO... SAYS MANY OF THE PEOPLE WHO LIVE THERE.

NO ONE KNOWS WHEN IT STARTED.

BUT IT WAS FIRST FOUND IN A PUBLIC WATER WELL IN 2009. AND REMAINED THERE FOUR YEARS LATER.

THIS SOUNDS LIKE THE STUFF OF LEGEND... A CAMPFIRE TALE.

AND I WISH IT WAS.

PFNA... A COMMON PFAS CHEMICAL... DOESN'T QUITE HAVE THE SAME RING TO IT AS SAY JASON OR MICHAEL MYERS... BUT THE NAME STILL STRIKES FEAR IN THE COMMUNITIES WHERE THE CHEMICAL HIDES.

PAULSBORO IS A SMALL INDUSTRIAL TOWN ON THE BANKS OF THE DELAWARE RIVER.

BEFORE 2013... THE TOWN WAS KNOWN FOR THE LOCAL HIGH SCHOOL'S POWERHOUSE WRESTLING TEAM... A SPRAWLING REFINERY... ITS LIGHTHOUSE AND BEING FEATURED IN KEVIN SMITH'S MOVIE... JERSEY GIRL.

BUT FOR DECADES THE CHEMICAL PERFLUORONONANOIC ACID... A MEMBER OF THE PFAS FAMILY... KNOWN SIMPLY AS PFNA... HAD UNKNOWINGLY BEEN TAINTING PAULSBORO'S WATER.

PFNA WAS DISCOVERED AT HIGH LEVELS IN PUBLIC DRINKING WATER SOURCES AROUND NEW JERSEY BY STATE RESEARCHERS IN 2009... BUT THE STUDY WAS NOT MADE PUBLIC UNTIL FIVE YEARS LATER.

AT THAT TIME... THERE WEREN'T STANDARDS FOR PFNA OR ANY OTHER PFAS CHEMICALS IN GROUNDWATER... OR DRINKING WATER. SO... THE CHEMICAL REMAINED THERE FOR YEARS.

ACTIVISTS FROM THE DELAWARE RIVERKEEPER NETWORK KNEW A STUDY HAD BEEN DONE... BUT HAD TO FIGHT WITH STATE AUTHORITIES TO GAIN ACCESS TO THE PUBLIC RECORDS WITH THE RESULTS.

EVENTUALLY IN 2013 THE ACTIVISTS GOT A HOLD OF THE STATE'S DATA... AND FOUND THAT PAULSBORO WAS ONE OF 22 WATER SYSTEMS IN NEW JERSEY THAT HAD ITS SOURCE TAINTED BY PFAS.

**Christie Duffy -- NJTV News
**The chemical is a perfluorinated compound known as PFNA. It's potentially dangerous and it's not regulated. DEP findings point to this plastics company as a probable source.

STATE OFFICIALS WOULD LATER SAY THAT THE LEVELS OF PFNA FOUND IN PAULSBORO'S DRINKING WATER SYSTEM WERE THE HIGHEST EVER DETECTED IN DRINKING WATER... ANYWHERE IN THE WORLD.

AS THE SCOPE OF THE POLLUTION BECAME CLEAR... THE STATE BEGAN PAYING TO INSTALL FILTERS ON PRIVATE WELLS THROUGHOUT THE AREA.

BUT PAULSBORO'S WATER UTILITY HAD A UNIQUE PROBLEM.

THE WATER SYSTEM WAS SUPPLIED BY THREE WELLS... AND WHEN NEWS OF THE CONTAMINATION BROKE... TWO OF THOSE WELLS WERE ALREADY OFFLINE BECAUSE THEY WERE BEING UPGRADED TO DEAL WITH A NATURALLY OCCURRING RADIUM PROBLEM.

THAT LEFT ONE WELL SUPPLYING THE ENTIRE PAULSBORO SYSTEM... AND THAT WELL WAS THE ONE MOST AFFECTED BY THE PFNA POLLUTION. IT WOULD BE MONTHS BEFORE THE BOROUGH WAS ABLE TO SHUT THAT WELL DOWN AND SWITCH TO THE OTHER TWO.

IN THE MEANTIME... PAULSBORO RESIDENTS WERE URGED TO AVOID DRINKING THEIR TAP WATER... AND STATE AUTHORITIES WARNED THAT CHILDREN UNDER ONE YEAR OLD WERE PARTICULARLY AT RISK. THE LOCAL HARDWARE STORE HANDED OUT BOTTLED WATER.

NEWS ABOUT THE CONTAMINATION IMMEDIATELY SPARKED CONCERN IN PAULSBORO AND SURROUNDING TOWNS. WHEN THEN-GOVERNOR CHRIS CHRISTIE VISITED THE AREA TO TOUT NEW INVESTMENT IN THE PORT OF PAULSBORO... A PAIR OF LOCAL PROTESTORS AND THEIR CHILDREN WERE WAITING FOR HIM WITH PITCHERS OF TAP WATER AND PAPER CUPS.

THEY WANTED TO OFFER CHRISTIE A DRINK.

ALIYAH JONES...ONE OF THE PROTESTORS... TOLD THE SOUTH JERSEY TIMES THAT DAY QUOTE... IF HE DRINKS IT... I'LL DRINK IT.

POLICE REMOVED THE PROTESTORS FROM THE EVENT MINUTES BEFORE CHRISTIE ARRIVED. HE DID NOT DRINK THE WATER.

FILTERS WERE EVENTUALLY INSTALLED IN THE PROBLEM WELL TO REMOVE THE PFNA... AND THE WELL REOPENED IN 2016.

**Dr. Robert Laumbach -- Associate Professor, Rutgers University Environmental and Occupational Health Sciences Institute
**Since then, the water has been treated and it's tested and PFAS levels are within standards. They're below detectable levels. But there's concern that because PFAS stay in the body for a long period of time and has long-term health effects potentially.

**Jordan Gass-Pooré -- Host
**THAT'S DOCTOR ROBERT LAUMBACH. HE'S AN ASSOCIATE PROFESSOR AT RUTGERS UNIVERSITY WHO IS LEADING A STUDY IN PAULSBORO INTO THE HEALTH EFFECTS OF LONG-TERM PFAS EXPOSURE.

AN EARLIER STUDY CONDUCTED IN 2017 BY LAUMBACH AND OTHER RESEARCHERS FOUND THAT OUT OF THE 186 PAULSBORO RESIDENTS THAT VOLUNTEERED TO SHARE THEIR PFAS RESULTS... ALL OF THEM HAD PFNA IN THEIR BLOOD AT LEVELS ABOUT FOUR TIMES HIGHER THAN THE NATIONAL RATE.

THE RESEARCHERS ALSO FOUND THAT EXPOSURE TO PFNA WAS ASSOCIATED WITH HIGH CHOLESTEROL.

LAUMBACH SAYS THE 2017 RESEARCH MADE CLEAR THAT MORE STUDIES ARE NEEDED TO BETTER UNDERSTAND THE POTENTIAL HEALTH RISKS OF PFNA AND OTHER PFAS.

**Dr. Robert Laumbach -- Associate Professor, Rutgers University Environmental and Occupational Health Sciences Institute
**So, certainly the cholesterol connection. But then also reproductive effects, thyroid conditions, other hormonal conditions, other health conditions, cardiovascular pulmonary. Essentially, just about any organ system, and there have been reports in the literature, especially among animal studies where most of the work has been done showing that there are a lot of associations with a lot of different health effects.

**Jordan Gass-Pooré -- Host
**PFNA HAS BEEN FOUND IN THE TAP WATER OF AT LEAST 13 STATES... . THE KICKER IS THAT UNLIKE OTHER PFAS CHEMICALS... PFNA ISN'T AS COMMONLY USED IN CONSUMER PRODUCTS. BUT IT DOES HAVE OTHER USES.

ABOUT A TEN-MINUTE DRIVE FROM PAULSBORO IS THE TOWN OF WEST DEPTFORD... HOME TO A PLASTICS FACTORY OWNED AND OPERATED BY SOLVAY SPECIALTY POLYMERS.

THE COMPANY WAS A SUBSIDIARY OF THE BELGIUM-BASED CHEMICAL GIANT SOLVAY UNTIL LATE LAST YEAR... WHEN SOLVAY CREATED A SPIN-OFF COMPANY CALLED SYENSQO... ALSO BASED IN BELGIUM.

**Geoff Pass -- Former site manager, Solvay Specialty Polymers
**First, let me tell you a little bit about what we do here at Solvay, we manufacture plastics. Not just any plastics, but high-tech plastics made predominately from fluorine chemistry. And what's special about fluorine chemistry is that it's very durable, very reliable. So, it's used a lot in applications that require long durability, resistance to chemicals from the environment, resistance to sunlight. Resistance to heat. So, a lot of what we manufacture for goes into automotive applications, construction, architectural coatings. It goes into alternative energies, such as solar panels. So, we manufacture into a lot of different industries from this plant.

**Jordan Gass-Pooré -- Host
**THAT WAS GEOFF PASS... THE FORMER SITE MANAGER OF THE SOLVAY PLANT IN WEST DEPTFORD... TALKING TO "EYE ON PAULSBORO" IN 2014. WHEN PASS SAID SOLVAY USED "FLUORINE CHEMISTRY" ... HE WAS TALKING ABOUT PFAS CHEMICALS LIKE PFNA. SOLVAY USED TO USE PFNA TO MAKE SPECIALTY PLASTICS... AND TODAY PFNA HAS BEEN FOUND IN THE GROUNDWATER NEAR THE WEST DEPTFORD PLANT. ABOUT 50 PRIVATE WELLS IN THAT TOWN WERE ALSO FOUND TO HAVE HIGH PFAS LEVELS.

**Geoff Pass -- Former site manager, Solvay Specialty Polymers
**It is important for me to say that certainly our action is not an admission of fault or liability, but rather motivated from our values. So, it's important that we say that, thank you.

**Jordan Gass-Pooré -- Host
**STATE OFFICIALS BLAME THE TOWN'S PFAS PROBLEMS ON SOLVAY.

THEY SUED THE COMPANY IN 2020... ACCUSING SOLVAY OF EMITTING OLD AND NEW PFAS CHEMICALS INTO THE ENVIRONMENT FROM ITS WEST DEPTFORD PLANT.

THE STATE ALSO NAMED ARKEMA IN THAT LAWSUIT. ARKEMA IS THE CHEMICAL COMPANY THAT OWNED THE PLANT BEFORE SOLVAY AND HAD ITS OWN HISTORY OF PFAS USE.

SOLVAY EVENTUALLY AGREED TO PAY THE STATE NEARLY $393 MILLION TO CLEAN UP CURRENT AND FUTURE PFAS CONTAMINATION FROM ITS WEST DEPTFORD PLANT AS PART OF A SETTLEMENT APPROVED IN STATE COURT EARLIER THIS YEAR. THE STATE HAS PROPOSED A SEPARATE SETTLEMENT WITH ARKEMA FOR ROUGHLY $34 MILLION. THAT DEAL STILL NEEDS COURT APPROVAL.

**Shawn LaTourette -- Commissioner, New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection
**What we're here today to mark, is our taking the next steps in implementing the settlement that has been achieved with this facility.

**Jordan Gass-Pooré -- Host
**THAT'S SHAWN LATOURETTE... NEW JERSEY'S COMMISSIONER OF ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION. HE'S SPEAKING AT AN INFORMATION SESSION ON THE SOLVAY SETTLEMENT THE DEP HOSTED IN NOVEMBER IN WEST DEPTFORD.

NO ONE FROM SOLVAY ATTENDED THIS COMMUNITY MEETING. BUT THE DEP SAID THE COMPANY MAY HOST THEIR OWN MEETING IN JANUARY.

ABOUT $100 MILLION OF THE SETTLEMENT MONEY WILL COVER THE COSTS OF FILTERING PFAS FROM LOCAL WATER SYSTEMS WHERE IT'S BEEN DETECTED AND TESTING OTHERS. THIS INCLUDES REIMBURSING HOMEOWNERS FOR OUT-OF-POCKET EXPENSES RELATED TO THE CONTAMINATION.

HERE'S LATOURETTE AGAIN.

**Shawn LaTourette -- Commissioner, New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection
**What we have before us now is a process for implementing the settlement that has been achieved, that they clean up their contamination in a timely manner pursuant to the directions of the DEP, and that they provide resources that will be used to help the residents of the communities that have been harmed by their actions. Particularly in ensuring access to funding for our water providers.

**Jordan Gass-Pooré -- Host
**BUT MOST OF THE MONEY... AN ESTIMATED $214 MILLION... WILL BE SPENT ON REMOVING PFAS POLLUTION FROM FACTORY SITES AND SURROUNDING PARTS OF WEST DEPTFORD. LATOURETTE ACKNOWLEDGED THIS COST COULD EVENTUALLY BE MUCH HIGHER THAN THE FUNDS AGREED TO IN THE SETTLEMENT.

**Shawn LaTourette -- Commissioner, New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection
**It is not uncommon to begin a cleanup and to find out that that contamination incident has tentacles that spread a little further than you originally thought it did, and so that makes the cost increase. And if that happens here, then the funding source will increase, too.

**Jordan Gass-Pooré -- Host
**OTHER SETTLEMENT FUNDS WILL GO TOWARD IMPROVING NATURAL RESOURCES IN THE AREA... INCLUDING WETLANDS... TO COMPENSATE FOR SOLVAY'S DAMAGE.

SOLVAY VOLUNTARILY STOPPED USING PFOA... WHICH IS A DIFFERENT KIND OF PFAS CHEMICAL... AT THE WEST DEPTFORD PLANT IN 2003... AND PFNA IN 2010.  BUT THE DAMAGE WAS ALREADY DONE. MORE THAN 100,000 POUNDS OF THE CHEMICAL HAD BEEN DUMPED INTO THE AIR AND WATER IN WEST DEPTFORD AND SURROUNDING AREAS.

INSTEAD OF... NOW REGULATED... PFAS CHEMICALS... SOLVAY BEGAN USING DIFFERENT PFAS AS A PFNA REPLACEMENT.

A STUDY PUBLISHED BY FEDERAL AND STATE SCIENTISTS IN 2020 FOUND THE COMPOUND IN SEVERAL SOIL SAMPLES COLLECTED AROUND SOUTH JERSEY... AND EVEN SOME FROM THE NORTHERN EDGE OF THE STATE.

LATER RESEARCH ALSO FOUND THE CHEMICALS IN THE DELAWARE RIVER... AND GROUNDWATER AROUND WEST DEPTFORD.

THE SCIENTISTS DETERMINED THAT AIR EMISSIONS FROM SOLVAY'S PLANT WAS THE MOST LIKELY SOURCE OF THE NEW POLLUTION.

IT'S UNCLEAR WHEN SOLVAY STARTED USING THESE REPLACEMENT CHEMICALS. BUT THEY'VE ALREADY BEEN FOUND IN THE BLOOD OF COMPANY EMPLOYEES... AND HEALTH STUDIES MADE PUBLIC BY THE ONLINE NEWS SOURCE... THE INTERCEPT... SHOW THE CHEMICALS TO BE TOXIC TO RATS AND GUINEA PIGS. THEY'RE ALSO ASSOCIATED WITH CHANGES TO HUMAN BLOOD CHEMISTRY.

SCIENTISTS AND ENVIRONMENTAL REGULATORS HAVE WARNED FOR YEARS THAT SOME OF THESE REPLACEMENT CHEMICALS MAY BE JUST AS DANGEROUS... IF NOT MORE... THAN THE CHEMICALS THEY'RE TRYING TO REPLACE.

LIKE PFNA... THESE REPLACEMENT CHEMICALS ARE PART OF THE PFAS FAMILY... BUT AREN'T REGULATED.

AND IF YOU THOUGHT THE SCIENTIFIC NAME FOR PFAS WAS HARD TO PRONOUNCE... JUST YOU WAIT. THE SCIENTIFIC NAME FOR THESE NEW CHEMICALS? CHLOROPERFLUOROPOLYETHER CARBOXYLATES... BETTER KNOWN AS Cl-P-F-P-E-C-A.

SOLVAY SAYS IT PHASED OUT THE USE OF ALL PFAS AT THE WEST DEPTFORD PLANT IN JUNE 2021.

AS A RESULT OF THE SOLVAY PFAS SCARE... PAULSBORO WAS AMONG THE FIRST TOWNS IN NEW JERSEY TO UPGRADE ITS WATER SYSTEM TO HANDLE THE CHEMICALS.

NEW JERSEY BECAME THE FIRST STATE TO REGULATE PFAS IN DRINKING WATER IN THE YEARS AFTER. BY THEN PAULSBORO'S PROBLEMS HAD BEEN FIXED... AND THE TOWN HAS NEVER VIOLATED THE STATE'S PFAS STANDARDS.

EVEN THOUGH PAULSBORO'S DRINKING WATER NO LONGER HAS HIGH LEVELS OF PFAS... ITS RESIDENTS LIKELY STILL HAVE THE CHEMICALS SWIMMING AROUND IN THEIR BLOOD.

THEY WANT TO KNOW FOR SURE IF THEY'VE BEEN EXPOSED TO PFAS. AND... IF SO... HOW THE CHEMICALS HAVE IMPACTED THEIR HEALTH.

RIGHT NOW... THE ONLY WAY TO KNOW IF YOU HAVE HIGH LEVELS OF PFAS IN YOUR BLOOD IS TO HAVE IT TESTED.

THAT'S WHERE DOCTOR LAUMBACH COMES IN. HE'S LEADING THE PAULSBORO STUDY. IT'S ONE OF EIGHT STUDIES OF ITS KIND NATIONWIDE... PART OF AN EFFORT ORGANIZED BY THE CDC THAT SCIENTISTS HOPE WILL SHED MORE LIGHT ON THE WAYS PFAS IMPACTS OUR HEALTH.

LAUMBACH AND HIS TEAM HAVE BEEN TESTING THE BLOOD OF PEOPLE WHO LIVED IN PAULSBORO ANY TIME BETWEEN JANUARY 2005 AND APRIL 2014... WHEN THE CONTAMINATED WELL CLOSED.

HE'S HOPING THE BLOOD TESTS WILL HELP SCIENTISTS DETERMINE HOW THESE CHEMICALS ARE IMPACTING OUR HEALTH... AND WHAT WE CAN DO ABOUT THEM.

SINCE THE WATER FILTERS WERE INSTALLED IN PAULSBORO... THE LEVEL OF PFNA IN RESIDENTS' BLOOD HAS DECREASED.

I MET HIM IN HIS OFFICE LAST SUMMER TO FIND OUT MORE ABOUT THE STUDY.

A FEW RESIDENTS WAITED TO HAVE THEIR BLOOD TESTED.

ONE OF THOSE RESIDENTS WAS PATRICIA PUNTIER. SHE'S LIVED IN PAULSBORO FOR MORE THAN A DECADE.

**Patricia Puntier -- Paulsboro resident
**My uncle bought a house here a long time ago and we would come and visit him. And we thought this was like the greatest suburbs because we're so used to, like, the city. And so my mom bought a house here first, and then we just always stay around each other. So, I ended up buying a house here, too. And now we have about, my family, we have about six, seven, eight houses here. Everybody just, like, let's go to Paulsboro.

**Jordan Gass-Pooré -- Host
**YEARS BEFORE PATRICIA EVER HEARD OF PFAS... SHE EXPERIENCED A DIFFERENT KIND OF CHEMICAL FEAR... ONE THAT SHE AND OTHER PAULSBORO RESIDENTS COULD ACTUALLY SEE AND SMELL.

ON THE MORNING OF NOVEMBER 30, 2012... SEVEN FREIGHT CARS DERAILED WHILE CROSSING A BRIDGE IN PAULSBORO IN THE MIDST OF A THICK FOG. ONE OF THE CARS WAS RIPPED OPEN AFTER CRASHING INTO THE MANTUA CREEK BELOW... SPILLING ABOUT 20,000 GALLONS OF A COLORLESS FLAMMABLE GAS CALLED VINYL CHLORIDE.

PUNTIER WAS ASLEEP WHEN THE POLICE KNOCKED ON HER DOOR.

**Patricia Puntier -- Paulsboro resident
**They were telling everyone, 'Get out. Everyone's got to go.' Like, what do you mean it was happening? So I'm grabbing my baby.

**Jordan Gass-Pooré -- Host
**THE ACCIDENT LED TO THE EVACUATION OF HUNDREDS OF RESIDENTS... INCLUDING PUNTIER.

**Patricia Puntier -- Paulsboro resident
**And I'm leaving and I'm, like, 'Where are we going?' They're putting us up in hotels. And they're, like, 'Well, that train derailed' is what they're saying. 'The train derailed and there's something in the air, some chemicals and stuff in the water.' So, I actually had to grab my child and go and we stayed at a hotel for a few days that they paid for and everything. So, once they, like, evacuated us, that's when I knew, I was like yeah, this is pretty serious. I would never forget that day.

**Jordan Gass-Pooré -- Host
**PUNTIER SAYS SHE KNEW ALMOST NOTHING ABOUT AIR POLLUTION PRIOR TO THE TRAIN DERAILMENT.

AND SHE DIDN'T KNOW ABOUT PFAS AND THEIR POTENTIAL HEALTH RISKS UNTIL 2014... WHEN SOLVAY STARTED PAYING THE LOCAL HARDWARE STORE TO DISTRIBUTE BOTTLED WATER.

**Patricia Puntier -- Paulsboro resident
**I remember getting my bottled waters. We had to go to a certain spot. And then you get like I think it was like two cases per week or something like that. And they were like, just don't drink the water. Here, take your cases. So I would go there with my stroller. I take my case of water, I put it in the bottom, and I go walking back home.

**Jordan Gass-Pooré -- Host
**PUNTIER AND OTHER RESIDENTS WERE WARNED BACK THEN TO ONLY DRINK BOTTLED WATER.

HIGH LEVELS OF PFNA HAD BEEN DISCOVERED IN THE TOWN'S DRINKING WATER. MANY PEOPLE BLAMED SOLVAY FOR CONTAMINATING THEIR WATER... BUT THE COMPANY DENIED THEY HAD ANYTHING TO DO WITH IT.

SOLVAY HAS TRIED TO SHIFT AT LEAST SOME OF THE BLAME. IN A 2020 LAWSUIT... THE CHEMICAL COMPANY ACCUSED THE NEARBY PAULSBORO REFINERY OF CONTRIBUTING TO THE AREA'S PFAS PROBLEM THROUGH ITS HISTORIC USE OF FIREFIGHTING FOAM... THAT'S THE PROBLEM WE TALKED ABOUT IN EPISODE TWO.

SOLVAY POINTED TO AN OIL SPILL IN 2012 AS A SPECIFIC EXAMPLE. THAT CASE HAS SINCE BEEN DISMISSED.

THE STATE... HOWEVER... DIDN'T BUY IT... AND IS HOLDING SOLVAY RESPONSIBLE FOR THE CLEAN UP. AUTHORITIES HAVE NOTED THAT SOLVAY HAS BEEN THE DOMINANT USER OF PFNA IN THE AREA.

PUNTIER SAYS ALL THESE YEARS LATER SHE STILL DOESN'T TRUST PAULSBORO'S DRINKING WATER.

**Patricia Puntier -- Paulsboro resident
**Before this happened, I would drink water from the sink, tap water. Now, I only cook with the tap water. I won't actually drink it. It's a whole thing in town like that Paulsboro water is dirty and then we're gonna be mutants, things like that. So I rather not take my chances. It's been too many crazy incidents.

**Jordan Gass-Pooré -- Host
**PFAS HAS BEEN A PART OF PUNTIER'S LIFE NOW FOR MORE THAN A DECADE.

SHE AND HER FAMILY ALL DRANK WATER THAT EXPOSED THEM TO PFAS... AND WANTED TO KNOW HOW MUCH OF THE CHEMICALS WERE IN THEIR BLOOD. THAT'S WHY THEY'RE TAKING PART IN THE RUTGERS HEALTH STUDY.

THIS IS HOW PUNTIER DESCRIBES HER FAMILY'S RESULTS...

**Patricia Puntier -- Paulsboro resident
**Everything looks pretty normal, except for my one son, Dimir. Dimir is my middle son, and he has something called 4q deletion syndrome. And that is a rare chromosome disorder. So not a lot is known about it. So, his numbers were wacky. When the derailment happened, I was actually pregnant with Dimir. And then when Solvay happened, he was an infant. So, I'm always thinking in my head, you know, it's a rare chromosomal disorder, but could this have affected him? And seeing that his numbers are, like, high in some places, and I don't really understand it, it's hard to determine could this be something that came from environmental factors? Or is this something that just happened?

**Jordan Gass-Pooré -- Host
**PUNTIER STILL QUESTIONS THE SAFETY OF THE AIR SHE AND HER FAMILY BREATHES AND THE WATER THEY DRINK. BUT IT'S FAMILY THAT KEEPS HER IN PAULSBORO.

ANOTHER STUDY PARTICIPANT... IRMA STEVENSON... CITED THE SAME REASON FOR REMAINING IN TOWN.

STEVENSON IS A FORMER NURSE... A LIFELONG PAULSBORO RESIDENT... AND THE MOTHER OF THE TOWN'S FORMER MAYOR.

SHE DESCRIBES WHAT LIFE WAS LIKE IN PAULSBORO WHEN HER KIDS WERE GROWING UP...

**Irma Stevenson -- Paulsboro resident
**My husband is also a Paulsboro guy. He's lived here all his life, he's my childhood sweetheart. When we were raising our five children over on Thompson Avenue they were outside all the time playing baseball, football, street hockey, roller skating, riding bikes. They had paper routes. They only came in when the Mobil whistle blew at 4:30 to eat supper and they came in at night when the streetlights went on.

**Jordan Gass-Pooré -- Host
**BACK THEN... PEOPLE CAME TO PAULSBORO FROM NEW YORK CITY... SEARCHING FOR A QUIETER... SLOWER PACE OF LIVING... AND JOBS.

**Irma Stevenson -- Paulsboro resident
**Oil. It was the oil business. Refinery, gas oil. Great jobs. I mean, a lot of the, mostly were gentlemen, like, the women that retired from Mobil was 30, 40 years they've been in that job. Their sons or daughters at that time, nephews would work. It was a family tradition. You'd have sometimes three generations of families working at Mobil.

**Jordan Gass-Pooré -- Host
**PAULSBORO HAS BEEN A REFINERY TOWN FOR MORE THAN A HUNDRED YEARS... AND HEAVY INDUSTRY HAS LONG BEEN PART OF THE REGION'S ECONOMY.

SOLVAY... OF COURSE... IS PART OF THAT.

STEVENSON SAYS RESIDENTS KNEW SOLVAY WAS USING CHEMICALS... BUT THE COMPANY PROVIDED WELL-PAYING JOBS FOR MANY PEOPLE IN THE AREA. BUT FEELINGS CHANGED WHEN PFNA WAS FOUND IN THE TOWN'S DRINKING WATER.

**Irma Stevenson -- Paulsboro resident
**I mean, no one was really getting sick. Then all heck broke loose.

**Jordan Gass-Pooré -- Host
**AUTHORITIES LAUNCHED AN INVESTIGATION INTO THE AREA'S PFAS CONTAMINATION.

PAULSBORO RESIDENTS STARTED LISTING THEIR HOMES FOR SALE.

AND... EVENTUALLY... 12 PAULSBORO RESIDENTS FILED A CLASS ACTION LAWSUIT AGAINST SOLVAY THAT WAS SETTLED IN 2016 FOR $1.8 MILLION.

**Irma Stevenson -- Paulsboro resident
**Of course, people were very concerned, which you should be. I mean, how much did it get into our water system?

**Jordan Gass-Pooré -- Host
**THE ANSWER TO THAT QUESTION MAY NEVER BE KNOWN. BUT THAT HASN'T STOPPED STEVENSON FROM DRINKING PAULSBORO'S TAP WATER.

**Irma Stevenson -- Paulsboro resident
**I've been drinking water all my life here in Paulsboro. My mother lived to be almost 100, born and raised in Paulsboro, right on Commerce Street, drank the water.

**Jordan Gass-Pooré -- Host
**EVEN THOUGH STEVENSON SAYS SHE ISN'T WORRIED ABOUT DRINKING FROM THE TAP... SHE PARTICIPATED IN THE RUTGERS STUDY TO HELP RESEARCHERS BETTER UNDERSTAND THE HEALTH RISKS OF PFAS.

SHE SAYS HER TEST RESULTS DIDN'T SURPRISE HER.

**Irma Stevenson -- Paulsboro resident
**It says, 'Look like I'm gonna live for longer.' Maybe. I'm trying 100. And it's good to know. Now they compare mine to other people, to the town, and it helps get the final results.

**Jordan Gass-Pooré -- Host
**THE GOAL OF THE STUDY IS TO SEE IF THERE'S A LINK BETWEEN PFAS EXPOSURE AND HEALTH ISSUES. BUT RESEARCHERS ALSO WANT TO TRACE THE LEVELS OF PFAS IN PEOPLE'S BLOOD GOING BACK OVER TIME TO SEE HOW LONG THE CHEMICALS STAY IN THE BODY.

THERE ARE CURRENTLY NO HEALTH GUIDELINES FOR PFAS AND BLOOD... AND NO TREATMENT FOR IT.

I WALKED AROUND PAULSBORO... PAST THE TRAIN TRACKS... AND THE HARDWARE STORE THAT DISTRIBUTED BOTTLED WATER DURING THE CRISIS...

...AND I DROVE OUT TO WEST DEPTFORD AND SAW PART OF THE SOLVAY SITE... WITH ITS ZIGZAGGING PIPES. IT SITS ON THE EDGE OF TOWN NEAR THE DELAWARE RIVER... SEPARATED FROM HOMES AND BUSINESSES BY TRAIN TRACKS AND A HIGHWAY.

THE TOP OF THE FACTORY PEAKS OVER SOME OF THE TREES... BUT IF IT WEREN'T FOR THE SIGN MARKING AN ACCESS ROAD... THE CASUAL PASSERBY WOULD PROBABLY NEVER NOTICE IT.

ABOUT A 20-MINUTE DRIVE SOUTH OF THE SOLVAY PLANT IS PEDRICKTOWN... WHERE CHRISTINA BOND HAS LIVED SINCE SHE WAS BORN IN 1978.

I ASKED HER ABOUT SOME OF HER FAVORITE THINGS.

**Christina Bond -- Pedricktown resident
**I like to watch Disney, go to work and sometimes play on my tablet and listen to my Backstreet Boys.

**Jordan Gass-Pooré -- Host
**THE BONDS HAVE LIVED IN PEDRICKTOWN EVEN LONGER THAN THAT. HER DAD... RICHARD... SAYS THE HOME THEY LIVE IN NOW WAS BUILT BY HIS FAMILY IN THE 1960S.

HE AND HIS WIFE KIM MOVED THERE IN THE '70S AFTER THEY GOT MARRIED.

**Richard Bond -- Pedricktown resident
**Every one of my friends were here. I grew up and everybody here. And my father, he had a small snowball business. Everything was here, pretty much, that's why we stayed here.

**Jordan Gass-Pooré -- Host
**SOON AFTER CHRISTINA WAS BORN... KIM SAYS THEY NOTICED SHE WASN'T WALKING AND TALKING LIKE OTHER KIDS HER AGE.

**Kim Bond -- Pedricktown resident
**When she was born, all ten toes, all ten fingers. You figure everything was good. Came home, just thought everything was good until maybe, like, the milestones: Walking, talking. And then looked more into it and they said she had a delayed and from there it was just finding out different things and wondering why.

**Jordan Gass-Pooré -- Host
**THEN... WHEN CHRISTINA WAS EIGHT... SHE WAS DIAGNOSED WITH SHPRINTZEN GOLDBERG SYNDROME... A RARE DISORDER OFTEN CAUSED BY A GENE MUTATION. BUT THAT WAS JUST THE BEGINNING.

YEARS LATER... ONE OF CHRISTINA'S SISTERS GOT PREGNANT. THE FAMILY DECIDED THEY SHOULD ALL HAVE GENETIC TESTING DONE TO PREPARE FOR THE NEW BABY. THAT TESTING REVEALED THAT CHRISTINA ACTUALLY HAD CHROMOSOME ONE DELETION... A CONDITION THAT IS ASSOCIATED WITH DEVELOPMENTAL DISABILITIES.

KIM SAID NO ONE ELSE IN THE FAMILY WAS FOUND TO HAVE THE SAME ISSUE.

OTHER MEMBERS OF THE BOND FAMILY WOULD LATER HAVE HEALTH CONDITIONS THAT DEFIED EXPLANATION.

**Richard Bond -- Pedricktown resident
**It'd be better ask me what I don't have. Yeah, I got sarcoidosis and diabetes and cholesterol. I got it all. Tou know, deforms my bones. And I got this sarcoidosis is supposed to be what turns my skin brown. I got Charcot foot, that's when my foot just sort of bend in this way.

**Jordan Gass-Pooré -- Host
**RICHARD IS A 72-YEAR-OLD RETIRED TRUCK DRIVER. HE HAS KIDNEY FAILURE AND NEEDS DIALYSIS EVERY DAY.

**Richard Bond -- Pedricktown resident
**It just takes your life away from you. That was the worst thing that ever happened to me, I think.

**Jordan Gass-Pooré -- Host
**RICHARD SAYS HE DOESN'T QUALIFY FOR A KIDNEY TRANSPLANT BECAUSE OF HIS OTHER HEALTH ISSUES.

KIM IS 65 YEARS OLD. SHE'S GOT HER OWN HEALTH ISSUES... MOSTLY GASTROINTESTINAL PROBLEMS.

SHE BALANCES TAKING CARE OF HER FAMILY AND SHIFTS AS A PATIENT TECH AT A NEARBY HOSPITAL. SHE SAYS LIFE CAN BE VERY STRESSFUL AT TIMES.

**Kim Bond -- Pedricktown resident
**You know, making sure I'm home to take him to appointments, her to appointments. You know, there's days I have to call out or try to make it all in one day. So... busy.

**Jordan Gass-Pooré -- Host
**THE BONDS LIVE IN A QUIET RURAL COMMUNITY BETWEEN THE SOLVAY PLANT IN WEST DEPTFORD... AND THE CHAMBERS WORKS PLANT IN CARNEY'S POINT THAT WE TALKED ABOUT IN EPISODE ONE.

THAT MEANS THEIR HOME IN THE MIDDLE OF A TOXIC VENN DIAGRAM OF POLLUTION FROM TWO NOTORIOUS FACILITIES... WITH DECADES OF POSSIBLE EXPOSURE TO PFAS THROUGH THE WATER THEY DRINK... THE GROUND THEY TOUCH... OR THE AIR THEY BREATHE.

IN THE SUMMER OF 2020... THE BOND FAMILY SUED SOLVAY AND OTHER CHEMICAL COMPANIES... OVER CHRISTINA'S HEALTH ISSUES. THE COMPANIES DISPUTE THEIR CLAIMS.

IT'S JUST ONE OF MORE THAN TWO DOZEN LAWSUITS FILED SINCE THAT TIME BY RESIDENTS IN THE AREA... MAKING SIMILAR CLAIMS AGAINST THE SAME COMPANIES.

FOUR YEARS LATER... THE BOND FAMILY'S CASE IS STILL GOING.

CHRISTINA TOLD ME A LITTLE BIT ABOUT WHAT SHE DOES AT WORK.

SHE'S THRIVING AT WORK... BUT WILL STILL NEED SUPPORT AND CARE FOR HER ENTIRE LIFE.

STEVEN PHILLIPS... THE FAMILY'S LAWYER... SAYS THE BOND'S HEALTH ISSUES ARE THE RESULT OF LARGE CORPORATIONS MOTIVATED BY GREED.

**Steven Phillips -- Founding partner, Phillips & Paolicelli, LLP
**All of this was avoidable. The law can't make Christina or Richard's health different. What it can do is award dollars that will compensate them for their suffering. There should be an end to this. What happened to this family should not happen to families in the future, not only with respect to this chemical, but with respect to whatever comes next.

**Jordan Gass-Pooré -- Host
**PEDRICKTOWN... PAULSBORO... WEST DEPTFORD... THESE SOUTH JERSEY COMMUNITIES ARE JUST A FEW THAT HAVE FOUND THEMSELVES AT THE FRONTLINES OF A NATIONAL CRISIS.

AND ALTHOUGH THE BLOOD TESTS BEING DONE IN PAULSBORO... OR ANYWHERE ELSE IN THE COUNTRY... CAN'T PREDICT IF SOMEONE'S GOING TO GET A DISEASE DOWN THE ROAD... IT WILL TELL YOU THE LEVEL OF EACH CHEMICAL THAT'S IN YOUR BLOOD. THAT INFORMATION MAY BE ABLE TO HELP YOU AND YOUR DOCTOR BETTER UNDERSTAND YOUR HEALTH RISKS.

I HAVEN'T HAD MY BLOOD TESTED FOR PFAS YET. I'M RELYING ON A WATER FILTER RIGHT NOW TO REMOVE THE CHEMICALS FROM THE TAP... AND I GUESS KEEPING MY HEAD IN THE SAND ABOUT ANY PAST EXPOSURE. I LIVE IN NEW YORK CITY... WHERE PFAS HASN'T BEEN FOUND IN THE DRINKING WATER.

BUT IF MY HOMETOWN OF SEGUIN, TEXAS DECIDES TO DO SOMETHING SIMILAR TO WHAT PAULSBORO'S DOING... I'LL SIGN MYSELF UP... JUST TO BE ON THE SAFE SIDE.

ON THE FINAL EPISODE OF HAZARD NJ... WE LOOK AT SOME OF THE WAYS PEOPLE ARE TRYING TO PUT AN END TO FOREVER CHEMICALS... ONCE AND FOR ALL.

HAZARD NJ IS AN NJ SPOTLIGHT NEWS PRODUCTION... YOU CAN SUPPORT OUR REPORTING BY HEADING TO NJSPOTLIGHTNEWS.ORG/DONATE.

Credits

Hazard NJ is reported and written by host Jordan Gass-Pooré and producer Michael Sol Warren

Executive Producer – Jamie Kraft

Executive in Charge of Production – Joe Lee

Production Manager – Chloe Motisi

Research Assistant — Judah Duke

Sound Designer & Engineer – Mark Bush

Composer – Nick Pennington

Art – Matthew Fleming

In 1967, explosions and fire erupted on an aircraft carrier off the coast of Vietnam in what would become one of the deadliest blazes in U.S. Navy history --- and ushered in a new kind of firefighting tool. Chemical foams made with PFAS became a critical part of dealing with intense fires for decades, saving countless lives. But the toxic mess left behind after that foam was sprayed is now contaminating water systems around New Jersey and beyond.

Editor's Note: "Hazard NJ" is an NJ Spotlight News podcast that examines serious pollution issues. Season 2 dives deep into the crisis of toxic pollution caused by PFAS, or "forever chemicals," around New Jersey and beyond. Subscribe to the podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music and more.

Read the episode transcript below:

**Jordan Gass-Pooré -- Host
**NOTHING STRIKES MORE FEAR IN A SAILOR THAN A FIRE AT SEA.

THERE'S NO ESCAPE. SPACE IS TIGHT. AND SAILORS ARE FORCED TO COMPETE WITH THE FIRE FOR OXYGEN AS IT SPREADS THROUGHOUT THE SHIP.

ON THE MORNING OF JULY 29, 1967... THE SAILORS ABOARD THE USS FORRESTAL BATTLED THIS ENEMY.

THE AIRCRAFT CARRIER WAS STATIONED OFF THE COAST OF NORTH VIETNAM WHEN ONE OF ITS JETS ACCIDENTALLY FIRED A ROCKET INTO THE FUEL TANK OF ANOTHER PLANE... RAINING DOWN FIERY CONFETTI ON THE SAILORS ABOARD THE SHIP.

FIRE QUICKLY SPREAD... DETONATING BOMBS AND IGNITING JET FUEL... THAT DRIPPED DOWN THROUGH HOLES IN THE FLIGHT DECK TO THE SHIP'S LOWER LEVELS.

THIS DEADLY CHAIN REACTION BECAME ONE OF THE WORST NAVAL DISASTERS IN AMERICAN HISTORY. THE FIRE ON DECK RAGED FOR NEARLY AN HOUR BEFORE IT WAS BROUGHT UNDER CONTROL WITH THE HELP OF WATER CANNONS FROM OTHER SHIPS. BELOW DECK... THE FIRE CONTINUED TO BURN FOR HOURS.

ALL TOLD... THE FIRE KILLED 134 SAILORS... AND FOREVER CHANGED THE WAY THE NAVY OPERATED.

THE DAMAGE COST MILLIONS OF DOLLARS... AND SET THE NAVY ON A QUEST TO IMPROVE FIRE SAFETY.

BUT IN THEIR EFFORT TO HELP PROTECT THE LIVES OF MILITARY PERSONNEL... THEY ENDED UP FUELING A PUBLIC HEALTH CRISIS.

THIS IS HAZARD NJ... AND I'M JORDAN GASS-POORÉ... AN INVESTIGATIVE JOURNALIST FROM TEXAS.

ON THIS SEASON WE'RE TAKING A LOOK AT THE THREAT OF PFAS.

THEY'RE OFTEN CALLED FOREVER CHEMICALS... AND THEY'RE IN OUR TOILET PAPER... OUR CLOTHES... OUR FAST-FOOD WRAPPERS... AND EVEN OUR BLOOD.

IF YOU'VE HEARD OF PFAS BEFORE THIS PODCAST... CHANCES ARE YOU HEARD ABOUT THEM BEING FOUND IN DRINKING WATER SYSTEMS AROUND THE COUNTRY.... MAYBE EVEN YOUR OWN WATER SYSTEM.

IN THIS EPISODE... WE'RE GOING TO TALK ABOUT HOW THOSE CHEMICALS GOT IN THE WATER IN THE FIRST PLACE... AND WHAT CAN BE DONE TO REMOVE THEM.

THE MASSIVE FIRE ON THE USS FORRESTAL LED TO THE WIDESPREAD USE OF FIREFIGHTING FOAM THAT CONTAINS PFAS.

NEARLY 60 YEARS LATER... THIS FOAM HAS BEEN A MAJOR SOURCE OF PFAS CONTAMINATION.

IT STARTED WITH THE U.S. NAVY'S COLLABORATION WITH 3M. THE COMPANY THAT'S BEST KNOWN TO ME AS THE MANUFACTURER OF THE SHIPPING TAPE THAT GETS STUCK TO ITSELF.

BESIDES THAT TAPE... 3M ALSO PRODUCED FOAMS THAT HAVE BEEN USED TO PUT OUT EMERGENCY FIRES AND... MORE OFTEN... SPRAYED IN ROUTINE FIREFIGHTING DRILLS AROUND THE COUNTRY.

THE FOAM WAS ALSO WIDELY ADOPTED BY THE DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE AND LATER THE FEDERAL AVIATION ADMINISTRATION TO FIGHT FIRES AT COMMERCIAL AIRPORTS.

**Jordan Gass-Pooré -- Host
**NAVY SCIENTISTS AND 3M HAD BEEN DEVELOPING THIS WONDER FOAM SINCE THE EARLY 1960s... BUT THE NAVY DIDN'T SECURE THE FOAM'S PATENT UNTIL 1966. THAT'S LESS THAN A YEAR BEFORE THE FORRESTAL DISASTER.

IT DIDN'T TAKE LONG FOR PEOPLE TO BECOME CONCERNED THAT THE FOAM WAS HARMING THE ENVIRONMENT. IN THE EARLY 1970s THERE WERE REPORTS OF THE FOAM RELEASING INTO WATERWAYS IN AND AROUND MILITARY BASES.

BUT THE FOAM DID ITS JOB... THANKS TO A KEY INGREDIENT... PFAS. FIREFIGHTERS USED THIS FOAM TO EXTINGUISH FIRES QUICKLY... AND SAVE LIVES. THERE WAS JUST ONE CATCH... THE CHEMICALS MAY ACTUALLY BE HARMING THEIR HEALTH... AND AN UNTOLD NUMBER OF COMMUNITIES THEY SERVE.

THIS WOULD BE ONE FIRE THE MILITARY WOULD HAVE A HARD TIME PUTTING OUT.

I INITIALLY THOUGHT THIS FOAM WOULD LOOK MORE LIKE SLIMER FROM GHOSTBUSTERS... BUT I WAS WRONG. IT'S NOT EVEN GREEN.

**Glenn Corbett -- Associate Professor of Fire Science, John Jay College of Criminal Justice
**Foam is not unlike your dishwashing detergent under your kitchen sink. Basically, that material that's used for washing dishes and stuff, you know, a pan, you basically take the bottle, you squeeze out a certain amount of the dishwashing liquid and you mix it with the water and you get this sort of fluffy, soapy kind of arrangement.

**Jordan Gass-Pooré -- Host
**THAT'S GLENN CORBETT. HE'S AN ASSOCIATE PROFESSOR OF FIRE SCIENCE AND PUBLIC MANAGEMENT AT JOHN JAY COLLEGE IN NEW YORK. HE'S ALSO A FORMER ASSISTANT FIRE CHIEF FOR THE WALDWICK FIRE DEPARTMENT... AND HAS BEEN FIGHTING FIRES IN NEW JERSEY FOR MORE THAN 40 YEARS.

**Glenn Corbett -- Associate Professor of Fire Science, John Jay College of Criminal Justice
**Well, it's sort of the same thing for foam. Basically, you know, foam comes in a concentrate form, in a big jug, that we in the fire service mix with the water to create that foam blanket.

**Jordan Gass-Pooré -- Host
**FIREFIGHTING FOAM HAS BEEN AROUND FOR NEARLY 100 YEARS.

AND OVER THAT TIME... ITS PURPOSE HAS REMAINED THE SAME... TO EXTINGUISH FIRES... BUT ITS CHEMICAL MAKEUP HAS CHANGED.

THE AQUEOUS FILM FORMING FOAM... OR AFFF... IS THE TYPE OF FOAM WE'RE CONCERNED WITH. IT'S USUALLY MADE WITH PERFLUOROOCTANE SULFONIC ACID... OR PFOS... AND PERFLUOROOCTANOIC ACID... BETTER KNOWN AS PFOA... TWO CHEMICALS IN THE PFAS FAMILY.

THIS TYPE OF FOAM... WHEN SPRAYED... CREATES A THIN LAYER OVER A BURNING LIQUID... SMOTHERING THE FLAMES.

**Glenn Corbett -- Associate Professor of Fire Science, John Jay College of Criminal Justice
**If I put my boot in AFFF foam, what happens is I pull my boot out and immediately reseals itself, right? There's a very thin layer of protective foam literally right on top of the burning liquid.

**Jordan Gass-Pooré -- Host
**GLENN SAYS THE AFFF FOAM PUTS FIRES OUT MORE EFFECTIVELY AND IS EASIER TO APPLY.

BUT CLEANING UP AFTER THE FIRE IS OUT? THAT CAN BE A REAL HEADACHE... ONE THAT CAN LEAD TO LONG-TERM PROBLEMS...

**Glenn Corbett -- Associate Professor of Fire Science, John Jay College of Criminal Justice
**When we were done, we would do what we call the wash down. That was a typical kind of thing that every fire department in America did this, like, 'Okay, now the accidents over with, we've dealt with the problem, let's wash the stuff off the side of the road and into the the storm sewer system, basically to get rid of it off the roadway.

**Jordan Gass-Pooré -- Host
**ALL OF THAT FOAM CONTAINING PFAS EVENTUALLY FINDS ITS WAY INTO STREAMS... LAKES... RIVERS... RESERVOIRS... GROUNDWATER... THE KINDS OF PLACES THAT DRINKING WATER COMES FROM.

**Glenn Corbett -- Associate Professor of Fire Science, John Jay College of Criminal Justice
**We understood that this was something that, you know, is not particularly healthy for the environment, for the water supply, and things like that. But understand that, you know, we've been using this foam for over almost 50 years now, basically. And so, all that PFAS from the '70s, '80s, '90s, it's all found its way into the water supply. And now we started looking for it, and we found it. And so that's why we're in a position where we are today.

**Jordan Gass-Pooré -- Host
**NEW JERSEY FIRE DEPARTMENTS... AS WELL AS THE U.S. MILITARY ... ARE NOW IN A PERIOD OF TRANSITIONING FROM THIS FIREFIGHTING FOAM THAT CONTAINS PFAS TO ONE THAT... WELL... DOESN'T.

GLENN SAYS WE'RE AT THE BEGINNING STAGES OF THIS TRANSITION... WE WANT A FOAM THAT'S SIMILAR TO AFFF... WITHOUT THE ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT.

**Glenn Corbett -- Associate Professor of Fire Science, John Jay College of Criminal Justice
**So, I think, you know, it'll just be one of those things where over time, we'll end up with a new material that we don't have to worry about as much of the environmental impact, and maybe we can, in fact, wash it down again.

**Jordan Gass-Pooré -- Host
**BUT THAT'S EASIER SAID THAN DONE. THERE'S STILL STOCK OF AFFF FOAM SITTING ON THE SHELVES AT FIRE DEPARTMENTS ACROSS THE COUNTRY.

**Glenn Corbett -- Associate Professor of Fire Science, John Jay College of Criminal Justice
**When it comes to foam, you know, it is an essential tool, the only tool that we really have for flammable and combustible liquids.

**Jordan Gass-Pooré -- Host
**AFTER DECADES OF MAKING FIREFIGHTING FOAM FOR THE NAVY... 3M ANNOUNCED IN 2022 THAT IT WOULD STOP PRODUCING THE FOAM... AND ANY OTHER PFAS PRODUCTS... BY THE END OF 2025... AFTER FACING A WAVE OF LITIGATION AND NEW REGULATIONS RELATED TO THE CHEMICALS.

HERE'S HOW JOHN BANOVETZ... THE COMPANY'S TOP OFFICIAL FOR ENVIRONMENTAL RESPONSIBILITY... EXPLAINED THAT DECISION IN A 3M-PRODUCED ANNOUNCEMENT VIDEO.

**John Banovetz -- Chief Technology Officer, 3M
**Our strategy has been to proactively manage PFAS within our portfolio. And in doing so, in advance our environmental stewardship efforts. PFAS continue to be essential for modern life and can be safely made and used. They are critical for medical devices, smartphones, automobiles, airplanes and even the green economy. Our teams have made valuable contributions in creating products important to these industries and our customers. At the same time, a hallmark of 3M has always been our ability to apply our science to enter new markets. Moving forward, 3M continues to be a global material science leader. Our innovation is more important than ever.

**Jordan Gass-Pooré -- Host
**BUT THE MILITARY CONTINUED TO USE OTHER FORMULATIONS OF THE FOAM... WITH OTHER PFAS CHEMICALS.

THE DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE BOUGHT THIS PRODUCT UNTIL 2023... AND PLAN TO PHASE IT OUT ENTIRELY BY OCTOBER.

THE MILITARY ANNOUNCED LAST FALL THAT IT'S REPLACEMENT FOAM... OFFICIALLY CALLED FLOURINE FREE FOAM... OR F3... HAD BEEN APPROVED FOR USE.

CORBETT SAYS IT'S AN IMPORTANT STEP... NOT JUST FOR THE MILITARY... BUT FOR FIREFIGHTING AGENCIES OF ALL SHAPES AND SIZES WHO WILL BE WATCHING CLOSELY TO SEE HOW THE REPLACEMENT FOAM PERFORMS.

I'M NOT THE ONLY PERSON WHO HAS A HARD TIME PRONOUNCING THE SCIENTIFIC NAME FOR PFAS.

THAT WAS THE NEW JERSEY ASSEMBLY LAST YEAR ... CLEARING THE WAY FOR GOVERNOR PHIL MURPHY TO SIGN A LAW THAT... IN TWO YEARS... WILL BAN THE USE OF FIREFIGHTING FOAM THAT CONTAINS PFAS. NEW JERSEY IS NOW ONE OF MORE THAN A DOZEN STATES WITH SUCH A BAN ON THE BOOKS... BUT THERE ARE SOME CAVEATS.

SOME INDUSTRIAL FACILITIES IN NEW JERSEY THAT USED FIREFIGHTING FOAM... LIKE CHEMICAL FACTORIES... HAVE FOUR YEARS TO FIND AN ALTERNATIVE.

THERE'S ALSO A CONTROVERSIAL CARVE OUT FOR OIL REFINERIES AND PETROLEUM TERMINALS IN THE STATE. THESE COMPANIES HAVE AN EIGHT YEAR GRACE PERIOD WITH THE POSSIBILITY OF AN ADDITIONAL FOUR-YEAR EXTENSION.

THE BILL ALSO PROVIDES FUNDS TO THE STATE DEPARTMENT OF ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION TO CREATE A GRANT TO HELP SMALL FIRE DEPARTMENTS DISPOSE OF EXISTING PFAS FOAM.

THE TWO MOST COMMON TYPES OF PFAS... PFOS AND PFOA... HAVE BEEN DETECTED IN DRINKING WATER ON OR NEAR AT LEAST 455 MILITARY SITES AROUND THE U.S.... INCLUDING NINE IN NEW JERSEY. THIS IS ACCORDING TO ANALYSIS BY THE ADVOCACY NONPROFIT... ENVIRONMENTAL WORKING GROUP.

IT'S A PROBLEM SO WIDESPREAD THAT THE GARDEN STATE SUED THE MILITARY OVER IT'S PAST USE OF AFFF IN 2021. THAT CASE IS ONGOING.

JOINT BASE MCGUIRE-DIX-LAKEHURST IN THE PINELANDS IS THE STATE'S LARGEST MILITARY BASE... AND A PRIME EXAMPLE OF PFAS POLLUTION CAUSED BY DECADES OF USING AFFF.

I WENT OUT TO THE JOINT BASE.

IT WAS ONE OF THOSE BEAUTIFUL NORTHEASTERN DAYS WHERE IT'S NOT TOO COLD OR TOO HOT.

AS I WALKED AROUND THE BASE... PLANES OCCASIONALLY DARTED ACROSS THE BLUE SKY.

JIM RICHMAN... THE RESTORATION PROJECT MANAGER FOR THE BASE... TOOK ME OUT TO WHAT LOOKED LIKE JUST A NORMAL RETENTION POND.

**Jim Richman -- Remediation Program Manager, Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst
**This is what we refer to as our AFFF release area number two.

**Jordan Gass-Pooré -- Host
**THERE'S TWO RETENTION PONDS ON THE BASE THAT CAUGHT DISCHARGES OF AFFF WHEN IT WAS USED IN NEARBY HANGARS.

IF I WOULD HAVE TAKEN GROUNDWATER SAMPLES FROM THESE PONDS... RICHMAN'S TEAM ESTIMATES THE AMOUNT OF PFAS WOULD HAVE BEEN SEVERAL THOUSAND PARTS PER TRILLION.

TO PUT THAT INTO PERSPECTIVE... A PART PER TRILLION IS BASICALLY ONE DROP OF WATER IN AN OLYMPIC SWIMMING POOL.

THIS PFAS HITCHES A RIDE ON UNDERGROUND STREAMS AND MIGRATES VERTICALLY DOWN TO THE WATER TABLE.

ONCE IT'S THERE... IT MOVES WITH THE FLOW OF THE GROUNDWATER.

RICHMAN AND HIS TEAM STARTED LOOKING FOR PFAS AT THE JOINT BASE IN 2015. AND THERE'S STILL A DECENT AMOUNT OF WORK TO GO.

HE SAYS IT'S STILL TOO SOON TO KNOW WHAT THE FINAL CLEANUP'S GOING TO BE.

**Jim Richman -- Remediation Program Manager, Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst
**We're programming for 30 years for the groundwater cleanup. That's until we get further along in our investigation, until we figure out what our remedy is going to be, until it starts implementing, and what we're going to do with that remedy will we have an idea of how long it's going to take.

**Jordan Gass-Pooré -- Host
**OF COURSE THE JOINT BASE ISN'T THE ONLY PLACE WHERE THE MILITARY IS TRYING TO GET A HANDLE ON PFAS.

JUST LAST YEAR... ABOUT 40 MILES AWAY... THE NAVY TESTED 87 DRINKING WATER WELLS AT HOMES NEAR NAVAL WEAPONS STATION EARLE IN COLTS NECK... WHERE FIREFIGHTING FOAM IS... AGAIN... THE SOURCE OF PFAS PROBLEMS. BUT JUST TO BE CLEAR... THOSE PROBLEMS AREN'T CONNECTED TO THE CONTAMINATION AT THE JOINT BASE.

THE TESTING IN COLTS NECK FOUND THAT 12 OF THOSE WELLS HAD SOME LEVEL OF PFAS PRESENT.

IN 2023... I WENT OUT TO FREEHOLD TO ATTEND A PUBLIC MEETING ORGANIZED BY THE NAVY.

OFFICIALS FROM THE DOD... EPA... AND THE NEW JERSEY DEPARTMENT OF ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION WERE THERE TO ENCOURAGE RESIDENTS USING WELLS IN THE AREA TO GET THEIR WATER TESTED FOR PFAS.

NAVY CAPTAIN EDWARD CALLAHAN... WHO WAS THE COMMANDING OFFICER OF EARLE AT THE TIME... WAS AT THE MEETING ASKING RESIDENTS IN THE TEST AREA TO SIGN UP FOR SAMPLING.

**Capt. Edward Callahan -- Former Commanding Officer, Naval Weapons Station Earle
**I would absolutely ask to have my well tested because, at the end of the day, you want to make sure that your drinking water is safe, whether it's something the Navy's done at all, it's a free test and it's available for you.

**Jordan Gass-Pooré -- Host
**THIS PAST JUNE... OFFICIALS FROM THE JOINT BASE HELD A SIMILAR MEETING IN PEMBERTON TO HELP RESIDENTS UNDERSTAND THE SITUATION IN THAT PART OF THE STATE.

**Sheri Menhalo -- Pemberton resident
**It's nice to feel safe living next to the bases, always makes a person feel safe, but at the same time, something like this, it's a catch-22, isn't it? Do I have people that I love that are very near to me, that are sick right now? With big illnesses? Yes.

**Jordan Gass-Pooré -- Host
**SHERI MENHALO WAS AT THAT MEETING. SHE LIVES IN PEMBERTON... RIGHT OUTSIDE THE AREA THE AIR FORCE WANTS TO TEST FOR PFAS.

SHE AND HER OTHER NEIGHBORS WERE INVITED TO ATTEND AND ASK QUESTIONS ABOUT WHAT'S BEING DONE... AND HOW THE PFAS CONTAMINATION COULD AFFECT THEIR HEALTH.

**Sheri Menhalo -- Pemberton resident
**Do we know why? I don't know. Nobody seems to know. But I saw some things on the boards today that were concerning. Thyroid cancer, kidney cancer, my husband has had run-ins with them.

**Jordan Gass-Pooré -- Host
**THE AIR FORCE BEGAN TESTING WELL WATER FOR PEOPLE WHO LIVE CLOSE TO THE JOINT BASE IN 2016.

MORE RECENTLY... MILITARY OFFICIALS HAVE STARTED TRACKING PFAS LEVELS IN NEARBY CREEKS AND STREAMS.

THE AIR FORCE MAY EXPAND TESTING BASED ON WHAT THEY FIND. BUT IT'S GOING TO TAKE A WHILE BEFORE WE KNOW ANYTHING.

IN THE MEANTIME... THE MILITARY AND EPA ARE WORKING ON A PLAN TO CLEAN UP THE CONTAMINATION AT BOTH BASES.

NAVAL WEAPONS STATION EARLE... JOINT BASE MCGUIRE-DIX-LAKEHURST... THEY'RE JUST TWO DROPS IN A VERY LARGE BUCKET.

50 COMMUNITY WATER SYSTEMS... SERVING MORE THAN 600,000 CUSTOMERS ACROSS NEW JERSEY... ARE KNOWN TO HAVE BEEN TAINTED BY THE MOST COMMON PFAS AT LEVELS HIGHER THAN WHAT THE STATE ALLOWS.

SOME OF THOSE SYSTEMS HAVE BEEN ABLE TO EFFECTIVELY DEAL WITH THE PROBLEM... OTHERS CONTINUE TO STRUGGLE WITH HIGH PFAS LEVELS.

IN APRIL... THE EPA SET MAXIMUM CONTAMINANT LEVELS FOR SIX TYPES OF PFAS CHEMICALS IN DRINKING WATER. THE NEW EPA RULES ARE NOT YET IN EFFECT.

INDUSTRY GROUPS REPRESENTING CHEMICAL COMPANIES HAVE SUED TO BLOCK THEM... ARGUING THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT HAS GONE TOO FAR BY CREATING EXTREMELY STRICT STANDARDS.

BUT IF THE EPA'S RULES DO GO INTO EFFECT... THEY WILL APPLY TO THE ENTIRE COUNTRY... AND SURPASS EXISTING REGULATIONS IN NEW JERSEY AND ELSEWHERE.

MICHAEL REGAN... HEAD OF THE EPA... FIRST PROPOSED THE NEW WATER STANDARDS LAST YEAR. HE ANNOUNCED THE RULES IN NORTH CAROLINA... WHERE HE ONCE GRAPPLED WITH PFAS POLLUTION IN WATER SUPPLIES WHILE SERVING AS THAT STATE'S TOP ENVIRONMENTAL OFFICIAL.

**Michael Regan -- Administrator, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
**We anticipate that when fully implemented, this rule will prevent thousands of deaths and reduce tens of thousands of serious PFAS-related illnesses.

**Jordan Gass-Pooré -- Host
**ZACHARY SCHAFER... A SENIOR ADVISOR IN THE EPA'S OFFICE OF WATER... SAYS THE SCIENCE IS CLEAR... THAT LONG TERM EXPOSURE TO PFAS IS LINKED TO SIGNIFICANT HEALTH RISKS.

**Zachary Schafer -- Senior Advisor, Office of Water, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
**These are six of the most widely studied PFAS, and science is the backbone to all of the work that we do, and so we are using the latest science on both the health effects of what we understand health effects to be of these PFAS and on how to monitor for them, how to treat water to remove them.

**Jordan Gass-Pooré -- Host
**THE EPA'S NEW RULES WILL APPLY TO MILITARY BASES... PUTTING NEW PRESSURE FOR THE PENTAGON TO DEAL WITH ITS LEGACY OF PFAS POLLUTION.

AFTER THE EPA FINALIZED ITS PFAS STANDARDS... THE DOD LAUNCHED INVESTIGATIONS INTO 707 FACILITIES SUSPECTED OF HAVING PFAS CONTAMINATION IN THE GROUNDWATER.

FROM THE U.S. MILITARY SPREADING PFAS IN FIREFIGHTING FOAM... TO ITS USE IN LOCAL FIRE DEPARTMENTS... PFAS IS BECOMING A MAJOR SOURCE OF CONTAMINATION NATIONWIDE... ULTIMATELY AFFECTING THOUSANDS OF PEOPLE IN NEW JERSEY... AND MILLIONS OF OTHER AMERICANS.

CITIES ACROSS THE COUNTRY ARE GRAPPLING WITH HOW TO TURN OFF THE TAP ON FOREVER CHEMICALS... ONCE AND FOR ALL.

THE EPA ESTIMATES IT'LL COST ABOUT $1.5 BILLION A YEAR TO REMOVE PFAS FROM U.S. DRINKING WATER.

3M AND DUPONT ARE SUPPOSED TO HELP COVER SOME OF THESE COSTS.

LAST YEAR... 3M OFFERED TO PAY AT LEAST $10 BILLION TO SETTLE LAWSUITS OVER THE CONTAMINATION OF THOUSANDS OF PUBLIC DRINKING WATER SYSTEMS ACROSS THE U.S.

ALSO... DUPONT... AND ITS SPIN OFFS... CHEMOURS... WHICH WE TALKED ABOUT IN EPISODE ONE... AND CORTEVA... REACHED A BILLION-DOLLAR DEAL TO RESOLVE PFAS COMPLAINTS IN HUNDREDS OF CITIES.

RIDGEWOOD NEW JERSEY IS A SLEEPY VILLAGE IN SUBURBAN BERGEN COUNTY. PEOPLE MOVE HERE FOR THE SCHOOLS... THE EASY ACCESS TO NEW YORK CITY... AND THE QUAINT DOWNTOWN.

BUT IN 2018... RESIDENTS WERE SURPRISED TO LEARN THAT FOREVER CHEMICALS WERE FOUND IN THEIR DRINKING WATER.

THE VILLAGE'S WATER COMPANY... RIDGEWOOD WATER... IS PUBLICLY OWNED... AND SERVES OVER 60,000 PEOPLE IN RIDGEWOOD AND SURROUNDING TOWNS.

**Richard Calbi Jr. -- Director, Ridgewood Water
**We, unfortunately, detected that PFOA and PFOS are compounds in all 52 of our wells. PFOA exceeds New Jersey DEP standards in all of our wells.

**Jordan Gass-Pooré -- Host
**RICHARD CALBI JUNIOR IS THE UTILITY'S OPERATIONS MANAGER.

I MET UP WITH HIM AT THEIR OFFICE... A FORMER ELKS CLUB... IN THE HEART OF RIDGEWOOD.

**Richard Calbi Jr. -- Director, Ridgewood Water
**We moved in here in '22, fall...

**Jordan Gass-Pooré -- Host
**HE SHOWED ME AROUND... PAST CUSTOMER SERVICE...

**Richard Calbi Jr. -- Director, Ridgewood Water
**These people have the toughest job. They're the frontline. They get all the phone calls.

**Jordan Gass-Pooré -- Host
**FIELDING QUESTIONS FROM CUSTOMERS ABOUT WHY THEIR UTILITY BILL HAS GONE UP BECAUSE OF PFAS CONTAMINATION.

CALBI SAYS THEY'RE ON TRACK TO COMPLY WITH THE EPA'S NEW NATIONAL STANDARDS FOR PFAS IN DRINKING WATER BY 2026. THAT'S THREE YEARS BEFORE THE FED'S DEADLINE.

MEETING THESE NEW LIMITS WON'T BE EASY... OR CHEAP.

CALBI SAYS IT'S ESTIMATED TO COST THE UTILITY... AND ULTIMATELY THEIR CUSTOMERS... $140 MILLION TO REMOVE PFAS FROM ITS DRINKING WATER.

**Richard Calbi Jr. -- Director, Ridgewood Water
**We're trying to hold the companies that made these contaminants and that found their way into our groundwater accountable. We're surcharging the customers, unfortunately, because at the end of the day, we have to continue to operate and pay for this until all that recovery comes in. So, we've created a separate PFAS charge on the bill. That way we could separate the costs of the investment and operations, maintain that, and then slowly offset that as income comes in.

**Jordan Gass-Pooré -- Host
**TO BE CLEAR... RIDGEWOOD WATER IS NOT RESPONSIBLE FOR CONTAMINATING THE WATER WITH PFAS.

DOWN THE BLOCK FROM RIDGEWOOD WATER'S OFFICE... IS THEIR FIRST PFAS TREATMENT FACILITY.

**Richard Calbi Jr. -- Director, Ridgewood Water
**So we're at our Carr treatment facility...

IT WENT ONLINE IN SEPTEMBER 2019.

RICHARD SAYS THIS SITE WAS UNIQUE TO THE UTILITY'S OTHER FACILITIES BECAUSE ALL FIVE WELLS ON THE PROPERTY EXCEEDED THE EPA'S STANDARD.

**Richard Calbi Jr. -- Director, Ridgewood Water
**So, this was very early on that we started planning, engineering and ultimately constructing this facility. Even before regulations were a thought, and being regulated for the state, because we knew this was above the EPA health advisory.

WE WALKED AROUND THE SITE... WHICH IS TUCKED BEHIND A FIRE STATION AND A RECYCLING CENTER IN A RESIDENTIAL NEIGHBORHOOD... DODGING PATCHES OF SNOW AND ICY PUDDLES... TO GAWK AT THE FOUR MASSIVE GRAY TANKS THAT MAKE UP THE TREATMENT SYSTEM.

THEY'RE A KEY PART OF RIDGEWOOD'S WATER SYSTEM, WHICH RICHARD SAID TYPICALLY PROCESSES FIVE MILLION GALLONS OF WATER IN A DAY... THOUGH THAT CAN TRIPLE TO AROUND 15 MILLION GALLONS DAILY IN THE SUMMER.

THE PFAS IS REMOVED BY ABSORBING THE CHEMICALS INTO CARBON FILTERS.

**Richard Calbi Jr. -- Director, Ridgewood Water
**When we do a change out, the carbon that's removed gets trucked out, goes back to the facility, the manufacturer, they incinerate the carbon to a high temperature to remove the PFAS and then recycle that carbon and return it to us.

**Jordan Gass-Pooré -- Host
**HE SAYS THIS SITE'S A MODEL FOR THE OTHER 12 PLANTS THEY'LL BE BUILDING TO REMOVE PFAS FROM THE WATER.

ABOUT AN HOUR AWAY FROM RIDGEWOOD... IN DOVER... MIKE FURREY AND HIS TEAM IS TRYING TO UNTANGLE THIS GORDIAN KNOT.

MIKE IS THE OWNER OF AGRA ENVIRONMENTAL AND LABORATORY SERVICES. IT'S A SMALL LAB ON A RESIDENTIAL STREET.

HERE... THEY CONDUCT TESTS FOR ABOUT 1,000 DIFFERENT WATER SYSTEMS AND CUSTOMERS IN NEW JERSEY.

BUT WHAT MAKES THEIR LAB DIFFERENT FROM OTHERS... IS THEIR ABILITY TO FIND OUT HOW MUCH OF THE STATE'S DRINKING WATER IS CONTAMINATED WITH PFAS.

I WALKED WITH MIKE INTO HIS NOISY LAB...

HE POINTED TO THE MILLIONS OF DOLLARS WORTH OF EQUIPMENT HE AND HIS TEAM USE TO TEST FOR THE CHEMICALS.

**Mike Furrey -- Owner, Agra Environmental and Laboratory Services
**This instrumentation uses liquid chromatography and mass spec to analyze for all the PFAS compounds. We're certified for several PFAS compounds.

**Jordan Gass-Pooré -- Host
**MIKE HAS BEEN TESTING DRINKING WATER FOR AS LONG AS I'VE BEEN ALIVE.

AND FOR THE PAST DECADE HE'S SERVED ON THE NEW JERSEY DRINKING WATER QUALITY INSTITUTE... WORKING WITH OTHER SCIENTISTS AND INDUSTRY REPRESENTATIVES TO PROPOSE THE STATE'S PFAS LIMITS.

HIS SON... RYAN FURREY... JOINED THE FAMILY BUSINESS ABOUT THREE YEARS AGO... WHEN HE HELPED THE LAB TEST FOR PFAS IN RIDGEWOOD'S DRINKING WATER.

**Ryan Furrey -- CEO, Agra Environmental and Laboratory Services
**You know, I got to see it from start to finish and was involved with, like, the pilot work and the analytical side of it and, you know, also the public side of it like dealing with people and explaining to people how things worked. I learned everything from operations, to lab, to public, to legal, you know, so that kind of put it all into one for me.

**Jordan Gass-Pooré -- Host
**RYAN DESCRIBES WHAT HAPPENS WHEN THE WATER GOES THROUGH A FILTRATION SYSTEM LIKE THE ONE IN RIDGEWOOD.

**Ryan Furrey -- CEO, Agra Environmental and Laboratory Services
**So, like a Brita filter, right? As you're using a Brita filter, you know, you get that little red light and it tells you that it's spent. So it's like the same idea, right? So for water treatment plants, you know, we're retreating millions of gallons of water a day. So as you can imagine, the vessels are pretty big. But with that being said, the media that you put inside there, there's millions of active sites on there. So those millions of active sites, you know, are basically pulling in those PFAS molecules towards it. And then that's how it's filtering out. So like, you know, it attaches itself, it adsorbs to the media, and then the, the clean water comes through. And then the effluent side is what we give to the people, right, and distribute to the, for our customers.

**Jordan Gass-Pooré -- Host
**MILLIONS OF GALLONS OF WATER GO THROUGH THAT FILTRATION SYSTEM IN RIDGEWOOD... AND OTHERS LIKE IT THROUGHOUT THE COUNTRY.

NEW JERSEY ALONE HAS MORE THAN 600 WATER SYSTEMS THAT ARE REQUIRED TO BE TESTED FOR PFAS. IF RESULTS EXCEED STATE GUIDELINES... THE WATER UTILITY HAS TO LET CUSTOMERS KNOW.

THE FURREYS RECOGNIZE THERE'S A NEED FOR MORE LABS LIKE THEIRS... AND THE IMPORTANCE OF TESTING.

**Mike Furrey -- Owner, Agra Environmental and Laboratory Services
**So, it does begin with the testing. If you don't test it and find it, it's hard. It's hard to actually treat for it. For most chemists or people that do testing, it is a difficult thing to do and time consuming, but pretty fascinating. So those who like to do it, they like to do it.

**Jordan Gass-Pooré -- Host
**THIS ISN'T JUST A RIDGEWOOD PROBLEM... OR A NEW JERSEY PROBLEM... PFAS IS SO PERVASIVE THAT IF IT'S NOT IN YOUR COMMUNITY DRINKING WATER... IT'S PROBABLY IN A PLACE YOU KNOW OR HAVE VISITED.

THE PLANS BY THE STATE AND EPA TO LIMIT PFAS IN DRINKING WATER WILL BE EXPENSIVE... BUT WILL REDUCE PEOPLE'S EXPOSURE TO THE CHEMICALS... AND PROTECT THEIR HEALTH.

ON THE NEXT EPISODE OF HAZARD NJ... WE DIVE DEEPER INTO THE HEALTH IMPACTS OF PFAS.

FOR DECADES... THE CHEMICAL COMPANY SOLVAY POLLUTED THE SOUTH JERSEY TOWN OF PAULSBORO WITH PFAS.

RESIDENTS THERE ARE NOW PART OF A STUDY BY RUTGERS TO SEE IF PFAS IS IN THEIR BLOOD.

HAZARD NJ IS AN NJ SPOTLIGHT NEWS PRODUCTION... YOU CAN SUPPORT OUR REPORTING BY HEADING TO NJSPOTLIGHTNEWS.ORG/DONATE

Credits

Hazard NJ is reported and written by host Jordan Gass-Pooré and producer Michael Sol Warren

Executive Producer – Jamie Kraft

Executive in Charge of Production – Joe Lee

Production Manager – Chloe Motisi

Research Assistant — Judah Duke

Sound Designer & Engineer – Mark Bush

Composer – Nick Pennington

Art – Matthew Fleming

It was 1938 at a DuPont laboratory in far South Jersey when scientists stumbled upon the chemical that would become known as Teflon. The accidental discovery became a scientific miracle, laying the groundwork for an entirely new class of incredibly durable chemicals that would be used for all sorts of purposes. But that progress came with a toxic hidden cost that has only recently become fully understood. Now, the small town where it all started is on the front lines of a global pollution crisis.

Editor’s Note: “Hazard NJ” is an NJ Spotlight News podcast that examines serious pollution issues. Season 2 dives deep into the crisis of toxic pollution caused by PFAS, or “forever chemicals,” around New Jersey and beyond. Subscribe to the podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music and more.

Read the episode transcript below:

Jordan Gass-Pooré -- Host
DEEP IN A LAB IN SOUTH JERSEY... A YOUNG CHEMIST AND HIS ASSISTANT WERE CONDUCTING RESEARCH.

IT WAS 1938. LATER THAT YEAR... SUPERMAN WOULD MAKE HIS FIRST APPEARANCE IN PRINT... AND ORSON WELLES WOULD CONVINCE PEOPLE THAT ALIENS HAD LANDED IN NEW JERSEY.

BUT ON APRIL 6... THE CHEMIST AND HIS ASSISTANT WEREN'T THINKING ABOUT SUPERHEROES OR MARTIAN INVASIONS.

THEIR PROBLEM WAS THAT THEIR EXPERIMENTS WITH A NEW GAS WEREN'T GOING ACCORDING TO PLAN.

THEY HAD OPENED THE VALVE OF ONE OF THE CANISTERS THAT STORED THE GAS... ONLY TO DISCOVER IT WAS... GONE. BUT THE CANISTER WAS TOO HEAVY TO BE EMPTY.

SO... THEY CUT OPEN THE CANISTER.

WHAT THEY FOUND WAS A WHITE POWDER THAT WOULD CHANGE THE WORLD IN UNIMAGINABLE WAYS.

THIS IS HAZARD NJ...

IN OUR FIRST SEASON... WE REPORTED ON TOXIC SUPERFUND SITES AROUND THE GARDEN STATE... AND HOW THEY'RE IMPACTED BY CLIMATE CHANGE.

THIS TIME AROUND WE'RE TAKING A LOOK AT A DIFFERENT TOXIC THREAT... PFAS.

THEY'RE OFTEN CALLED FOREVER CHEMICALS... AND THEY'RE IN OUR TOILET PAPER... OUR WATER... OUR AIR... AND EVEN OUR BLOOD.

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

I PROMISED MICHAEL... THE SHOW'S PRODUCER... THAT I WOULDN'T TALK ABOUT TEXAS OR HORROR MOVIES... BUT I WOULD BE REMISS IF I DIDN'T MENTION THE 1973 CULT CLASSIC... THE CRAZIES.

THE MOVIE'S ABOUT A SMALL TOWN THAT ACCIDENTALLY HAS THEIR WATER SUPPLY INFECTED WITH A VIRUS THAT CAUSES THE TOWNSPEOPLE TO BECOME HOMICIDAL.

Jordan Gass-Pooré -- Host
AT LEAST IN THAT CASE... IT WAS PRETTY OBVIOUS WHO HAD CHUGGED A BIG GLASS OF CHEMICALS. WITH PFAS... THAT'S A LITTLE BIT HARDER.

OKAY... MICHAEL... I GOT THE FICTIONAL HORROR TALK OUT OF MY SYSTEM.

NOW, LET'S TALK ABOUT REAL HORROR.

THEY SAY NOTHING LASTS FOREVER... EXCEPT MAYBE DIAMONDS... AND PFAS. SO... WHAT ARE PFAS?

WELL... PFAS IS SHORT FOR... BEAR WITH ME... PER AND POLYFLUOROALKYL SUBSTANCES. THEY'RE A CLASS OF THOUSANDS OF CHEMICALS THAT HAVE BEEN LINKED TO NUMEROUS HEALTH RISKS.

Tasha Stoiber --- Senior Scientist, Environmental Working Group
There are hundreds of studies that have documented the numerous different health effects that exposure to these chemicals are associated with.

Jordan Gass-Pooré -- Host
THAT'S TASHA STOIBER. SHE'S A SENIOR SCIENTIST WITH THE ENVIRONMENTAL WORKING GROUP. THEY'RE A NON-PROFIT THAT CONDUCTS RESEARCH ON PFAS AND OTHER TOXIC SUBSTANCES... AND ADVOCATES FOR STRICTER REGULATION.

STOIBER LISTED SOME OF THE POTENTIAL SIDE EFFECTS OF BEING EXPOSED TO PFAS.

Tasha Stoiber --- Senior Scientist, Environmental Working Group
There was a study that came out that showed that higher levels of PFAS in your blood was associated with lower rates of fertility, you know, numerous studies that have linked them to different types of cancers: kidney cancer, liver cancer. Numerous studies that have shown that the immune system is very sensitive to these chemicals; it can reduce your resistance to disease, it can reduce your response to vaccines, and also, it's an endocrine disruptor. And so the list goes on.

Jordan Gass-Pooré -- Host
WE'RE GOING TO TALK A LOT MORE ABOUT HEALTH RISKS LATER THIS SEASON... BUT FOR NOW IT'S IMPORTANT TO NOTE... JUST BECAUSE NEARLY EVERYONE ON THE PLANET LIKELY HAS PFAS IN THEIR BODY DOESN'T MEAN THEY'LL DEVELOP ANY OF THESE CONDITIONS.

PFAS ARE CALLED FOREVER CHEMICALS BECAUSE THEY BREAK DOWN VERY SLOWLY... IF EVER. THEY CAN BUILD UP IN OUR BODIES OVER TIME... AND CAN EVEN BE FOUND IN ANIMALS... CROPS... SHOOT... THEY'RE EVEN PRESENT IN THE AIR AND WATER.

BUT WHERE DID THE CHEMICALS COME FROM? WELL... BACK TO THAT LAB FROM THE TOP OF THE EPISODE. THE ONE IN NEW JERSEY. IT SOUNDS LIKE THE START OF A GOTHIC HORROR NOVEL.

ROY J. PLUNKETT WAS A 27- YEAR-OLD CHEMIST FROM OHIO.

HE WORKED AT DUPONT'S CHAMBERS WORKS PLANT IN DEEPWATER NEW JERSEY. IT WAS A DREAM JOB FOR A POOR FARM BOY... AND GOOD PAY.

THE VIEWS OF THE DELAWARE RIVER PROBABLY DIDN'T HURT EITHER.

PLUNKETT HADN'T BEEN AT THE PLANT FOR LONG WHEN HE OPENED UP ONE OF THE CANISTERS HE'D FILLED WITH DIFFERENT COMPOUNDS OF THE COLORLESS... AND ODORLESS GAS... TETRAFLUOROETHYLENE... OR TFE. HE WAS TRYING TO DEVELOP A DUPONT VERSION OF FREON.

INSIDE THAT CANISTER HE FOUND A WHITE POWDER THAT WAS SLIGHTLY GREASY TO THE TOUCH.

HE WAS CURIOUS ABOUT THE SUBSTANCE.

SO... HE RUBBED THE POWDER BETWEEN HIS FINGERS. HE SNIFFED IT... AND TASTED IT.

HE AND HIS ASSISTANT... JACK REBOK... A PAULSBORO NATIVE... DISCOVERED THE SUBSTANCE WAS SLIPPERY... LIKE TWO WET ICE CUBES SLIDING AGAINST EACH OTHER.

IT WAS STICKY AND... UNDER THE RIGHT CIRCUMSTANCES... COULD BE MOLDED INTO VARIOUS SHAPES. AFTER FURTHER TESTING THEY DISCOVERED IT DIDN'T BREAK DOWN WHEN EXPOSED TO HEAT... ELECTRICITY... AND MOST SOLVENTS.

TURNS OUT... THAT WHITE POWDER WAS POLYTETRAFLUOROETHYLENE... PTFE FOR SHORT... WHICH DUPONT EVENTUALLY DUBBED TEFLON. IT WAS A FOUNDING FATHER OF THE PFAS FAMILY.

Jordan Gass-Pooré -- Host
TEFLON ORIGINALLY DIDN'T MAKE WAVES AT DUPONT. IT WAS EXPENSIVE TO MAKE... AND PEOPLE AT THE TIME WERE TOO ENAMORED WITH NYLON.

THEN CAME WORLD WAR TWO. AND THE MANHATTAN PROJECT... YES... THE PEOPLE WHO RACED TO PRODUCE THE WORLD'S FIRST NUCLEAR WEAPONS.

PLUNKETT RECALLS THE SUDDEN ATTENTION TEFLON GOT...

Roy Plunkett --- Former Chemist, DuPont. 1986 Oral History Interview
When DuPont reviewed with some of the Manhattan Project people, particularly General Groves, who was director of the Manhattan Project, he said he heard about this new plastic material. He said that sounds like something we're going to need, and he said, "You guys better get a whole lot in the development or we're going to take it away from you."

Jordan Gass-Pooré -- Host
SO... DUPONT QUICKLY RAMPED UP PRODUCTION OF TEFLON. SCIENTISTS WITH THE MANHATTAN PROJECT WERE INTERESTED IN THE PRODUCT BECAUSE THEY FOUND IT WAS THE ONLY COATING THAT COULD STAND UP TO THE INTENSE SUBSTANCES AND PROCESSES THAT ARE USED TO ENRICH PLUTONIUM AND URANIUM... THE KEY MATERIALS USED FOR THE FIRST NUCLEAR BOMBS.

DUPONT PRODUCED THE WHITE POWDER SECRETLY DURING THE WAR. THE PUBLIC DIDN'T KNOW ABOUT TEFLON UNTIL 1946.

A FEW YEARS AFTER THAT... PLUNKETT WAS OFFICIALLY RECOGNIZED FOR HIS INVENTION. HE WAS GIVEN AN AWARD FOR IMPROVING THE "COMFORT... WELFARE... AND HAPPINESS OF HUMANKIND."

I'LL LET HIM TELL YOU THE STORY.

Roy Plunkett --- Former Chemist, DuPont. 1986 Oral History Interview
I was awarded the John Scott Medal by the City of Philadelphia. That was in '51, but I didn't receive it until June of '52, at which DuPont had set up a banquet, and had a couple hundred people come to a banquet at a country club in Penns Grove, New Jersey. And it was the first time that anybody in this country saw any cooking utensils lined with Teflon. Because what they did was to make up muffin tins lined with Teflon and gave them out as favors to all attendees to this banquet.

Jordan Gass-Pooré -- Host
THEN... ON DECEMBER FIFTEENTH 1960... DUPONT RELEASED THE FIRST TEFLON COATED POTS AND PANS AT MACY'S IN NEW YORK CITY.

AND GET THIS... THEY ONLY COST $6.94... AND SOLD OUT QUICKLY.

THEY WERE EVERY HOUSEWIFE'S DREAM.

Jordan Gass-Pooré -- Host
UNTIL PEOPLE FOUND OUT THAT TEFLON COULD BE SCRUBBED OFF A STEEL PAN. SO... DUPONT IMPROVED THE BONDING... AND MADE MY NANA A LOT HAPPIER.

AT THIS POINT IN TIME... PLUNKETT WAS OFF TEFLON. HE HAD SPENT A SHORT STINT AS THE ASSISTANT MANAGER OF CHAMBERS WORKS... THEN EVENTUALLY FOUND HIS WAY TO MY HOME STATE OF TEXAS TO OPEN UP A NEW DUPONT PLANT.

Roy Plunkett --- Former Chemist, DuPont. 1986 Oral History Interview
I'm proud of my part in this development. I'm proud of the company with whom I worked. I'm proud of what has happened and most of all, I'm proud with all the benefit to mankind from this incredible invention. The discovery of PTFE has been variously described as an example of serendipity, a lucky accident, a flash of genius. Perhaps all three were involved.

Jordan Gass-Pooré -- Host
IT'S BEEN NEARLY A CENTURY SINCE PLUNKETT AND REBOK ACCIDENTALLY DISCOVERED TEFLON. AND NOW WE'RE STUCK GRAPPLING WITH THE UNINTENDED CONSEQUENCES OF THAT "FLASH OF GENIUS."

TURNS OUT... PFAS... LIKE THE CHEMICALS USED TO MAKE TEFLON... HAVE BEEN FOUND IN DRINKING WATER SOURCES THROUGHOUT NEW JERSEY... AND AROUND THE COUNTRY... FOR DECADES.

THE EPA WARNED LAST YEAR THAT EVEN A SMALL AMOUNT OF PFAS FOUND IN DRINKING WATER COULD BE DANGEROUS TO HUMAN HEALTH.

PFAS ARE REALLY GOOD AT REPELLING WATER... OIL... AND GREASE... SO THEY'RE ADDED TO A VARIETY OF PRODUCTS. THE PROBLEM IS...

Graham Peaslee --- Professor Emeritus, Department of Physics & Astronomy, University of Notre Dame
The EPA is introducing a PFAS regulation in water, the first new regulation that they've introduced in 23 years. Tells you how long it takes to regulate something. And they are doing it because it's such a toxic and persistent chemical.

Jordan Gass-Pooré -- Host
THAT'S GRAHAM PEASLEE. HE MAY BE A PROFESSOR OF PHYSICS AT THE UNIVERSITY OF NOTRE DAME... BUT HE GOT HIS START IN SCIENCE IN NEW JERSEY... AS A STUDENT AT PRINCETON.

THESE DAYS... PEASLEE AND HIS STUDENTS HUNT FOR PFAS IN ALL SORTS OF EVERYDAY PRODUCTS... FROM FAST FOOD WRAPPERS TO SCHOOL UNIFORMS TO FACE MASKS.

Graham Peaslee --- Professor Emeritus, Department of Physics & Astronomy, University of Notre Dame
I bet you'll find it hard to find a product we haven't put in the beam so far.

Jordan Gass-Pooré -- Host
IT'S HARD TO ESCAPE FOREVER CHEMICALS... BUT PEASLEE IS TRYING TO HELP FIND A WAY. HE WANTS TO GET RID OF PFAS FROM NON-ESSENTIAL USES... LIKE FAST FOOD PACKAGING.

PFAS IS USED IN THIS KIND OF PACKAGING TO MAKE PRODUCTS WATERPROOF AND RESISTANT TO GREASE AND STAINS.

PEASLEE AND HIS TEAM USED A PARTICLE INDUCED GAMMA RAY EMISSION TO TEST FOR FLUORINE IN HUNDREDS OF FAST FOOD WRAPPERS FROM AROUND THE COUNTRY.

OF THE ROUGHLY 400  FAST FOOD CONTACT PAPERS... PAPERBOARD CONTAINERS... AND CUPS SAMPLED... NEARLY HALF OF THE PAPER... AND 20% OF THE PAPERBOARD PRODUCTS CONTAINED PFAS.

THAT'S ALARMING ON ITS OWN... BUT PEASLEE IS MOST CONCERNED ABOUT WHAT HAPPENS TO FAST FOOD WRAPPERS ONCE THEY'RE THROWN IN THE TRASH.

Graham Peaslee --- Professor Emeritus, Department of Physics & Astronomy, University of Notre Dame
100% of those chemicals on the food wrappers will come off in 60 days in a aerobic landfill, which means it gets into drinking water passes right through the treatment centers.

Jordan Gass-Pooré -- Host
THE FDA ANNOUNCED IN FEBRUARY THAT FAST FOOD WRAPPERS AND OTHER FOOD PACKAGING MADE WITH PFAS ARE NO LONGER BEING SOLD IN THE US.

THE NEWS COMES MORE THAN THREE YEARS AFTER THE AGENCY REACHED AN AGREEMENT WITH MANUFACTURERS FOR A VOLUNTARY PHASE OUT.

BUT IT WILL TAKE TIME FOR FOOD WRAPPERS WITH PFAS TO FULLY COME OUT OF SERVICE... SO, YOU KNOW, BE AWARE... THEY ARE STILL OUT THERE.

STOIBER... THE SCIENTIST WITH THE ENVIRONMENTAL WORKING GROUP... SAYS THE FEDS SHOULD GO FARTHER BECAUSE...

Tasha Stoiber --- Senior Scientist, Environmental Working Group
You know, one can't shop their way out of exposures. And exposures are going to be different for everyone.

Jordan Gass-Pooré -- Host
12 STATES HAVE ALREADY BANNED OR PHASED OUT PFAS IN ALL FOOD PACKAGING. NEW JERSEY IS NOT ONE OF THOSE STATES... THOUGH A BILL TO CREATE SUCH A BAN WAS PUT FORWARD BY LAWMAKERS IN TRENTON IN 2022... BUT SO FAR IT HASN'T EVEN GOTTEN A HEARING.

USE OF PFAS  HAS BEEN SO WIDESPREAD... FOR SO LONG... THAT NEARLY EVERY PERSON ON THE PLANET ALIVE TODAY HAS DETECTABLE LEVELS OF THESE CHEMICALS IN THEIR BLOOD. I REPEAT... NEARLY EVERY PERSON ON THE PLANET ALIVE TODAY HAS PFAS IN THEIR BLOOD.

Graham Peaslee --- Professor Emeritus, Department of Physics & Astronomy, University of Notre Dame
We're finding PFAS, every blood sample, every blood bank. In fact, you have to go back to the Korean War to find blood that didn't have it. There's no blood left in North America that doesn't have PFAS in it, from cord blood to adult blood, to anywhere.

Jordan Gass-Pooré -- Host
NOW... TRY NOT TO FREAK OUT. MOST PEOPLE WON'T EXPERIENCE ANY HEALTH PROBLEMS OR FEEL ANY SYMPTOMS. BUT WE SHOULD... AND CAN... LIMIT OUR EXPOSURE.

WHICH IS WHERE AGENCIES LIKE THE NEW JERSEY DEPARTMENT OF ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION COME IN.

IN 2018... NEW JERSEY BECAME THE FIRST US STATE TO ESTABLISH AN ENFORCEABLE DRINKING WATER STANDARD FOR A PFAS CHEMICAL.

BUT LIKE WE SAID BEFORE... THERE'S THOUSANDS OF CHEMICALS IN THE PFAS FAMILY. AND NEW JERSEY DEP ORIGINALLY ONLY FOCUSED ON THREE IN THE STATE'S DRINKING WATER.

THAT NUMBER ROSE TO SIX THIS SPRING AFTER THE EPA FINALIZED ITS MUCH STRICTER HEALTH LIMITS ON PFAS IN DRINKING WATER.

FOR SOME PEOPLE... DRINKING WATER IS HOW THEY'RE EXPOSED TO PFAS. OTHERS... IT'S THE FOOD THEY EAT. AND NOT JUST FROM THE WRAPPERS.

A PERSON WHO CATCHES A FISH IN A PFAS CONTAMINATED RIVER AND THEN GRILLS IT FOR DINNER CAN BE EXPOSED. RIVERS AND OTHER BODIES OF WATER CAN BECOME POLLUTED WITH FOREVER CHEMICALS THROUGH THE RUNOFF FROM INDUSTRIAL FACILITIES... FIREFIGHTING FOAM... AND LANDFILLS.

AND STOIBER SAYS PFAS BUILDS UP IN OUR BODIES OVER TIME.

Tasha Stoiber --- Senior Scientist, Environmental Working Group
Instead of building up on our fat, they tend to stick to proteins in our body. They tend to build up in protein rich areas in the body. They stick to organs in our body. And they can stick to blood and essentially travel around our body.

Jordan Gass-Pooré -- Host
SO... DRINKING WATER REGULATIONS ARE A GOOD START... BUT THAT'S REALLY JUST THE TIP OF THE ICEBERG.

Bonnie Smalley --- Former Pennsville Resident
I have this mutation in my PPOX gene, P-Pox, which inhibits the way the heme in my blood is made. So I can't be in the sun.

Jordan Gass-Pooré -- Host
BONNIE SMALLEY HAS BEEN DIAGNOSED WITH VARIEGATE PORPHYRIA... A RARE SKIN DISEASE... AND HAS EXPERIENCED SEVERE DENTAL PROBLEMS.

ALL OF THIS SHE BELIEVES TO BE THE RESULT OF EXPOSURE TO DRINKING WATER CONTAMINATED WITH PFAS... AND OTHER POLLUTION FROM CHAMBERS WORKS.

Bonnie Smalley --- Former Pennsville Resident
So I've lived my entire life with a disorder that is not in my family. That nobody picked up. That I only picked up because I did a DNA test.

Jordan Gass-Pooré -- Host
BONNIE GREW UP IN PENNSVILLE NEW JERSEY... A SMALL TOWN ON THE DELAWARE RIVER.

SHE'D LIKE FOR THE STATE... OR REALLY ANYONE... TO TEST THE BLOOD OF SALEM COUNTY RESIDENTS FOR PFAS... BUT NO TESTING HAS BEEN DONE.

Bonnie Smalley --- Former Pennsville Resident
I just keep running into brick walls. It would be nice if the state helped. I would love for the state to help because we've been ignored for very, very long and it's... people are dying. That's what it comes down to. People are dying and they're very sick.

Jordan Gass-Pooré -- Host
THE STATE HEALTH DEPARTMENT ACKNOWLEDGED THAT IT HAS NOT DONE ANY STUDIES OF PFAS IMPACTS IN SALEM COUNTY SPECIFICALLY... BUT THE DEPARTMENT IS CURRENTLY CONDUCTING A STATEWIDE STUDY OF 500 NEW JERSEYANS TO MONITOR THEIR EXPOSURE TO PFAS AND OTHER CHEMICALS.

TO BE CLEAR THOUGH... NO SALEM COUNTY RESIDENT IS A PART OF THAT EFFORT.

DATA FROM THE STATE HEALTH DEPARTMENT SHOWS THAT CANCER RATES IN SALEM COUNTY ARE HIGHER THAN RATES STATEWIDE... THOUGH IT IS IMPORTANT TO NOTE THAT ATTRIBUTING CANCER TO A SINGLE CAUSE IS ALMOST IMPOSSIBLE.

BONNIE'S FAMILY GOES BACK GENERATIONS IN PENNSVILLE.

Bonnie Smalley --- Former Pennsville Resident
My Uncle Ken designed the town seal for the Township of Pennsville. And there is a chemical beaker in it, in our town seal.

Jordan Gass-Pooré -- Host
JUST UP THE ROAD FROM HER CHILDHOOD HOME IS THE PLACE WHERE PLUNKETT AND HIS ASSISTANT DISCOVERED ONE OF THE FIRST PFAS CHEMICALS WHILE WORKING AT DUPONT'S CHAMBERS WORKS PLANT.

CHAMBERS WORKS HAS A STORIED PLACE IN THE HISTORY OF AMERICA'S CHEMICAL INDUSTRY. DUPONT BEGAN USING THE FACILITY IN 1892 TO MAKE GUNPOWDER.

BY THE 1920S... THE COMPANY HAD BEGUN MAKING DYES AND REFRIGERANTS AT THE SITE. THROUGHOUT ITS HISTORY... CHAMBERS WORKS HAS BEEN HOME TO ALL SORTS OF CHEMICAL PRODUCTION.

HISTORIAN LUCAS CLAWSON... WHO WORKS AT THE HAGLEY MUSEUM IN DELAWARE AND STUDIES THE HISTORY OF DUPONT... DESCRIBED THE OPERATION AS AN ECONOMIC POWERHOUSE FOR THE REGION.

Lucas Clawson --- Hagley Historian, Hagley Museum and Library
There were thousands of people employed there at one point, and that's everybody from people in administration, people that worked in the research facilities, people in powder production, down to, like, teamsters, your stevedores, the shipping for all the maritime stuff that came and went because they had their own port, essentially, at the Deepwater facility. So, you've got thousands of people who are employed directly or indirectly in Salem County as a result of this facility.

Jordan Gass-Pooré -- Host
DUPONT EVENTUALLY MOVED ITS TEFLON MANUFACTURING TO THE COMPANY'S ARLINGTON FACILITY IN NORTH JERSEY... AND THEN TO ITS WASHINGTON WORKS PLANT IN WEST VIRGINIA.

IT WAS IN WEST VIRGINIA WHERE WIDESPREAD POLLUTION FROM THE WORK EVENTUALLY BECAME THE GROUNDS FOR A LANDMARK SETTLEMENT IN 2017.

DUPONT AGREED TO PAY MORE THAN $670 MILLION TO MORE THAN 3,500 AFFECTED PLAINTIFFS.

THE 2019 MOVIE "DARK WATERS" IS BASED ON THE WEST VIRGINIA CASE.

BUT EVEN AFTER DUPONT MOVED TEFLON PRODUCTION ELSEWHERE... THE COMPANY MADE SURE PFAS REMAINED IN SALEM COUNTY.

DUPONT IMPORTED THE CHEMICAL PERFLUOROOCTANOIC ACID... OR SIMPLY PFOA... AND OTHER PFAS TO CHAMBERS WORKS FOR DECADES... STARTING IN THE 1950S. THE CHEMICALS WERE USED TO MANUFACTURE TEFLON AND OTHER PRODUCTS AT THE SITE.

MEANWHILE... CHAMBERS WORKS BECAME A LARGE WASTE HANDLING SITE... WITH MASSIVE LANDFILLS AND A WASTEWATER TREATMENT PLANT MEANT TO DEAL WITH HAZARDOUS MATERIALS.

PFAS-LADEN WASTE FROM AROUND THE COUNTRY... INCLUDING FROM THE INFAMOUS WEST VIRGINIA PLANT... WAS SHIPPED TO SALEM COUNTY.

LOCALS... LIKE BONNIE'S DAD... HAULED THAT WASTE TO THE PLANT.

Jordan Gass-Pooré -- Host
I WENT WITH BONNIE AND HER MOM ON A DRIVING TOUR OF THE PATCHWORK OF SMALL TOWNS IN SALEM COUNTY THAT SURROUND THE CHAMBERS WORKS SITE.

Bonnie Smalley --- Former Pennsville Resident
This is what most people know as Pennsville because they're just passing through. [Mom] Because you've got 95. You've got the Turnpike, it's heading to the Delaware Bridge.

Jordan Gass-Pooré -- Host
BONNIE... 39... HAS DONE HER HOMEWORK. SHE STAYS ON TOP OF ALL THINGS CHAMBERS WORKS... AND RUNS THE W-T-F DUPONT FACEBOOK PAGE.

AS WE DROVE AROUND... BONNIE AND HER MOM POINTED OUT THE YMCA... COUNTRY CLUB... ELEMENTARY SCHOOL... PARK... AND NEIGHBORHOODS THAT MADE UP DUPONT'S COMPANY TOWN.

THERE'S ALPHABET CITY... WHERE THE STREETS ARE NAMED AFTER... YOU GUESSED IT... LETTERS OF THE ALPHABET. A... B... C... D... EACH LINED WITH IDENTICAL... ONE STORY HOMES.

Jordan Gass-Pooré -- Host
PEOPLE STILL LIVE IN THESE HOMES... WHETHER OR NOT THEY KNOW THE AREA'S HISTORY.

AND IT'S HARD TO REMEMBER WHAT LIFE WAS LIKE WHEN CHAMBERS WORKS WAS WHERE MOST PEOPLE WORKED.

Jordan Gass-Pooré -- Host
MANY OF THE PEOPLE WHO WORKED THERE... WHOSE LOYALTY TO DUPONT WENT UNQUESTIONED... ARE GONE.

DUPONT STOPPED PRODUCING EXPLOSIVES AND DYES AT THE SITE BY THE EARLY 1980S. BUT THE CHEMICAL PRODUCTION REMAINED... EVEN AFTER DUPONT GAVE UP CHAMBERS WORKS IN THE 2015 CORPORATE SPIN OFF THAT CREATED A NEW COMPANY... CHEMOURS.

TODAY... CHEMOURS CONTINUES THAT WORK... AND CONTINUES USING PFAS AS PART OF IT. THE COMPANY SPECIFICALLY USES GEN X CHEMICALS... WHICH DUPONT INTRODUCED AS A SUBSTITUTE FOR PFOA MORE THAN A DECADE AGO.

THE GEN X CHEMICALS ARE INTENDED TO BE LESS DANGEROUS TO HUMAN HEALTH AND THE ENVIRONMENT... BUT MUCH IS STILL UNKNOWN ABOUT THE HEALTH EFFECTS OF GEN X CHEMICALS... THOUGH, MANY EXPERTS EXPECT THEY WILL BE SIMILAR TO OTHER PFAS LIKE PFOA.

THESE DAYS... MUCH OF THE ORIGINAL CHAMBERS WORKS PLANT IS GONE. AND WHAT'S LEFT OF THE ROUGHLY TWO SQUARE MILE AREA IS MOSTLY ABANDONED.

Jordan Gass-Pooré -- Host
WE DID SEE PEOPLE CHECKING THE MONITORING WELLS THAT SURROUND THE PLANT... BUT THERE WAS NO LONGER THE HUSTLE AND BUSTLE THAT ONCE WAS.

CHEMOURS IS ALSO MONITORING OFF SITE DRINKING WATER WELLS FOR PFAS CONTAMINATION. THE COMPANY HAS PLEDGED TO PROVIDE BOTTLED WATER TO HOUSEHOLDS WITH TAINTED WELLS UNTIL THE COMPANY IS ABLE TO EITHER CONNECT HOMES TO A LOCAL WATER SYSTEM... OR INSTALL A FILTER ON THE WELL THAT IS ABLE TO HANDLE PFAS.

IT'S A PROGRAM THAT DUPONT STARTED IN 2009... AND CHEMOURS CONTINUES TODAY.

AS OF APRIL... 229 FILTERS HAVE BEEN INSTALLED AT HOMES IN FOUR TOWNS... INCLUDING PENNSVILLE.

PENNSVILLE AND CARNEYS POINT AREN'T THE COMPANY TOWNS THEY USED TO BE.

BONNIE'S GRANDFATHER WORKED AT CHAMBERS WORKS... HER DAD WORKED AT CHAMBERS WORKS.

IT TOOK THREE GENERATIONS OF A GOOD, REGULAR PAYCHECK FOR PEOPLE TO REALIZE THE PRICE THEY PAID FOR MORE THAN A CENTURY OF DOING DUPONT'S BIDDING.

THEY'RE NOW FIGHTING BACK.

IN 2016... CARNEYS POINT BROUGHT A LAWSUIT AGAINST DUPONT AND CHEMOURS. RESIDENTS ARE HOLDING THE COMPANIES RESPONSIBLE FOR DUMPING ONE HUNDRED MILLION POUNDS OF CHEMICAL WASTE INTO THE AREA'S SOIL AND WATER OVER THE PLANT'S HISTORY.

Al Telsey --- Partner, Meyner and Landis LLP
"We've been drinking it, we're sick, you need to do something about it." That's a story that's being replicated throughout the United States and around the world to the point where a company like DuPont and Chemours has been sued 1,000 times with lawsuits coming in every day.

Jordan Gass-Pooré -- Host
THAT'S AL TELSEY. HE'S LEADING CARNEYS POINT IN A BILLION DOLLAR LAWSUIT AGAINST DUPONT.

TELSEY GREW UP IN SALEM COUNTY. WE MET HIM AT THE BLUE BIRD DINER IN PENNSVILLE TO TALK ABOUT THE CASE.

Al Telsey --- Partner, Meyner and Landis LLP
So, now we are just one of many people clamoring for justice. You know, the company town mentality is a thing of the past. It's in the chapter of the history book that just isn't the present.

BASICALLY... HE ARGUES THAT IN THE PROCESS OF DUPONT SPINNING OFF CHEMOURS... THE TWO COMPANIES REPEATEDLY BROKE STATE LAW BY FAILING TO EITHER CLEAN UP CHAMBERS WORKS OR SET ASIDE ENOUGH MONEY FOR STATE AND LOCAL AUTHORITIES TO DO THE CLEAN UP THEMSELVES. THAT LAWSUIT REMAINS ON GOING... MORE THAN SIX YEARS AFTER IT WAS FILED.

AND IT'S NOT JUST CARNEY'S POINT THAT WANTS POLLUTERS TO PAY UP. THE STATE SUED DUPONT AND CHEMOURS IN 2019 FOR NATURAL RESOURCE DAMAGES CAUSED BY THE COMPANIES' ACTIONS AT CHAMBERS WORKS. THAT CASE ALSO REMAINS ONGOING.

FOR NOW... LIFE GOES ON IN SALEM COUNTY. CHEMOURS HAS A BILLBOARD UP ON THE NORTH SIDE OF THE NEW JERSEY END OF THE DELAWARE MEMORIAL BRIDGE... TO CATCH THE EYE OF ANY DRIVER WHO MIGHT HAVE BEEN GAZING AT THE CHAMBERS WORK PLANT BELOW. IN JANUARY IT READ...

Bonnie Smalley --- Former Pennsville Resident
Chemours makes the world work.

Jordan Gass-Pooré -- Host
PFAS... THEY'RE THE CHEMICALS FOUND IN NEARLY EVERYONE.

WHAT WAS ONCE CONSIDERED A HOUSEWIFE'S BEST FRIEND HAS TURNED INTO PUBLIC ENEMY NUMBER ONE. AND FOR GOOD REASON.

THIS SEASON OF HAZARD NJ... WE'RE SERVING UP THE TOXIC TRUTH ABOUT PFAS IN NEW JERSEY'S WATER... ONE GLASS AT A TIME.

ON EPISODE TWO... WE LOOK AT HOW PFAS ARE FUELING A PUBLIC HEALTH CRISIS.

HAZARD NJ IS AN NJ SPOTLIGHT NEWS PRODUCTION... YOU CAN SUPPORT OUR REPORTING BY HEADING TO NJSPOTLIGHTNEWS.ORG/DONATE

Credits

Hazard NJ is reported and written by host Jordan Gass-Pooré and producer Michael Sol Warren

Executive Producer – Jamie Kraft

Executive in Charge of Production – Joe Lee

Production Manager – Chloe Motisi

Research Assistant — Judah Duke

Sound Designer & Engineer – Mark Bush

Composer – Nick Pennington

Art – Matthew Fleming

This story was originally published by THE CITY. Sign up to get the latest New York City news delivered to you each morning.

The Gowanus Canal is a “toxic Wonderland” in the midst of a neighborhood undergoing a complicated transformation. Hear from locals, government officials and developers about the future of the area — and what challenges stand in the way of a cleaner, more resilient community.

Samantha Maldonado, senior reporter at THE CITY,  and independent journalist Jordan Gass-Pooré dig in on the final episode of Hazard NYC, a four-part FAQ NYC Presents limited series exploring the city’s Superfund sites.

See and read more about the Gowanus Canal here.

If you like what you’re hearing, please spread the word, and subscribe on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube or wherever podcasts are found.

THE CITY is a nonprofit newsroom that serves the people of New York. Sign up for our SCOOP newsletter and get exclusive stories, helpful tips, a guide to low-cost events, and everything you need to know to be a well-informed New Yorker.

Read the episode transcript below:

**HS VO [PRE-ROLL] **

It’s FAQ NYC PRESENTS, where the only podcast in the only city in the world brings in other voices to dig into what it’s all about.

I’m Harry Siegel, FAQ NYC’s co-host and executive producer, and right now you’re going to hear part 1 of Hazard NYC, a four-part limited series looking at New York’s four federal superfund sites hosted by Samantha Maldonado of The City and independent journalist Jordan Gass-Poore.

Hazard NYC was made possible by support from the Fund for Investigative Journalism. The project was produced in partnership with the McGraw Center for Business Journalism at the CUNY Graduate School of Journalism, and is part of the Pulitzer Center's Connected Coastlines initiative. For more information, go to pulitzer center dot org… forward slash… connected hyphen coastlines.

Hazard NYC is supported in part by Newlab – a platform helping deep-tech startups succeed to address the climate crisis. Learn more at newlab.com.

Let’s jump right in.

[SFX]

**Nicole Vergalla: **What we recommend, because it's very windy as water, like, just, we recommend paddling around this area first, making sure that you have a good feel for your canoe and you know how to control it.

SM VO

THAT’S NICOLE VERGALLA. SHE’S LIVED IN GOWANUS FOR ABOUT A DECADE AND VOLUNTEERS WITH THE GOWANUS DREDGERS CANOE CLUB.

**Nicole Vergalla: **So, once you go through there, you're gonna be here to the Ninth Street Bridge. If you heard me saying that there's peregrine falcon, this is where it nests. You may see a kingfisher over here that I got to see earlier today, it's dodging all around, if you see a bird going kind of like this. And it's, like, a little stripy looking. It's a belted kingfisher.

SM VO

THE DREDGERS HOST PADDLE-IN MOVIE NIGHTS, TRACK WATER QUALITY AND LET ANYONE TAKE A BOAT OUT ON THE WATER… ON A CHILLY WEEKEND LAST FALL THAT’S JUST WHAT I DID.

[BOAT/WATER SFX]

SM VO

NICOLE HANDED ME A LIFE VEST AND HELPED ME GET INTO A CANOE TO PADDLE DOWN THE CANAL.

[BOAT/WATER SFX]

**Sam Maldonado: **You can see some warehouses and the Port of New York Authority Grain Terminal that looks all decrepit in the back.

SM VO

I KEPT PADDLING… UP TO A SIGN THAT SAID THE CANAL WAS A FEDERAL SUPERFUND SITE… WITH THE CLEANUP UNDERWAY.

[MUX IN: “Hazard NYC Theme”]

SM VO

THIS IS HAZARD N-Y-C… A MINI SERIES FROM F-A-Q N-Y-C.

I’M SAMANTHA MALDONADO… A REPORTER WITH THE CITY.

JGP VO

AND I’M JORDAN GASS POORE… AN INDEPENDENT JOURNALIST AND PODCAST PRODUCER.

ON THIS EPISODE… WE HEAD TO GOWANUS…

[MUX OUT: “Hazard NYC Theme”]

JGP VO

GOWANUS IS A MOSTLY INDUSTRIAL BROOKLYN NEIGHBORHOOD IN THE MIDST OF A RAPID TRANSFORMATION.

SM VO

AND THAT WAS NEVER MORE OBVIOUS TO ME THAN WHEN I PADDLED THROUGH THE OILY WATERS OF THE CANAL. IT SOMETIMES SMELLED LIKE GASOLINE… BUT I COULD SEE THE SHELLS OF BRAND NEW APARTMENT BUILDINGS LOOMING IN THE DISTANCE.

**Nicole Vergalla: **When people haven't been on the water before and they get on the water, they see the city differently, and they see the environment differently. ** **

SM VO

NICOLE… THE VOLUNTEER WITH THE DREDGERS CANOE CLUB… SAYS THE DREDGERS HOPE PEOPLE WILL APPRECIATE THE POTENTIAL FOR GOWANUS TO BE A HEALTHIER WATERWAY.

**Nicole Vergalla: **You know, we are called the Gowanus Dredgers, not because we do the dredging, but because we've been advocates for it.

**[DREDGING SFX] **

JGP VO

THAT DREDGING IS HAPPENING… RIGHT NOW… AS PART OF THE ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY’S CLEAN UP OF THE POLLUTED NEARLY TWO MILE CANAL THAT RUNS THROUGH THE NEIGHBORHOOD.

BUT CLIMATE CHANGE MEANS MORE RAIN… AND WORSE FLOODING.

THIS THREATENS TO COMPLICATE CLEAN UP EFFORTS… SPREAD CONTAMINATION… AND SEND MORE WAVES OF HUMAN WASTE DOWN THE CANAL.

SM VO

SO… IF YOU’VE LISTENED TO OUR OTHER EPISODES OF HAZARD N-Y-C… THIS QUESTION OF HOW CLIMATE CHANGE WILL AFFECT SUPERFUND CLEAN UPS MIGHT SOUND FAMILIAR.

BUT GOWANUS RAISES SOME OTHER QUESTIONS… SO THIS EPISODE WILL BE A BIT DIFFERENT.

[GOWANUS CONSTRUCTION AMBI]

GOWANUS IS A BOOM TOWN FOR HOUSING. REAL ESTATE DEVELOPERS ARE CONSTRUCTING THOUSANDS OF NEW APARTMENTS.

THEY SEE IT AS A WAY TO BUILD UP A LOW LYING… NEGLECTED AREA THAT HAPPENS TO BE SQUISHED BETWEEN SOME OF BROOKLYN’S FANCIEST NEIGHBORHOODS.

JGP VO

THAT MEANS GOWANUS LOCALS WHO HAVE LONG LIVED WITH THE CONTAMINATION… AND LOTS OF FLOODING… WILL BE JOINED BY THOUSANDS OF NEW NEIGHBORS.

SM VO

BUT BEFORE WE GET TO THAT… LET’S TAKE A STEP BACK… INTO THE PAST.

[MUX: “Down the Gowanus”]

JGP VO

JOSEPH ALEXIOU IS AN AUTHOR WHO LITERALLY WROTE THE BOOK ON THE HISTORY OF THE GOWANUS CANAL.

**Joseph Alexiou: **It’s called a tidal estuary, and it’s basically an arm of the sea or an inlet that reached up about a mile into the land that we now know is Brooklyn, and we're surrounded by about a square mile of salt marshes.

JGP VO

DEVELOPMENT IN THE MID EIGHTEEN HUNDREDS TURNED THE MARSHLAND INTO A MAJOR TRANSPORTATION ROUTE FOR A NEWLY INDUSTRIALIZED BROOKLYN.

**Joseph Alexiou: **All of this was kind of the dream of every industrialist trying to modernize cities.

JGP VO

NOW THAT BARGES AND BOATS COULD TRANSPORT GOODS ON THE CANAL… GOWANUS BECAME A THRIVING HOTBED OF INDUSTRY.

**Joseph Alexiou: **Moving things along the water was the cheapest and most efficient way to do it. You would have industries pop up along either side of the canal, and then they would both produce jobs – and a lot of waste, which got dumped back into the canal.

JGP VO

LUMBER YARDS… CHEMICAL AND CONCRETE PLANTS… PAPER MILLS… FACTORIES… INCINERATORS… AND SHIPBUILDERS USED TO LINE THE CANAL’S BANKS.

**Joseph Alexiou: **They built, over time, three manufactured gas plants along its banks. These plants, which use coal, produced heat and power for all the City of Brooklyn, and also huge amounts of waste, which they often dumped into the canal.

[MUX IN: “Interstitial - Fast,Sad,Weird TRACK”]

SM VO

COAL TAR… THE OILY BYPRODUCT OF THOSE GAS PLANTS… SEEPED INTO THE GROUND.

AND OTHER BUSINESSES DUMPED A CHEMICAL SLUSH INTO THE CANAL TOO.

THE CANAL CONTAINS OVER A DOZEN CONTAMINANTS… INCLUDING POLYCYCLIC AROMATIC HYDROCARBONS… POLYCHLORINATED BIPHENYLS [by-FEN-als]… AND HEAVY METALS LIKE LEAD… MERCURY… AND COPPER.

THESE CAN HARM THE ENVIRONMENT AND THE AREA’S ECOSYSTEM… AS WELL AS HUMAN HEALTH. EXPOSURE EITHER FROM DIRECT CONTACT OR EATING THE CANAL’S FISH CAN LEAD TO EYE AND SKIN IRRITATION… ORGAN DAMAGE… OR EVEN CANCER.

[MUX OUT: “Interstitial - Fast,Sad,Weird TRACK”]

**Joseph Alexiou: **It was only after World War Two that Gowanus really declined, and that's because of things like containerized shipping, and then moving of factories outside of the city.

JGP VO

JOSEPH SAYS BY THE NINETEEN SIXTIES GOWANUS LOST ITS MAJOR INDUSTRIES.

**Joseph Alexiou: **The fact that it had all these problems: pollution and stink and flooding did not make it a place that people wanted to try to fix.

JGP VO

BUT THE AREA’S GRITTINESS EVENTUALLY ATTRACTED PEOPLE.

**Joseph Alexiou: **I mean, people started moving to Gowanus in the late ‘80s from SoHo, and when I say people, I mean artists and weirdos that were looking for what were considered neglected neighborhoods with lots of space and factory lofts.

SM VO

AND THIS LAID THE GROUNDWORK FOR FURTHER INTEREST IN GOWANUS…

JANELL BAPTISTA IS A RESIDENT WHOSE TIME IN GOWANUS HAS SPANNED WHAT THE NEIGHBORHOOD WAS… IS… AND PROBABLY WILL BE.

**Janell Bapista: **It's kind of overwhelming in a lot of ways, and how much it has changed in the past four years since I’ve lived here.

SM VO

TO BE CLEAR… HE’S BEEN IN HIS CURRENT APARTMENT FOR ABOUT FOUR YEARS.

BUT HE’S LIVED IN GOWANUS FOR TWO DECADES… SINCE HIS EARLY TWENTIES. HE SAYS BACK THEN THERE WERE…

**Janell Bapista: No trees on the street. None of the buildings on Fourth Avenue. Third Avenue. Whole Foods wasn't there, it was just like a historic place that we all loved. That kind of just got ruined by this beautiful building that I live in. _[Laughs] **_

JGP VO

JANELL LIVES IN ONE OF THE VERY FIRST SHINY NEW APARTMENT BUILDINGS THAT WAS CONSTRUCTED RIGHT ON THE BANKS OF THE CANAL.

HE USED TO PARTY ON SUNDAYS ON A FORMER EMPTY LOT NEAR THE CANAL… THE SAME LOT WHERE HIS APARTMENT BUILDING NOW STANDS.

SM VO

IN SPITE OF ALL THE SHIFTS IN HIS NEIGHBORHOOD… THE CANAL HAS REMAINED A CONSTANT.

**Janell Bapista: You know, every day I walk my dog along the canal, but I also like to look in the water. I see fish, I take videos of fish. I've seen crabs, eels, raccoons. I mean, this whole little area has a cute little, like, nature thing going on. **

SM VO

NOT THAT HE’S EVER BEEN IN A BOAT ON THE WATER.

**Janell Bapista: **No, no, no, that's not, not where my journey goes._ [Laughs] _

SM VO

BUT HE SEES HIS JOURNEY CONTINUING IN GOWANUS.

**Janell Bapista: **Just like a really sweet neighborhood. It has its own little vibe, but like the canal itself and what I've learned through, like, the dredgers and just people around in the Superfund, and the fact that, you know, there's all these buildings going up. I plan on being here as long as possible.

JGP VO

THE VISION OF NEW DEVELOPMENT HELPED SHAPE HOW THE E-P-A DECIDED TO CLEAN UP THE CANAL… AFTER IT DECLARED THE CANAL A SUPERFUND SITE IN TWO THOUSAND TEN.

**Walter Mugdan: **You gotta be much cleaner if it's going to be a residential use, than if it's going to be industrial.

JGP VO

THAT’S WALTER MUGDAN… A FORMER DEPUTY REGIONAL ADMINISTRATOR FOR THE E-P-A.

SM VO

MORE THAN THIRTY PARTIES ARE ON THE HOOK FOR THE CANAL”S CLEAN UP… INCLUDING CON ED… EXXON MOBIL… NATIONAL GRID… AND THE CITY OF NEW YORK.

THE CLEAN UP PLAN INVOLVES DREDGING. THAT’S SCOOPING OUT THE CONTAMINATED SOIL FROM THE BOTTOM OF THE CANAL.

**Walter Mugdan: **Get all the way down, get all that soft, gooey stuff out.

SM VO

THAT GOOEY STUFF IS KNOWN AS “BLACK MAYONNAISE”... BECAUSE THAT’S KIND OF WHAT IT LOOKS LIKE.

**[MUX: “Black Mayo of The Gowanus”] **

JGP VO

ONCE MOST OF THAT GOOEY STUFF IS OUT… THEN THE E-P-A WILL PLACE A CAP ON TOP TO PREVENT THE CONTAMINATION FROM BEING EXPOSED.

THE CAP IS MEANT TO RESIST EROSION FROM CURRENTS AND BOAT TRAFFIC.

IN SOME AREAS… SEDIMENT WOULD BE MIXED WITH CONCRETE BENEATH THE CAP.

THIS WOULD LOCK THE CONTAMINANTS IN PLACE AND CREATE A THICK SOLID LAYER TO PREVENT WHAT’S BELOW FROM MOVING UP INTO THE CANAL.

SM VO

THE CLEAN UP STRATEGY IS DESIGNED TO BE VERY RESILIENT… SAYS JOHN PRINCE. HE’S THE DEPUTY DIRECTOR OF THE E-P-A SUPERFUND PROGRAM FOR THE NEW YORK REGION.

**John Prince: **It needed to be able to withstand, for instance, unanticipated changes in climate and changes in tide levels and inundations. It's a very, very durable remedy that is able to resist those changes.

**HS VO [MID-ROLL] **

THE CITY's Hazard NYC podcast is supported in part by Brooklyn SolarWorks, a solar design and installation firm dedicated to helping homes and buildings in New York City reduce their energy costs and their carbon footprints. Want to know if your home or building is right for solar? Schedule a free consultation by visiting brooklynsolarworks.com or calling 347-712-3915

**JGP VO [MID-ROLL] **

While change may not happen overnight… the movement for a more just society is gaining momentum.

Tune in to Crooked Media’s Pod Save the People… where every week you can learn about the stories that are impacting communities of color… from people of color… with hosts DeRay Mckesson… Kaya [Kai-uh] Henderson… Myles Johnson… and De'Ara [Dee-r-uh] Balenger.

Pod Save the People gives an exciting blend of politics… culture… and social issues all in one place… from book censorship to discussing Beyonce's impact on society.

Tune in to Pod Save the People every Tuesday on your favorite podcast platform.

[MUX IN: “Math Homework”]

SM VO

RIGHT NOW… THE E-P-A IS DONE DREDGING IN ABOUT A THIRD OF THE CANAL… FROM THE HEAD… DOWN TO THE THIRD STREET BRIDGE.

AND THE AGENCY IS FINISHING UP THE CAP THAT GOES ON TOP. ALL THE WORK FOR THAT SECTION IS EXPECTED TO BE DONE THIS SPRING.

THEN THE WORK WILL START ON THE OTHER REMAINING TWO THIRDS OF THE CANAL.

JGP VO

JUST TO BE CLEAR… THE SUPERFUND SITE IS ONLY THE CANAL. BUT TO MAKE SURE THE CANAL IS ACTUALLY CLEAN… THE FEDS NEEDED TO LOOK BEYOND THE WATER… AT THE LAND.

BULKHEADS AROUND THE CANAL ARE BEING REBUILT FOR BETTER STRUCTURAL SUPPORT OF THE CANAL… AND TO PREVENT CONTAMINATION ON THE LAND FROM LEAKING INTO THE WATER.

IF THAT HAPPENS… IT COULD SET BACK THE CLEAN UP EFFORTS.

SM VO

MUCH OF THE LAND IN THE AREA IS CONTAMINATED… IN MANY PLACES WITH COAL TAR.

JGP VO

COAL TAR… AS WE MENTIONED EARLIER… IS A BYPRODUCT FROM GAS PRODUCTION.

IT CONTAINS TOXINS THAT CAN LEAD TO NAUSEA… VOMITING… AND DIARRHEA IF IT’S BREATHED IN. SOME OTHER CHEMICALS IN COAL TAR HAVE BEEN LINKED TO CANCER.

SM VO

DEVELOPERS HAVE PLANS TO BUILD ON THIS CONTAMINATED LAND.

SO… THE COAL TAR AND OTHER CONTAMINANTS MUST BE CLEANED UP IN ORDER TO PROTECT THE FUTURE RESIDENTS FROM HARM.

JGP VO

AND… OF COURSE… TO PREVENT THE WATER OF THE CANAL FROM GETTING DIRTIER.

[MUX OUT: “Math Homework”]

SM VO

HERE’S JOHN AGAIN.

**John Prince: **All of those cleanups are now needed; they all need to happen now because they need to happen before the development.

JGP VO

CLEANING UP THOSE LANDS IS A PROCESS OVERSEEN BY THE STATE DEPARTMENT OF ENVIRONMENTAL CONSERVATION.

BUT AS PART OF THE SUPERFUND PROCESS… THE E-P-A IS BASICALLY LOOKING OVER THE STATE’S SHOULDER TO MAKE SURE THE CLEAN UP IS UP TO SNUFF.

**John Prince: **To protect the canal, we'll step in.

[MUX IN: “Your Own Devices”]

JGP VO

ON MANY PARCELS OF LAND… THE DEVELOPERS WHO WANT TO BUILD THERE HAVE TO REMEDIATE THE SITES THEMSELVES.

GENERALLY… THEY’LL DO THAT BY REMOVING THE CONTAMINATED SOIL.

SM VO

THAT STRATEGY WILL PREVENT THE CONTAMINATION FROM MOVING INTO THE CANAL… THE E-P-A SAYS.

JGP VO

THE E-P-A’S INVOLVEMENT IS ESPECIALLY IMPORTANT… BECAUSE MAYOR BILL DE BLASIO’S ADMINISTRATION REZONED THE GOWANUS AREA IN 20-21.

THAT MEANS DEVELOPMENT RULES CHANGED TO ALLOW FOR MORE HOUSING TO BE BUILT IN A SECTION OF THE NEIGHBORHOOD THAT TOOK UP ABOUT EIGHTY BLOCKS.

[MUX OUT: “Your Own Devices”]

SM VO

DEVELOPERS ARE SLATED TO BUILD OVER EIGHT THOUSAND APARTMENTS… INCLUDING ON THE BANKS OF THE GOWANUS CANAL AND NEARBY AREAS THAT ARE CONTAMINATED.

ONE OF THOSE DEVELOPERS IS NICK SILVERS. HE’S A FOUNDING PARTNER AT THE DEVELOPMENT FIRM TAVROS. HE WANTED…

**Nick Silvers: **To be able to be in the center of the donut with Boerum Hill and Cobble Hill and Carroll Gardens and Park Slope, beautiful tree-lined brownstone streets, as spectacular as Brooklyn can offer.

JGP VO

THOSE NEIGHBORHOODS NICK MENTIONED SURROUND GOWANUS. THEY ARE DENSER AND MORE RESIDENTIAL THAN GOWANUS ITSELF… THEY’RE KNOWN FOR HISTORIC TOWNHOUSES THAT SELL FOR MILLIONS OF DOLLARS.

SM VO

IN GOWANUS… BECAUSE OF THE HISTORIC POLLUTION AND INDUSTRIAL CHARACTER… THE NEIGHBORHOOD… _FEELS _DIFFERENT AND HASN’T BEEN AS DEVELOPED.

TAVROS… ALONG WITH ANOTHER REAL ESTATE DEVELOPER CALLED CHARNEY COMPANIES… IS BUILDING THREE NEW RESIDENTIAL PROJECTS IN GOWANUS WITH OVER A THOUSAND APARTMENTS IN ALL.

THERE WILL BE SHOPS AND ARTIST STUDIOS… ALONG WITH THE APARTMENTS. ONE OF THE THREE PROJECTS THE FIRMS ARE DEVELOPING WILL SIT RIGHT ON THE BANK OF THE CANAL… ON A PIECE OF LAND THAT WAS ONCE A LUMBER YARD.

JGP VO

NICK SAYS WHAT MADE THE AREA ATTRACTIVE TO HIM AS A DEVELOPER WAS…

**Nick Silvers: **The idea that there was this completely untapped neighborhood waiting to emerge that had created its own culture over time, was a hub for artists and artists, studios, and creativity, and then the idea that the city was going through a very long thoughtful process to try to nurture and celebrate and, you know, bring that neighborhood forward.

JGP VO

THE DEVELOPERS HAVE TO REMEDIATE THE CONTAMINATED SOIL ON THEIR LOT… TO STRINGENT SPECIFICATIONS… OR ELSE THEY WON’T BE ABLE TO GET A BUILDING PERMIT FROM THE CITY.

**Nick Silvers: **I can tell you that we are being extraordinarily, strictly reviewed at every single turn.

[MUX IN: “1st go Interstitial 4 - Hopeful”]

SM VO

A SIDE NOTE… EXISTING PROPERTIES AROUND THE CANAL… THOSE NOT BEING REDEVELOPED… THEY MAY BE SITTING ON TOP OF LAND LACED WITH COAL TAR AND OTHER CONTAMINANTS TOO.

THE STATE IS OFFERING VAPOR INTRUSION TESTING TO PROPERTY OWNERS TO DETERMINE IF THAT CONTAMINATION BENEATH THEIR HOMES AND BUSINESSES IS GETTING INDOORS.

IF ANYTHING OF CONCERN IS FOUND… THE STATE CAN INSTALL A SYSTEM TO VENT OUT ANY HARMFUL FUMES TO PREVENT PEOPLE FROM INHALING THEM.

JGP VO

THIS IS ESSENTIALLY WHAT THE E-P-A IS DOING FOR PROPERTIES AT THE MEEKER AVENUE PLUME SUPERFUND SITE IN NORTH BROOKLYN.

BUT THE RESIDENTS WHO MOVE INTO DEVELOPMENTS WON’T NEED TO WORRY ABOUT VAPOR INTRUSION… BREATHING TOXIC FUMES… AS LONG AS THE LAND IS CLEANED UP THOROUGHLY.

[MUX Out: “1st go Interstitial 4 - Hopeful”]

SM VO

GOWANUS ISN’T JUST CONTAMINATED. IT’S A FLOOD ZONE. NEW DEVELOPMENT IS DESIGNED TO BE RESILIENT TO FLOODS.

THAT MEANS RESIDENTS WHO OCCUPY THE NEW BUILDINGS WILL BENEFIT FROM BETTER PROTECTION.

TAVROS AND CHARNEY’S THREE NEW DEVELOPMENTS WILL BE ELEVATED BETWEEN TEN AND FOURTEEN FEET ABOVE THE FLOODPLAIN.

THERE WILL ALSO BE FLOOD BARRIERS SET UP TO ENCIRCLE THE BUILDINGS IN CASE OF A STORM.

JGP VO

GOVERNMENT OFFICIALS AND THE DEVELOPERS SAY THE NEW BUILDINGS WILL ACTUALLY PRESENT MORE OPPORTUNITIES TO CAPTURE STORMWATER IN THE NEIGHBORHOOD TOO.

THAT’S BECAUSE THE BUILDINGS ARE DESIGNED TO RETAIN WATER UNDER A NEW CITY RULE.

EACH OF THE PROJECTS TAVROS AND CHARNEY ARE WORKING ON HAVE THEIR OWN TANKS ON SITE THAT CAPTURE THE WATER.

SM VO

HERE’S JUSTIN PELSINGER… A PARTNER AND C-O-O AT CHARNEY COMPANIES.

**Justin Pelsinger: **They're typically housed in like the basement or the lowest floor of the building, it's essentially like this massive concrete room.

SM VO

HE SAYS THE ROOMS ARE WATERPROOF AND HAVE A SUBMARINE STYLE WINDOW ON THEM.

**Justin Pelsinger: **It sort of captures all of the water, it sits there, and then it very, very slowly moves it out to the city system as to not, like, overflow the system.

SM VO

THE BUILDINGS WILL ALSO FEATURE GREENERY… WHICH HELPS TO ABSORB RAINWATER.

IT’S IMPORTANT FOR STORMWATER AND WASTEWATER TO BE MANAGED… AND PREVENT IT FROM HITTING THE SEWER SYSTEM.

JGP VO

THAT’S BECAUSE RAINFALL IS PROJECTED TO BECOME MORE FREQUENT AND MORE SEVERE AS A RESULT OF CLIMATE CHANGE.

WHEN IT RAINS HEAVY… CERTAIN AREAS IN GOWANUS FLOOD.

SM VO

AND THE CANAL BECOMES ITS STINKIEST SELF.

JANELL… WHO WE MET EARLIER… CAN EXPLAIN…

**Janell Bapista: **There are times where there's just poop coming from the drain. I'll say it: poop.

SM VO

THE SMELL COMES FROM THE RAW SEWAGE THAT GETS DUMPED INTO THE WATER.

MOST OF THE CITY’S SEWER SYSTEM HANDLES BOTH STORMWATER AND WASTEWATER. SO… IF IT RAINS A LOT… THE SYSTEM GETS OVERWHELMED WITH STORMWATER.

JGP VO

AND THAT MEANS THE WASTEWATER… YOU KNOW… THE WATER THAT COMES FROM TOILETS… SHOWERS… AND DISHWASHERS… CAN’T MAKE IT TO THE TREATMENT PLANT.

SM VO

INSTEAD… IT FLOWS… RIGHT INTO THE CANAL. IN GOWANUS… THIS IS KNOWN AS A POONAMI.

[WATER SFX]

JGP VO

ANOTHER PLACE THIS HAPPENS… AS YOU MIGHT REMEMBER FROM OUR FIRST EPISODE… IS NEWTOWN CREEK.

SM VO

TO ADDRESS THE POONAMI PROBLEM… THE CITY IS BUILDING TWO RETENTION TANKS.

TOGETHER THEY WILL CAPTURE TWELVE MILLION GALLONS OF THE SEWAGE AND STORMWATER THAT WOULD OTHERWISE SPILL RIGHT INTO THE CANAL.

JGP VO

THE E-P-A AND THE CITY SAY THE TANKS WILL SIGNIFICANTLY CUT DOWN ON POOP GETTING INTO THE CANAL. THAT’S EVEN WITH NEW DEVELOPMENT IN THE NEIGHBORHOOD _AND _FUTURE INCREASED RAINFALL…

BUT HERE’S THE RUB… THE TANKS WON’T BE READY BEFORE THE E-P-A INSTALLS THE CAP IN THE CANAL.

**John Prince: Be nice if the tanks were done first, not going to happen. **

SM VO

THAT’S JOHN PRINCE AGAIN… WITH THE E-P-A. THE CITY SAYS IT’S AIMING TO COMPLETE THE TANKS IN 20-30.

THAT MEANS UNTIL THEN… THE POONAMIS WILL KEEP HAPPENING ... AND THE SOLIDS IN THOSE WILL SINK TO THE BOTTOM OF THE CANAL… AND LAND ON TOP OF THE NEW CAP.

**John Prince: **So, how much recontamination is going to happen over that period of time? We don't know. But if there is recontamination, we're going to have to do something about that, to sort of bring us back to a clean surface once the tank is built.

JGP VO

BETWEEN THOSE TANKS… NEW SEWER PROJECTS… AND THE FEATURES OF THE NEW BUILDINGS… E-P-A AND CITY OFFICIALS SAY FLOODING WON’T GET WORSE IN THE NEIGHBORHOOD.

BUT SOME LOCALS WHO HAVE LONG DEALT WITH FLOODING ARE SKEPTICAL… AND SCARED. THEY DON’T WANT TO BE LEFT BEHIND AS THE AREA EVOLVES FROM CLIMATE CHANGE… AND ALL THAT NEW DEVELOPMENT.

Georgia Parks: They're compromising what ineffective infrastructure there is already.

SM VO

THAT’S GEORGIA PARKS. OVER 40 YEARS AGO… SHE MOVED INTO HER ROW HOME ON THE BORDER OF CARROLL GARDENS AND GOWANUS… JUST A BLOCK WEST OF THE CANAL.

Georgia Parks: But I knew the canal was filthy. I mean, it was, people talked about the canal, we talked about it all the time. You could smell it all the time. You know, you could see the slick on it. You could see – and it's not an exaggeration – you know, rats floating, dead big… they looked like inflated Michelin men.

JGP VO

THE NEIGHBORHOOD HAS CHANGED A LOT SINCE THEN. AND SO HAS GEORGIA’S APPROACH TO FLOODING.

SHE SAYS SHE NOW KEEPS TOWELS ON HAND SOLELY TO CLEAN UP AFTER THE STORMS. AND SHE PUT THE LEGS OF HER FURNITURE IN PLASTIC DELI CONTAINERS TO PROTECT THEM.

THE STORM SURGE FROM HURRICANE SANDY SENT THE CANAL OVERFLOWING INTO HER HOME. BUT THAT WAS ONCE. MORE FREQUENTLY SHE’S DEALT WITH FLOODING OF A DIFFERENT KIND.

Georgia Parks: In a rain at high tide, hello, everything was coming in up through my toilet. And I had floor drains. And this went on repeatedly.

SM VO

SHE SAYS SHE ADDED A CHECK VALVE AND INSTALLED A RETENTION TANK DUG INTO HER BACKYARD TO CAPTURE STORMWATER.

BUT DURING RECENT HEAVY RAINS… SHE FOUND WATER IN HER BASEMENT WHEN THE STREETS FLOODED AND THE FLOODS CAME UP OVER THE SIDEWALK.

**Georgia Parks: **The contractor is going to come in and build me a step wall in the basement, so that if the basement floods, it doesn't run into the rest of the basement.

JGP VO

GEORGIA ISN’T THE ONLY ONE TO TRY TO STEM FLOODING IN HER HOME. THE CITY HAS MADE SOME MOVES TOO.

IN THE LAST FIVE YEARS… THE CITY HAS INSTALLED NEW CATCH BASINS AND STORM SEWERS TO IMPROVE DRAINAGE IN VARIOUS SPOTS AROUND THE CANAL. AND IT’S WORKING ON DOING MORE.

NINTH STREET IN GOWANUS… JUST DOWN THE BLOCK FROM THE CANAL… WAS ONE OF THE AREAS THAT GOT A DRAINAGE UPGRADE. IT WAS FINISHED IN 20-20.

BUT LOCALS SAY THE STREET HAS STILL FLOODED DURING SOME HEAVY RAINS.

SM VO

SHARON GOLDBERG OWNS A POLE DANCE STUDIO ON THE STREET. SHE SAID IT WAS NOT SPARED DURING THE INTENSE RAINSTORM LAST SEPTEMBER.

**Sharon Goldberg: **We have three steps up and three steps down. They built that for water prevention, which is great. It's a mini levee system.

SM VO

BUT THAT DAY THE WATER OVERFLOWED THE STEPS. SHARON SAYS SHE AND SOME FRIENDS WORKED HARD TO GET THE WATER OUT.

**Sharon Goldberg: **It took a lot out of us. We were on top of this for two weeks, like nonstop. Just, you know, our fuses kept blowing from all the fans and dehumidifiers. It was like a giant white noise machine in here. People were tripping over wires. It's just a lot to deal with.

JGP VO

THE WALLS GOT SO WET THAT THE GLUE HOLDING UP THE MIRRORS ON THE STUDIO WALLS DISSOLVED AND THE MIRRORS FELL OFF.

AND IT KEPT RAINING.

SO… SHARON SAYS SHE ROLLED UP SOME RUGS AND SHOVED THEM AGAINST THE DOOR TO CREATE A BARRIER.

IT WASN’T THE FIRST TIME SHARON HAD BEEN FLOODED… AND SHE DOESN’T THINK IT’LL BE THE LAST.

**Sharon Goldberg: **We're trying to figure out what to do.

SM VO

ANDREA PARKER IS THE EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR OF THE GOWANUS CANAL CONSERVANCY. SHE SAYS HOMEOWNERS AND BUSINESS OWNERS SHOULD NOT BE ON THEIR OWN TO DEAL WITH THE FLOODING.

**Andrea Parker: There needs to be more support for property owners and tenants to manage emergencies like this. But then it’s retrofits as well. Can you raise the electrical? Can you flood proof your basement? **

SM VO

SHE LOOKS BEYOND THE PART OF THE NEIGHBORHOOD GETTING NEW DEVELOPMENT… AND WORRIES ABOUT THE FUTURE.

Andrea Parker: As we get down the canal towards the bay, towards Red Hook, that we have the much larger areas that would need substantial vertical protection around them, which would not reduce the groundwater. And that's, I think, where the conversations really need to happen and the larger planning really needs to happen.

JGP VO

EVERYTHING HAPPENING IN THE NEIGHBORHOOD… THE CONSTRUCTION OF TANKS AND NEW BUILDINGS… THE DREDGING OF THE CANAL AND INSTALLATION OF THE NEW CAP… DEALING WITH THE CONTAMINATION ON LAND… ANDREA SAYS IT’S ALL CHANGING THE CHARACTER OF GOWANUS.

Andrea Parker: What Gowanus was was an incredible slice of toxic wonderland. We're never going to be there again. But I don't know that we want to be there again. Where we will be is a future that's going to be a lot cleaner, and have really productive and awesome public space for the larger community.** **

JGP VO

AND THAT LARGER COMMUNITY IS A REASON ANDREA IS OPTIMISTIC ABOUT THE FUTURE.

**Andrea Parker: **I'm hopeful that we're going to continue to get more people who are obsessed and who can continue the lore and the mythology of the place, even if the canal is not toxic anymore, how can we continue remembering that legacy of crazy feral wildness, as well as the incredible productive nature of this place from industry to salt marsh to tide mills.

[THEME MUX IN]

JGP VO [CREDITS]

THIS HAS BEEN EPISODE FOUR OF HAZARD N-Y-C… A SPECIAL FOUR PART LIMITED SERIES FROM F-A-Q N-Y-C.

THE SHOW IS WRITTEN AND HOSTED BY SAMANTHA MALDONADO…

AND ME… JORDAN GASS-POORE… THE CREATOR AND EDITOR OF THE SHOW.

OUR ENGINEERS ARE ADAM CHIMERA AND MARK BUSH… WHO ALSO DID OUR SOUND DESIGN.

MUSIC FOR THE SHOW WAS COMPOSED BY NICK PENNINGTON.

ARTWORK BY MATTHEW FLEMING.

A SPECIAL THANKS TO GIGGLE THE OZONE FOR LETTING US USE THEIR SONG… BLACK MAYO OF THE GOWANUS.

AND STEVE SUFFET… WHOSE WORDS AND MUSIC WERE HEARD IN THE SONG… DOWN THE GOWANUS.

THANKS FOR LISTENING.

[THEME MUX OUT]

**HS VO [POST-ROLL] **

FAQ NYC is part of The City, a nonprofit, nonpartisan newsroom dedicated to hard-hitting reporting that serves the people of New York. Our work is freely available to everyone, and is supported by listeners and readers like you — go to the city dot nyc slash give if you’d like to pitch in. Harry Siegel is FAQ NYC’s executive producer. The pod also receives support from P&T Knitwear, an independent bookstore, cafe, and event space on Manhattan's Lower East Side with a podcast studio that can be freely reserved for community use. The pod is a proud member of the Brickhouse cooperative of independent journalists, critics and artists, and is affiliated with the Colin Powell School at CUNY’s City College where co-host Christina Greer is one of the Moynihan Public Scholars inaugural fellows.

This story was originally published by THE CITY. Sign up to get the latest New York City news delivered to you each morning.

A small patch of land and the buildings located on it contain radiological contamination, posing a cancer risk for workers on the site and nearby neighbors. Work is ongoing to get rid of the threat — but it hasn’t been easy to get there.

Samantha Maldonado, senior reporter at THE CITY,  and independent journalist Jordan Gass-Pooré dig in on episode three of Hazard NYC, a four-part FAQ NYC Presents limited series exploring the city’s Superfund sites.

See and read more about The Wolff-Alport Chemical Company Superfund site here.

If you like what you’re hearing, please spread the word, and subscribe on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube or wherever podcasts are found.

THE CITY is a nonprofit newsroom that serves the people of New York. Sign up for our SCOOP newsletter and get exclusive stories, helpful tips, a guide to low-cost events, and everything you need to know to be a well-informed New Yorker.

Read the episode transcript below:

**HS VO [PRE-ROLL] **

It’s FAQ NYC Off Cycle, where the New Yorkest podcast from the newsroom by and for New Yorkers, THE CITY, steps back to take different and deeper looks into some of the things that are always happening here in the only place in the world. You’re about to hear part 3 of Hazard NYC, a special four-part series, with a new episode out each Saturday, looking at a different one of New York’s four federal superfund sites. It’s part of the Pulitzer Center’s nationwide Connected Coastlines reporting initiative. Find more at pulitzercenter.org/connected-coastlines. Hazard NYC is also made possible by the generous support of the Fund for Investigative Journalism. Hazard NYC is supported in part by Newlab – a platform helping deep-tech startups succeed to address the climate crisis. Learn more at newlab.com. Let’s jump right in.

SM VO

IT WAS LATE AUGUST LAST YEAR… AND I WAS IN RIDGEWOOD, QUEENS, IN AN OVERGROWN LOT RIGHT NEAR THE BORDER OF BUSHWICK, BROOKLYN.

I WATCHED AS THREE MEN TRIED TO HAUL OUT OLD CARS FROM THE LOT BEHIND THEIR AUTO SHOP.

[SOUND OF VAN REVVING ENGINE]

SM VO

THE MEN WERE USING A RED VAN TO PULL OUT A JUNKED UP SILVER SEDAN. IT WASN’T GOING SMOOTHLY. THE VAN WAS SMOKING… AND THE BUMPER CAME OFF THE CAR.

THE MAN DRIVING THE VAN… ALBERTO… OWNED THE AUTO SHOP. HE HAD WORKED THERE FOR OVER 25 YEARS.

BY THE NEXT DAY… HE AND HIS STAFF WOULD HAVE TO LEAVE.

[MUX IN: “Hazard NYC Theme”]

**Alberto Rodriguez: **I have to clean it. (Sam: The whole yard?) Alberto: Yes.

SM VO

THEIR MOVE WOULD BE THE FIRST STEP IN CLEANING UP A SUPERFUND SITE.

THIS IS HAZARD N-Y-C… A MINI SERIES FROM F-A-Q N-Y-C.

I’M SAMANTHA MALDONADO… A REPORTER WITH THE CITY.

JGP VO

AND I’M JORDAN GASS POORE… AN INDEPENDENT JOURNALIST AND PODCAST PRODUCER.

ON THIS EPISODE… WE HEAD TO A SMALL PLOT OF LAND WHERE OFFICIALS FOUND RADIOLOGICAL CONTAMINATION.

[MUX OUT: “Hazard NYC Theme”]

SM VO

ALBERTO’S AUTO SHOP SITS ON TOP OF LAND FORMERLY OCCUPIED BY THE WOLFF ALPORT CHEMICAL COMPANY.

WE’LL GET TO WHAT THAT WAS IN A BIT… BUT THE THING TO KNOW NOW IS THAT FOR YEARS… ALBERTO AND HIS STAFF HAD BEEN WORKING AROUND POTENTIALLY DANGEROUS LEVELS OF RADIATION.

ALBERTO SAYS HE WAS CONCERNED ABOUT THE HEALTH RISKS ASSOCIATED WITH THAT RADIATION.

**Alberto Rodriguez: **Right now he got, like, a radiation on the floor. I never know that. Became very bad. (Sam: Are you worried?) Alberto: Yes.

SM VO

ALBERTO AND HIS STAFF WEAR MATCHING NAVY BLUE UNIFORMS WITH THEIR NAMES EMBROIDERED ON THEM.

AND THEY’RE SURROUNDED BY METAL… AND THE RUMBLING OF ENGINES AWAITING REPAIR.

**Alberto Rodriguez: **27 years in the business. And by now, I don't have a business now if everything is shut up. I'm crazy right now. I've got my hands tied.

SM VO

ALBERTO DID END UP MOVING. SO DID THE OTHER BUSINESSES ON THE BLOCK… A DELI AND ANOTHER AUTO REPAIR SHOP.

WHAT WAS HAPPENING TO THEM NOW HAD EVERYTHING TO DO WITH THE LAND’S HISTORY OF CONTAMINATION.

FUNNY ENOUGH… WHEN I VISITED ALBERTO AT WORK… IT WAS AROUND THE SAME TIME A CERTAIN BLOCKBUSTER MOVIE HIT THEATERS.

JGP VO

I’M GUESSING YOU MEAN OPPENHEIMER… IF WE’RE TALKING ABOUT RADIATION.

SM VO

THAT’S RIGHT.

JGP VO

SO… WAS THE ATOMIC BOMB INVOLVED SOMEHOW?

SM VO

YUP.

[ARCHIVE]

THE RADIOLOGICAL CONTAMINATION ON THE LAND ALBERTO AND HIS STAFF WORKED ON CAME FROM THE WOLFF ALPORT CHEMICAL COMPANY… WE MENTIONED THIS EARLIER. THAT COMPANY HELPED THE U-S DEVELOP NUCLEAR WEAPONS.

**Matthew Bolton: So, **I think that the key to understanding this story is understanding the kind of history of nuclear New York.

JGP VO

THAT’S MATTHEW BOLTON… A POLITICAL SCIENCE PROFESSOR AT PACE UNIVERSITY.

**Matthew Bolton: **The Manhattan Project was so named because it began in Manhattan.

JGP VO

DURING WORLD WAR TWO… THE MANHATTAN PROJECT WAS THE COUNTRY’S SECRET EFFORT TO BUILD AN ATOMIC BOMB.

MATTHEW SAYS THE PROJECT WAS A COLLABORATION BETWEEN THE FEDS AND OTHER SCIENTIFIC MINDS FROM AROUND THE WORLD.

**Matthew Bolton: **The early Manhattan Project was a massive, like, subcontracting effort, where they tried to buy the expertise, the raw materials, the labor, the skills of the private sector in-and-around New York City initially, and most of those were in kind of, like, peripheral industrial zones.

JGP VO

AFTER THE WAR… THE FEDS CREATED THE ATOMIC ENERGY COMMISSION TO RAMP UP THE DEVELOPMENT OF NUCLEAR WEAPONS.

THE COMMISSION… A PREDECESSOR TO THE U-S DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY… CONTRACTED WITH THE WOLFF ALPORT CHEMICAL COMPANY IN THE LATE 19-40S.

UNTIL THE MID-19-50S… THE COMPANY PROCESSED MONAZITE SANDS TO EXTRACT RARE EARTH MINERALS THEY COULD SELL.

THAT SAND CONTAINS THE RADIOACTIVE SUBSTANCES THORIUM AND URANIUM…

…SO DOES THE WASTE THAT WAS CREATED IN THE PROCESS.

THE COMPANY DISPOSED OF THEIR WASTE PRODUCT… BY BURYING IT IN THE SOIL… AND DUMPING IT DOWN THE NEARBY SEWERS.

Matthew Bolton: The Manhattan Project and the early nuclear weapons program after the war are happening at breakneck speed. There aren't very clear radiation protection standards in place, and even the ones that were were often not followed carefully.

[MUX IN: “Never Alone”]

SM VO

THE WOLFF ALPORT CHEMICAL COMPANY KEPT DUMPING ITS WASTE AROUND UNTIL 19-47… WHEN THE FEDS TOLD THE COMPANY TO STOP.

THE COMPANY THEN SOLD THE WASTE TO THE U-S ATOMIC ENERGY COMMISSION.

IN 19-54… THE COMPANY CLOSED… BUT WHAT WAS LEFT BEHIND… LIVES ON.

JGP VO

TESTING IN THE LATE EIGHTIES REVEALED RADIOLOGICAL CONTAMINATION… IN THE SOIL AND IN THE FLOORS AND WALLS OF THE BUILDINGS ON THE SITE.

BECAUSE THE MONAZITE SAND WAS SHIPPED TO THE COMPANY’S SITE VIA RAIL… CONTAMINATION WAS ALSO FOUND BENEATH A RAILROAD SPUR.

BUT THE LEVELS WERE BELOW REGULATORY STANDARDS AT THE TIME.

SM VO

EVEN SO… THE CITY AND STATE KEPT INVESTIGATING THE SITE IN THE FOLLOWING DECADES.

THE CONTAMINATION STAYED THE SAME… BUT THE REGULATORY STANDARDS FOR RISKY LEVELS BECAME STRICTER.

JGP VO

THE FEDERAL AGENCY FOR TOXIC SUBSTANCES AND DISEASE REGISTRY CONDUCTED A REVIEW OF THE SITE IN 20-12.

OFFICIALS FOUND POSSIBLE HEALTH RISKS TO WORKERS IN THE AREA… AND TO PEOPLE WHO OFTEN STROLLED ALONG THE SIDEWALKS.

THOSE FINDINGS COMPELLED THE STATE TO ASK THE E-P-A TO GET INVOLVED.

IN 20-14… THE E-P-A DESIGNATED THE TRIANGULAR PATCH OF LAND A SUPERFUND SITE AND GOT MOVING TO CLEAN IT UP.

THAT’S AROUND THE TIME JULIE DENT LEARNED MORE ABOUT THE AREA.

[MUX OUT: “Never Alone”]

**Julie Dent: **I grew up in Bushwick, you always heard about it, you know, they did something up here with the atomic bomb, so on and so forth. But then you don't really put so much emphasis on it at the time. So, when they decided whatever they were going to do, and, you know, with the environmental protection and cleanup, that's when I started really looking into it then.

JGP VO

JULIE WAS ON THE LOCAL COMMUNITY BOARD FOR OVER 30 YEARS… AND ATTENDED COUNTLESS MEETINGS ABOUT THE SUPERFUND SITE.

ONE DAY… JULIE SAYS SHE NOTICED SOME WORKERS EXAMINING THE SIDEWALKS IN THE AREA.

**Julie Dent: **You know me, I said, ‘Well, what are they doing to the sidewalk?’ So I went down and I asked them, so they told me what they were testing for. And then someone from the Environmental Protection, they came, and they met with me and they explained what was going on.

SM VO

THE E-P-A WAS TESTING FOR RADON. THAT’S A RADIOACTIVE GAS THAT CAN CAUSE LUNG CANCER. IT’S A DECAYED PRODUCT OF THORIUM AND URANIUM.

THERE’S A DAYCARE CENTER AND A PUBLIC ELEMENTARY SCHOOL ABOUT TWO BLOCKS AWAY FROM THE WOLFF ALPORT CHEMICAL COMPANY SITE.

AND FOR 25 YEARS… JULIE WAS THE DIRECTOR OF THAT DAY CARE. SHE SAYS SHE WAS WORRIED THE KIDS MIGHT GET SICK.

**Julie Dent: **Because you do hear about some of the sites where there's a lot of chemicals or whatever, and they say children end up getting cancer or, you know, different things like that. So, of course, you're concerned about the children. Their safety, you know, is paramount.

SM VO

THE E-P-A ENDED UP TESTING THE DAY CARE CENTER AND THE SCHOOL... TO MAKE SURE EVERYTHING WAS OKAY.

**Julie Dent: **When they did the testing inside of the center they put down little containers or something, and they would put them throughout the center over the weekend, and then they would come in early Monday morning before the children arrived and they would pick them up.

JGP VO

ANDREW KARAM… A RADIATION EXPERT AND HEALTH PHYSICIST… PERFORMED SOME OF THAT TESTING AT THE TIME.

**Andy Karam: **We spent an awful lot of time trying to make sure that there wasn't any way that the radioactivity could have escaped from the site.

JGP VO

HE STUDIED THE WOLFF-ALPORT SITE FOR SEVERAL YEARS… STARTING IN 2009. \

AFTER TESTING… THE E-P-A DETERMINED THE DAY CARE CENTER WAS IN THE CLEAR.

BUT OFFICIALS _DID _FIND SOMETHING AT THE SCHOOL.

**Andy Karam: **The only place where we found elevated levels was inside a hole in the concrete in the basement, in a place where no student or no adult would go.

JGP VO

THE E-P-A SEALED THE HOLE AND MONITORED IT. ANDREW WASN’T CONCERNED.

Andrew Karam: If somebody farts in an elevator, it smells worse than if they're outside. And basically, that's the effect that they had there. There was this little pocket that everything was going into, and it just collected there.

JGP VO

ON AND AROUND THE SITE ITSELF… THE E-P-A TOOK OTHER MEASURES TO PROTECT PEOPLE AND WORKERS.

HERE’S LORA SMITH-STAINES... A HUMAN HEALTH RISK ASSESSOR WITH THE E-P-A.

**Lora Smith Staine: **The more time that you're exposed to something, the more likely that it could impact your DNA and lead to cancer. You want to decrease your time, increase your distance, and increase your shielding from these sorts of contaminants.

SM VO

TO BLOCK RADIATION EXPOSURE… THE E-P-A INSTALLED SHIELDING MADE OF LEAD… STEEL… AND CONCRETE INSIDE SOME OF THE PROPERTIES ON THE SITE AND OVER THE SIDEWALK.

THEY ALSO INSTALLED A MITIGATION SYSTEM IN ONE OF THE BUILDINGS.

JGP VO

THIS IS BASICALLY LIKE WHAT WE SAW IN THE HOME OF AN EAST WILLIAMSBURG RESIDENT IN THE PREVIOUS EPISODE ABOUT THE MEEKER AVENUE PLUME.

SM VO

THE SYSTEM HELPS VENT OUT ANY POSSIBLE TOXIC FUMES SO THEY DON’T BUILD UP INDOORS.

HERE’S E-P-A PROJECT MANAGER TOM MONGELLI.

**Tom Mongelli: **Depending on where you're looking in the building, the mitigation measures were successful in reducing radiation exposure, anywhere from 60 to about 95%, which is great, but they were always intended to be a short term solution to a larger problem.

JGP VO

THE E-P-A WANTED TO DO MORE IN THE LONG-TERM TO CLEAN UP THE SITE.

SO… THEY CAME UP WITH A PLAN.

THE FIRST STEP WAS GETTING THE SITE CLEARED.

**Tom Mongelli: **It's the tenant relocations.

JGP VO

EVEN THOUGH THE WOLFF ALPORT CHEMICAL COMPANY CLOSED DECADES AGO… THE AREA REMAINED HOME TO A FEW LOCAL BUSINESSES.

IN RECENT YEARS THOSE INCLUDED… A BEVERAGE DISTRIBUTOR… AN ICE SELLER… A CONSTRUCTION COMPANY… AN IRONWORK COMPANY… AND A DELI.

BUT AS PART OF THE CLEANUP PLAN FOR THE SITE… WHICH THE E-P-A DEVELOPED IN 20-17… ALL THE BUSINESSES HAD TO LEAVE.

SM VO

JUST LIKE ALBERTO… THE OWNER OF THE AUTO SHOP WE MET AT THE TOP OF THE EPISODE.

THAT CLEARS THE WAY FOR THE NEXT STEPS OF THE CLEAN UP.

**Tom Mongelli: **The building demolition, which, you know, won't be completed until maybe early summer 2024. The soil excavation would follow. And that should take another one-to-two years to complete. That’s EPA’s portion of the cleanup.

SM VO

NEW YORK CITY IS ALSO ON THE HOOK FOR PART OF THE CLEANUP… SINCE IT OWNS THE SEWERS AND SIDEWALKS THAT ARE CONTAMINATED.

THE CITY WILL HAVE TO REMEDIATE THOSE AREAS TOO.

THE IDEA IS TO GET RID OF ALL THE POLLUTION… OR AS MUCH AS POSSIBLE… TO REDUCE PEOPLE’S EXPOSURE TO RADIATION.

IF THE WASTE REMAINED… IT WOULD TAKE LITERALLY BILLIONS OF YEARS FOR IT TO DECAY.

**Tom Mongelli: **It is a long-term health concern for people who are living or working in those buildings. And it would continue to be essentially forever.

JGP VO

AS EARLY AS 20-17… THE BUSINESS OWNERS KNEW THEY’D HAVE TO PACK UP.

BUT THEY DIDN’T.

…EVEN WHEN THE E-P-A SET SET A DEADLINE FOR THEM IN 20-21 TO LEAVE BY THE FOLLOWING YEAR.

**Tom Mongelli: **You know, that deadline came and went. And so we did, unfortunately, have to end up going through the Department of Justice and taking the tenants to court.

SM VO

IN 20-23… A FEDERAL JUDGE ORDERED ALL THE BUSINESSES OUT BY THE END OF THAT AUGUST.

THAT WAS WHEN I WAS WITH ALBERTO AS HE STARTED THE MOVE OUT PROCESS.

THE BUSINESS OWNERS WEREN’T PLEASED… EVEN THOUGH THE E-P-A SAID THEY’D GET MONEY TO HELP WITH MOVING COSTS.

**Andy Bermeo: **I haven't seen nobody turn to a zombie or anything or die, so...

JGP VO

ANDY BERMEO WAS AN AUTO SHOP OWNER ON THE SITE. HE SAID HE THOUGHT THE OFFER WASN’T ENOUGH… AND THAT THE CONCERNS AROUND CONTAMINATION WERE OVERBLOWN.

**Andy Bermeo: **This sucks, but it is what it is. You gotta move on. You gotta, you know, do what you got to do.

JGP VO

ANDY’S BUSINESS WAS THE FINAL ONE LEFT AT THE SITE LAST SEPTEMBER… BUT HE EVENTUALLY LEFT TOO.

HE GOT 40-THOUSAND-DOLLARS FROM THE E-P-A AND SET UP HIS SHOP IN GREENPOINT.

SM VO

FOR WHAT IT’S WORTH… THE RISKS OF CANCER AND OTHER HEALTH EFFECTS FROM RADIATION EXPOSURE REALLY DEPENDS ON THE AMOUNT… AND FOR HOW LONG.

**HS VO [mid-ROLL] **

THE CITY's Hazard NYC podcast is supported in part by Brooklyn SolarWorks, a solar design and installation firm dedicated to helping homes and buildings in New York City reduce their energy costs and their carbon footprints. Want to know if your home or building is right for solar? Schedule a free consultation by visiting brooklynsolarworks.com or calling 347-712-3915

[WALKING AMBI]

JGP VO

LAST FALL… I WENT OUT TO THE WOLFF-ALPORT SITE WITH ANDREW TO SEE HOW HE MEASURED RADIATION LEVELS.

HE BROUGHT TWO DIFFERENT TYPES OF RADIATION DETECTORS THAT… WHEN USED TOGETHER… WOULD HELP US GET A BETTER IDEA OF THE RADIATION LEVELS AT THE SITE.

**Andy Karam: **If I remember right, the hottest spot’s outside were right down here in front of Primo. So, I'm up to 25 on this one. This one's up to 27.

JGP VO

BEFORE THIS… THE LAST TIME HE WAS AT THE SITE WAS IN 20-13.

BACK THEN… AND IN THE PREVIOUS YEARS… HE TRIED TO UNDERSTAND THE RISKS OF EXPOSURE.

**Andy Karam: **This business right here, they're doing auto repair, which means that guys are sometimes laying on their backs underneath the cars, changing the oil, changing the tires, or whatever. How long do they spend doing that each day? Where are they doing it? because the dose rate over at one location might be twice what it is just maybe 10 feet away.

SM VO

ANDREW SAYS THERE’S NO REAL REASON TO WORRY ABOUT RADIATION EXPOSURE AT THE WOLFF ALPORT SITE.

BUT IT’S AN OPINION THAT DIFFERS FROM THE E-P-A.

**Andy Karam: **To my mind, the risk of working there from the radiation was no greater than the risk that they would have of just working any job. And so I felt that a sensible approach would be to try to encapsulate it, rather than to try to remove it, and my boss disagreed with that.

SM VO

HIS BOSS PREVAILED.

JPG VO

THE E-P-A DID CONSIDER PUTTING A CAP OVER THE CONTAMINATED AREAS… BUT DECIDED AGAINST IT.

IN PART… THAT’S BECAUSE THE AGENCY WOULD HAVE TO CONTINUALLY MONITOR THE SITE FOR LEAKS AND CONDUCT SAMPLING UNTIL THE CONTAMINATION FINALLY BROKE DOWN AFTER BILLIONS OF YEARS.

SM VO

THROUGH HIS WORK… ANDREW SAYS IN OTHER PLACES HE’S DETECTED HIGHER LEVELS OF RADIATION THAN WHAT HE’S EVER FOUND AT THE WOLFF ALPORT SITE.

**Andy Karam: **It's true: Radiation can cause cancer, and you can die of radiation-induced cancer; it can cause birth defects and all these other things, it just takes much more to do any of those than what most people believe.

SM VO

HOW DO WE SQUARE ANDREW’S PERSPECTIVE WITH THE E-P-A’S?

JGP VO

DAVID BRENNER EXPLAINS. HE DIRECTS THE CENTER FOR RADIOLOGICAL RESEARCH AT COLUMBIA.

**David Brenner: **There is one school of thought that very low levels as a threshold, and below that there's really zero risk. The other school of thought, which probably I'm in that, the latter camp, is that as you go down in dose, the risk becomes lower and lower and lower. And as you go down and dose even more, the risk becomes lower and lower and lower, but never actually becomes zero. It's still bad. It's just very, very small.

JGP VO

AND WHILE SOME AUTO SHOP EMPLOYEES SPENT YEARS WORKING AT THE SITE… IT MAKES SENSE THAT THEY MIGHT NOT EXPERIENCE ANY HEALTH IMPACTS.

HERE’S LORA AGAIN.

**Lora Smith Staine: **You know, it's not a one-to-one that this exposure will result in this health effect. You know, it increases the likelihood that it will happen.

JGP VO

LORA SAYS OTHER FACTORS CAN CONTRIBUTE TO THE LIKELIHOOD OF WHETHER PEOPLE WOULD BE AFFECTED BY RADIATION… LIKE THEIR GENETIC HISTORY… OR WHETHER THEY SMOKE.

**Lora Smith Staine: **You know, there's a whole mix of things that each human has, you know, based on who they are and where they've grown up, and, you know, their hobbies and whatnot. So, it's really hard to say whether this exposure will result in cancer for any one person there.

SM VO

IN THE FALL OF 20-23… I MET UP WITH JULIE DENT… THE LONGTIME FIXTURE OF THE COMMUNITY AND FORMER DIRECTOR OF THE LOCAL DAY CARE CENTER.

[AMBI]

WE WALKED THE TWO BLOCKS FROM THE DAYCARE UP TO THE WOLFF ALPORT SITE. KIDS AT THE NEARBY ELEMENTARY SCHOOL WERE JUST GETTING OUT FOR RECESS.

[SFX: TRUCKS RUMBLING]

SM VO

AS WE PASSED SHINY APARTMENT BUILDINGS AND TIDY ROWHOMES… JULIE PEERED DOWN STREETS WITH WAREHOUSES AND NEW BUSINESSES.

**Julie Dent: **All of this is new.

[AMBI]

**Julie Dent: **The laundry mat is new.

SM VO

WE APPROACHED THE SUPERFUND SITE. IT HAD BEEN ENCLOSED WITH GREEN WOODEN WALLS.

BEHIND THOSE WALLS WERE THE AUTO SHOPS AND THE DELI… NOW EMPTY.

**Julie Dent: **Well, I used to go to this grocery store all the time [Sam: OK] and I would run and, you know, get a coffee and a buttered roll. People were very nice.

SM VO

AS WE GOT CLOSER… WE SAW THAT SOME OF THOSE WALLS HAD GRAFFITI SPRAYED ON THEM.

THERE WAS A NOTICE OF ASBESTOS ABATEMENT RIGHT NEXT TO A ROW OF WHEAT PASTED ADVERTISEMENTS.

**Julie Dent: **Why is Urban Outfitters sign over there? [Sam: I think they're just advertising.] Oh, they better be careful. People will think they are part of this [laughs]. I'm sure that they know that the community is changing.

SM VO

JULIE POINTED NORTH OF THE SITE… JUST A BIT AROUND THE CORNER.

**Julie Dent: **There is a little club they have down here. It's called Nowadays. [Sam: Yeah.] Julie: And you should… do you ever come around here at night? [Sam: I don't.] Julie: One day, get in your car and drive around here. It's a whole different atmosphere around here at night.

SM VO

JULIE WAS LAUGHING AS SHE THOUGHT ABOUT HOW MUCH THE NEIGHBORHOOD HAD CHANGED OVER HER LIFETIME. AND SHE ASKED ME WHAT WILL HAPPEN AFTER THE CLEAN UP

**Julie Dent: **Will they then build again?

[MUX IN: “Losing My Mind”]

JGP VO

WHEN THE E-P-A’S WORK IS DONE… THE PROPERTY OWNERS WILL GET THEIR LAND BACK… BUT THE BUILDINGS THAT STOOD THERE WILL HAVE BEEN DEMOLISHED.

THE LAND WILL BE CLEAN… AND THEY CAN DEVELOP IT.

SM VO

I TALKED TO A PROPERTY OWNER WHO DIDN’T WANT TO BE NAMED. HE WAS NOT HAPPY ABOUT THIS ARRANGEMENT.

HE SAID IT WASN’T FAIR HE WASN’T GETTING COMPENSATED WHILE HE COULDN’T COLLECT RENT ON HIS PROPERTY… EVEN THOUGH HE STILL HAS TO PAY PROPERTY TAXES.

HE SAID HE DIDN’T HAVE ANY IDEAS YET ABOUT WHAT HE’D DO WITH THE LAND ONCE HE GETS IT RETURNED TO HIM… AFTER THE CLEANUP.

JGP VO

WHILE THE AREA IS ZONED FOR COMMERCIAL AND INDUSTRIAL USES… IT CAN ALWAYS GET REZONED SO THAT HOUSING CAN BE BUILT.

THAT’S WHY THE E-P-A IS FOCUSED ON GETTING THE CLEANUP DONE… AND DONE WELL.

THE AGENCY IS MAKING THE ASSUMPTION THAT PEOPLE COULD LIVE ON THE SITE. SO THEY HAVE TO MAKE SURE IT’S CLEAN ENOUGH FOR THAT.

THE DEMOLITION WORK WILL CONTINUE UNTIL SPRING.

AFTER THAT… THE E-P-A AND ITS CONTRACTORS WILL BEGIN TO EXCAVATE THE SOIL.

[MUX OUT: “Losing My Mind”]

SM VO

THE E-P-A’S TOM MONGELLI HAS WORKED ON THE WOLFF-ALPORT SITE FOR MORE THAN A DECADE. SINCE THEN… HE SAYS HE’S BEEN ENDLESSLY FASCINATED BY THE SITE’S HISTORY.

HE’S SEEN REMNANTS OF THE WOLFF ALPORT CHEMICAL COMPANY’S PAST.

**Tom Mongelli: **If you go there today, you can still see the outlines of where the kilns used to be in the buildings.

SM VO

BUT TOM’S WORK IS FUTURE FOCUSED. HE MUST IMAGINE WHAT’S TO COME.

**Tom Mongelli: **What is the site look like 20, 30, 50,100 years from now?

SM VO

IT’S IMPOSSIBLE TO KNOW. BUT HE SAYS THE REMEDIATION PROCESS WILL TAKE AWAY RISKS TO FUTURE WORKERS AND RESIDENTS. THEY WON’T HAVE TO WORRY.

[THEME MUX IN]

JGP VO [CREDITS]

THIS HAS BEEN EPISODE THREE OF HAZARD N-Y-C… A SPECIAL FOUR PART LIMITED SERIES FROM F-A-Q N-Y-C.

THE SHOW IS WRITTEN AND HOSTED BY SAMANTHA MALDONADO…

AND ME… JORDAN GASS-POORE… THE CREATOR AND EDITOR OF THE SHOW.

OUR ENGINEERS ARE ADAM CHIMERA AND MARK BUSH… WHO ALSO DID OUR SOUND DESIGN.

MUSIC FOR THE SHOW WAS COMPOSED BY NICK PENNINGTON.

ARTWORK BY MATTHEW FLEMING.

COME BACK TOMORROW TO HEAR EPISODE FOUR.

[THEME MUX OUT]

**HS VO [POST-ROLL] **

FAQ NYC is part of The City, a nonprofit, nonpartisan newsroom dedicated to hard-hitting reporting that serves the people of New York. Our work is freely available to everyone, and is supported by listeners and readers like you — go to the city dot nyc slash give if you’d like to pitch in. Harry Siegel is FAQ NYC’s executive producer. The pod also receives support from P&T Knitwear, an independent bookstore, cafe, and event space on Manhattan's Lower East Side with a podcast studio that can be freely reserved for community use. The pod is a proud member of the Brickhouse cooperative of independent journalists, critics and artists, and is affiliated with the Colin Powell School at CUNY’s City College where co-host Christina Greer is one of the Moynihan Public Scholars inaugural fellows.

This story was originally published by THE CITY. Sign up to get the latest New York City news delivered to you each morning.

Now defunct dry cleaners, metal and brass foundries, and soap and lacquer manufacturers leaked toxic chemicals into the ground in Greenpoint and East Williamsburg, beneath businesses and homes. The feds are taking a look, but in the meantime, locals could be breathing in fumes. There’s a way to find out and fix any problems, but only if property owners get on board.

THE CITY’s senior reporter Samantha Maldonado and independent journalist Jordan Gass-Pooré talk to locals who live on top of the so-called Meeker Avenue Plume and want people to remember, as one neighbor said, “It’s more than just a toxic site” in episode two of Hazard NYC, a four-part FAQ NYC Presents limited series exploring the city’s Superfund sites.

See and read more about the Meeker Avenue Plume here.

If you like what you’re hearing, please spread the word, and subscribe on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube or wherever podcasts are found.

THE CITY is a nonprofit newsroom that serves the people of New York. Sign up for our SCOOP newsletter and get exclusive stories, helpful tips, a guide to low-cost events, and everything you need to know to be a well-informed New Yorker.

Read the episode transcript below:

**HS VO [PRE-ROLL] **

It’s FAQ NYC PRESENTS, where the only podcast in the only city in the world brings in other voices to dig into what it’s all about.

I’m Harry Siegel, FAQ NYC’s co-host and executive producer, and right now you’re going to hear part 2 of Hazard NYC, a four-part limited series looking at New York’s four federal superfund sites hosted by Samantha Maldonado of The City and independent journalist Jordan Gass-Poore.

Hazard NYC was made possible by support from the Fund for Investigative Journalism. The project was produced in partnership with the McGraw Center for Business Journalism at the CUNY Graduate School of Journalism, and is part of the Pulitzer Center's Connected Coastlines initiative. For more information, go to pulitzer center dot org… forward slash… connected hyphen coastlines.

Hazard NYC is supported in part by Newlab – a platform helping deep-tech startups succeed to address the climate crisis. Learn more at newlab.com.

SM VO

A MENACE LURKS BENEATH THE GROUND IN NORTH BROOKLYN.

**Lisa Bloodgood: **These are toxic chemicals, and so they have pretty serious implications for human health and also environmental health.

JPG VO

YOU CAN’T SEE THEM OR SMELL THEM… BUT THEY’RE CREEPING TOWARD THE SURFACE.

Attendee: It’s kinda scary, it’s really scary, saying I got this freaking chemical coming through different elevations of my house.

[MUX IN: “Hazard NYC Theme”]

SM VO

THIS IS HAZARD N-Y-C… A MINI SERIES FROM F-A-Q N-Y-C.

I’M SAMANTHA MALDONADO… A REPORTER WITH THE CITY.

JGP VO

AND I’M JORDAN GASS POORE… AN INDEPENDENT JOURNALIST AND PODCAST PRODUCER.

ON THIS EPISODE… WE TAKE YOU TO NEW YORK CITY’S LATEST SUPERFUND SITE… THE MEEKER AVENUE PLUME.

[MUX fades down]

JGP VO

THE MEEKER AVENUE PLUME IS MADE UP OF HAZARDOUS CHEMICALS LOCATED UNDER SEVERAL BLOCKS IN NORTH BROOKLYN.

THE STORY STARTS WITH AN OIL SPILL… ONE OF AMERICA'S BIGGEST… EVER.

SM VO

THIS IS THE SAME OIL SPILL THAT’S RIGHT NEAR NEWTOWN CREEK… AS WE GOT INTO IN THE LAST EPISODE.

JGP VO

OVER THE COURSE OF A CENTURY… MILLIONS OF GALLONS OF PETROLEUM PRODUCTS STORED IN AN OIL REFINERY AND STORAGE FACILITIES IN GREENPOINT LEAKED INTO THE NEIGHBORHOOD'S SOIL.

**[NEWS CLIP ARCHIVE] **

JGP VO

IN THE MID TWO THOUSANDS WHEN NEW YORK STATE WAS MONITORING THAT OIL SPILL… THEY DISCOVERED SOMETHING SEPARATE AND NEW.

THEY FOUND CANCER-CAUSING CHEMICALS IN GREENPOINT’S GROUNDWATER AND SOIL.

THEY NAMED WHAT THEY FOUND THE MEEKER AVENUE PLUME… ALTHOUGH IT STRETCHES BEYOND THE AVENUE.

SM VO

OK… WAIT… LET’S BACK UP… WHAT’S A PLUME?

**Lisa Bloodgood: **Sometimes I say it's an underground puddle.

SM VO

THAT’S LISA BLOODGOOD… A LONGTIME GREENPOINT RESIDENT.

**Lisa Bloodgood: **It's just an area that is subsurface, so below ground level. And the contaminants are commingling with the soil, with the groundwater, and spaces of air in between the soil particles within that area.

SM VO

THE E-P-A IS CONDUCTING ITS OWN INVESTIGATION OF THE CONTAMINATION AND FIGURING OUT WHICH BUSINESSES ARE PROBABLY RESPONSIBLE FOR IT.

THE AGENCY IS BUILDING OFF WHAT THE STATE ALREADY FOUND.

**Judith Zelikoff: **These are nasties. These are nasty chemicals.

JGP VO

JUDITH ZELIKOFF IS A TOXICOLOGIST AT NEW YORK UNIVERSITY’S DEPARTMENT OF MEDICINE.

**Judith Zelikoff: **When you look at the chemicals that come out of these particular industries, you have things, and what's been identified very clearly and at high levels, has been the trichloroethylene, the tetrachloroethylene, the DCE, the dichloroethylene, and vinyl chloride.

JGP VO

THOSE CHEMICALS ARE TYPICALLY IN INDUSTRIAL SOLVENTS AND DEGREASERS.

WHEN THE STATE RESEARCHED THE PLUME… IT LINKED THOSE CHEMICALS TO SIX FORMER LOCAL BUSINESSES… DRY CLEANERS… METAL AND BRASS FOUNDRIES… AND SOAP AND LACQUER MANUFACTURERS.

**Judith Zelikoff: **These chemicals are known to have health effects when the exposure level is high and when the exposure is continuous, for long periods of time. And, especially the trichloroethylene and the tetrachloroethylene, are both known and recognized carcinogens.

SM VO

THE E-P-A IS TRYING TO FIND OUT WHICH CHEMICALS ARE IN THE GROUNDWATER… AND IN WHAT CONCENTRATIONS.

IN ORDER FOR THE AGENCY TO DO THAT… THEY’RE LOOKING INTO GROUNDWATER MONITORING WELLS INSTALLED THROUGHOUT THE AREA.

John Brennan: This is a groundwater monitoring well. It's designated Dec zero 49 R. There are over 300 monitoring wells just like this one, in-and-around Greenpoint. EPA started testing them in August.

SM VO

THAT’S JOHN BRENNAN. HE WORKS WITH THE E-P-A AS A PROJECT MANAGER FOR THE SITE.

[SKATEBOARDER AMBI IN]

WE’RE BELOW THE KOSCIUSZKO BRIDGE IN GREENPOINT. THERE ARE A BUNCH OF SKATEBOARDERS SHREDDING IN A NEARBY SKATE PARK.

[SKATEBOARDER AMBI FADES INTO [MONITORING WELL AMBI]

JOHN UNSCREWS THE CAP OF A GROUNDWATER WELL. IT’S ESSENTIALLY A MANHOLE COVER… ONE YOU PROBABLY STEP ON ALL THE TIME WITHOUT NOTICING.

THERE’S A P-V-C PIPE IN THE HOLE. IT’S SURROUNDED BY CONCRETE UP TO THE SURFACE. AND THE PIPE GOES ALL THE WAY DOWN TO THE WATER TABLE.

**John Brennan: **We can put a pump down the well and we can pull the groundwater out. Groundwater samples get put in a jar, inside a cooler with ice, and then get delivered to a laboratory.

JGP VO

THE LAB WILL PERFORM TESTS AND SEND BACK DATA THAT’LL LET JOHN AND HIS TEAM KNOW ABOUT THE LEVELS OF CONTAMINATION IN THE WATER.

John Brennan: We want to get a full assessment about what the groundwater condition is in this area.

JGP VO

JOHN SAYS THIS INVESTIGATION COULD TAKE YEARS.

**John Brennan: **What we'll do is we'll take a look at the data, see if there's any data gaps, see if there's any places maybe we need to put more wells.

SM VO

THE D-E-C… THAT’S NEW YORK STATE’S DEPARTMENT OF ENVIRONMENTAL CONSERVATION… HAS ALREADY DONE A LOT OF WORK ON THIS SITE.

BUT JOHN SAYS THE E-P-A WANTS A MORE HOLISTIC VIEW.

John Brennan: They did a great deal of groundwater sampling, they focused on certain source areas that they discovered. What we're doing now is trying to look at all of them at once. So, sample 320 monitoring wells, all at once.

JGP VO

THE WELLS VARY IN DEPTH. THEY’RE ANYWHERE FROM THIRTY TO ONE-HUNDRED-AND-THIRTY FEET.

JOHN SAYS IT’S IMPORTANT TO KNOW HOW FAR DOWN THE CONTAMINATION GOES SO THE E-P-A CAN UNDERSTAND THE BOUNDS OF THE PLUME.

John Brennan: Do we have the balance both horizontally and vertically to say we know where that plume ends? Or do we not? So that's really a big part of what we're trying to determine.

**[MUX IN: “Never Alone”] **

SM VO

BASED ON INFORMATION UNCOVERED BY THE STATE… THE AREA OF THE PLUME IS JUST WEST OF MCGOLDRICK PARK. IT’S SHAPED ALMOST LIKE A CHEVRON… WITH ITS POINT DIRECTING US EASTWARD.

…IT STRADDLES THE BROOKLYN-QUEENS EXPRESSWAY IN NORTH BROOKLYN… RIGHT BEFORE THE HIGHWAY HEADS NORTHEAST INTO QUEENS.

JPG VO

BUT THE PLUME CAN MOVE. IT CAN CHANGE DIRECTION. ITS CHEMICALS COULD EVEN GET INTO NEWTOWN CREEK…

SM VO

THE CREEK IS ANOTHER NEARBY SUPERFUND SITE… AS WE HEARD ALL ABOUT IN EPISODE ONE.

JPG VO

THE E-P-A WILL LOOK AT THE RISKS THE PLUME POSES TO THE ENVIRONMENT AND TO HUMAN HEALTH.

JUDITH ZELIKOFF… THE N-Y-U TOXICOLOGIST… SAYS THE DANGERS OF THE CONTAMINATION DEPEND ON THE EXPOSURE.

**[MUX FADE OUT: “Never Alone”] **

Judith Zelikoff: If you're exposed for a short time to these chemicals, you can have what we call acute effects. And those effects are things like your eyes water, you get dizzy, you get brain fog. The chemicals in general do not stick around very long, so they are excreted pretty quickly in the body; they don't form a high body burden.

JGP VO

BUT THE STORY CHANGES FOR LONG-TERM EXPOSURE.

**Judith Zelikoff: **When you're exposed to something day after day after day, it's definitely injurious to the organ systems. And once they cause a mutation or a change in the cell, let's say in the kidney, then it certainly could go on to lead on to kidney cancer.

JGP VO

JUDITH SAYS YOU CAN BE EXPOSED THROUGH CONTACT WITH SOIL OR BY BREATHING IN THE CHEMICALS.

Judith Zelikoff: The one thing that people in Meeker Ave are concerned about is vapor intrusion.

JGP VO

THAT’S HOW TOXIC FUMES CAN START FROM THE PLUME AND GET INTO THE AIR INSIDE A BUILDING WHERE IT CAN BE INHALED.

PEOPLE WHO LIVE OR SPEND A LOT OF TIME IN BASEMENTS OR GROUND FLOORS ARE THE MOST AT RISK OF HARMFUL EFFECTS IF THERE IS VAPOR INTRUSION.

SM VO

BACK UNDERNEATH THE BRIDGE… JOHN EXPLAINS HOW VAPOR INTRUSION WORKS.

John Brennan: Essentially, what happens is these contaminants get down into the soil, they get down into the groundwater, and then they begin to travel around, but they don't like to stay in the groundwater for very long because they're volatile.

SM VO

THEY TURN INTO GAS.

John Brennan: Then they get up under a home or a residence or a commercial building and then, unfortunately, sometimes they can work their way into that home.

**[MUX IN: “Heaven We Need”] **

SM VO

THE CHEMICALS CAN COME IN THROUGH CRACKS… OR CRAWL SPACES… OR THROUGH PIPES.

GREENPOINT AND EAST WILLIAMSBURG ARE DENSE AREAS… WITH LOTS OF HOMES AND BUSINESSES SITTING ON TOP OF THE PLUME.

THESE SITES ARE AT RISK OF VAPOR INTRUSION.

AND REMEMBER HOW THE E-P-A IS FIGURING OUT WHERE THE PLUME IS AND WHETHER IT MIGHT MOVE?

WELL… CLIMATE CHANGE CAN AFFECT BOTH THE PLUME’S MOVEMENT AND THE RISK OF VAPOR INTRUSION.

AS A RESULT OF A WARMING PLANET… SEA LEVELS WILL RISE BETWEEN ABOUT A FOOT AND TWO FEET IN THE NEXT THREE DECADES.

THAT’S ACCORDING TO PREDICTIONS FROM THE NEW YORK CITY PANEL ON CLIMATE CHANGE.

**[MUX OUT: “Heaven We Need”] **

Kristina Hill: As the sea level comes up, groundwater is either going to discharge more to streams and creeks and cracked underground pipes, or it's going to rise. It's either going to leak out or it's going to rise.

JGP VO

THAT’S KRISTINA HILL. SHE’S AN ASSOCIATE PROFESSOR AT U-C BERKELEY’S COLLEGE OF ENVIRONMENTAL DESIGN AND A RESEARCHER ON GROUNDWATER.

AS SEA LEVELS RISE… GROUNDWATER CAN ALSO RISE. AND THAT CAN CAUSE A PLUME TO CHANGE DIRECTION.

Kristina Hill: If it changes direction, or gets shallower, then the gas component of all those chemicals can behave differently, like, it can sneak into a sewer line and up into buildings.

SM VO

BUT HOW DOES SOMEONE KNOW IF VAPOR INTRUSION IS A PROBLEM? WELL… THROUGH INDOOR AIR TESTS.

OVER THE PAST FEW YEARS… STATE AND FEDERAL AGENCIES HAVE TESTED HOMES IN THE AREA FOR VAPOR INTRUSION.

NOW… THE E-P-A WANTS TO RAMP UP THE EFFORTS.

**John Brennan: **We don't have a goal, per se. I would certainly like to sample as many houses as we can.

**HS VO [MID-ROLL] **

THE CITY's Hazard NYC podcast is supported in part by Brooklyn SolarWorks, a solar design and installation firm dedicated to helping homes and buildings in New York City reduce their energy costs and their carbon footprints. Want to know if your home or building is right for solar? Schedule a free consultation by visiting brooklynsolarworks.com or calling 347-712-3915

**JGP VO [MID-ROLL] **

I want to tell you about another podcast to check out… called Drilled. Drilled is a true crime podcast about climate change that’s hosted by award winning investigative journalist Amy Westervelt and reported by a team of climate journalists. The podcast investigates the various obstacles that have kept the world from responding to climate change. You can listen now to the latest episodes of Drilled… wherever you get your podcasts.

SM VO

WE WENT TO VISIT AN EAST WILLIAMSBURG RESIDENT WHO HAD HER HOME TESTED FOR VAPOR INTRUSION YEARS AGO BY THE STATE.

**[SFX] **

CHRISTINE FACELLA’S HOUSE SITS DIRECTLY ON THE PLUME.

SHE’S OWNED HER BRICK ROW HOME SINCE TWO-THOUSAND-NINE.

IT’S HALF A MILE FROM NEWTOWN CREEK AND JUST BLOCKS AWAY FROM THE NATIONAL GRID DEPOT AND WAREHOUSES THAT BIG TRUCKS DRIVE INTO ALL THE TIME. BUT HER BACKYARD IS A LUSH URBAN OASIS.

THE AFTERNOON WE VISITED… SHE HAD THREE CATS LOUNGING AROUND THE HOUSE.

Christine Facella: [JGP: And your cat is adorable.] Oh, that's not my cat. What's that? That this is, like, I don't know what to call this. There's a party here everyday. We have one cat, but there's often five. So that's, that's Cloudy. He's one of the stray guys. There's three stray guys that come here and demand food…

JGP VO

MORE THAN A DECADE AGO… THE STATE DEPARTMENT OF ENVIRONMENTAL CONSERVATION CONTACTED HER.

Christine Facella: They got in touch and said, ‘Do you mind if we take some air samples?’

JGP VO

THE STATE TESTED HER THREE STORY HOME FOR VAPOR INTRUSION.

**Christine Facella: **They took samples and they said they had no readings, that everything was alright, but they put in a mitigation system anyway or asked us, ‘Do you want this?’ And it was free, so we said, ‘Yes.’ Why wouldn't we do that? [07:14]

SM VO

THE MITIGATION SYSTEM IS BASICALLY LIKE A PIPE THAT RUNS FROM THE BASEMENT TO THE ROOF. IT CAN PULL OUT AND THEN VENT ANY HARMFUL VAPORS.

**Christine Facella: **I've been assured that the mitigation system is enough to keep, you know, things safe.

SM VO

CHRISTINE SHOWED US ONE SMALL PART OF THE SYSTEM… A GAUGE.

**Christine Facella: **We're in the bathroom, which is very, very small. But this is the shaft that sort of connects the whole building.

SM VO

WE PEEKED THROUGH A WINDOW IN HER BATHROOM THAT LOOKS OUT TO AN INTERIOR SHAFT.

**Christine Facella: **It's all hidden in the shaft that is useless besides, you know, connecting the plumbing in this house, and it goes all the way up to the roof, and there's a little sand and it just sucks out, I guess, the ground vapors if there is anything and spews it out.

**[MUX IN: “Interstitial - Happy, Uplifting”] **

JGP VO

THE SYSTEM HAS BEEN IN CHRISTINE’S HOUSE SINCE 20-10. SHE SAYS INSPECTORS HAVE COME BY TO CHECK IT OUT A FEW TIMES.

BUT THAT’S IT.

THIS IS THE KIND OF TESTING AND WORK THE E-P-A WILL DO AROUND THE NEIGHBORHOOD.

SOME LOCALS ARE PUSHING FOR THEIR NEIGHBORS TO GET IT DONE.

BUT PROPERTY OWNERS NEED TO GIVE PERMISSION FIRST.

AND THAT MEANS RENTERS HAVE TO ASK THEIR LANDLORDS TO GET TESTING DONE.

HEIDI VANDERLEE IS A GREENPOINT RESIDENT WHO IS ALSO HELPING TO GET THE WORD OUT ABOUT TESTING.

SHE SAYS SHE’S BEEN RENTING AN APARTMENT ON THE PLUME~~ ~~SINCE LAST APRIL.

**[MUX OUT: “Interstitial - Happy, Uplifting”] **

**Heidi Vanderlee: **I moved from one spot on the plume to another spot on the plume, like, I stayed because this is my neighborhood.

JGP VO

IN HER LAST APARTMENT… HEIDI SAYS SHE ASKED THE E-P-A TO CONTACT HER LANDLORD TO GET THEM TO TEST THE BUILDING.

Heidi Vanderlee: My old landlord was not happy. I don't think it's why she asked me to move out, but I don't think it helped.

SM VO

HEIDI SAYS SHE’S NOT SURE IF THE TESTING EVER HAPPENED AT HER OLD PLACE.

IN HER CURRENT PLACE… HEIDI LIVES ON THE THIRD FLOOR OF HER BUILDING. THAT PUTS HER AT A LOWER RISK OF ANY POSSIBLE VAPOR INTRUSION…

ESPECIALLY COMPARED TO HER NEIGHBOR WHO LIVES ON THE GROUND FLOOR.

HEIDI SPENT TIME TABLING AT THE WEEKLY FARMERS MARKET AT MCGOLDRICK PARK… AND TALKING AT COMMUNITY MEETINGS TO GET THE WORD OUT.

**Heidi Vanderlee: **I've had all kinds of conversations, and people have been pretty engaged actually, like, that's one thing I'll say about this neighborhood is people really care about what happens in it. And, you know, some people it ranged from, like, terrified to, like, ‘Oh, well, I knew this place is poison anyway.’ Or, like, ‘Ah, shit, I should ask my landlord, but I don't think they'll do it.’ And we also got some homeowners who said, ‘Oh, crap.’

SM VO

HEIDI SAYS SOME HOMEOWNERS ARE SKEPTICAL OF THE GOVERNMENT IN GENERAL.

WE ALSO HEARD THAT SOME HOMEOWNERS DON’T WANT THE GOVERNMENT TO KNOW ABOUT THEIR TENANTS LIVING IN ILLEGAL BASEMENT APARTMENTS.

JGP VO

AND NOT EVERY TENANT KNOWS THAT THERE’S AN ISSUE HERE TO ASK ABOUT IN THE FIRST PLACE.

Heidi Vanderlee: A lot of people also just do not know this is happening. And it's just a hard situation because, like, do you want to tell people who are on the first floor living in a basement what's going on? And then they're, like, ‘Well, shit, I'm not cool with my landlord. What do I do?’ Like it sucks, right? It's a very weird catch 22 situation and, like, we're put in the position of trying to navigate that.

SM VO

IN NOVEMBER… HEIDI AND SOME NEIGHBORS HOSTED A MEETING IN THE BASEMENT OF A GREENPOINT CHURCH. IT WAS TO TELL LANDLORDS ABOUT THE PLUME AND ENCOURAGE THEM TO GET TESTING.

**Attendee: **So, right now I am going to hand the mic to the EPA and they will give a presentation, after the presentation, we will have a question and answer session, hopefully you’ll get all your questions answered. And on the way out, please leave your email address…

SM VO

THERE WERE PEOPLE TO TRANSLATE THE MEETING INTO SPANISH AND POLISH.

THE LANDLORDS ASKED ABOUT HOW THE TESTING WOULD AFFECT THEIR PROPERTY VALUES… AND MANY OTHER QUESTIONS.

**Attendee 1: **If you have a crawl space and you don’t have a slab on grade but the crawl space is vented out already, do you need this?

Attendee 2: Is there any sort of compensation because of this?

**Attendee 3: **What happens if you breathe this in?

**Attendee 4: **I think a lot of people are reluctant to have any governmental agency go into their house (that’s true) because I can attest to this personally.

SM VO

AS ANOTHER PART OF ORGANIZING AROUND THE PLUME… THE GROUP OF NEIGHBORS ASKED THE E-P-A TO TEST THE COOPER PARK HOUSES FOR VAPOR INTRUSION.

COOPER PARK IS A PUBLIC HOUSING DEVELOPMENT ON THE BORDER OF GREENPOINT AND EAST WILLIAMSBURG.

CONTAMINATION IS OF PARTICULAR CONCERN FOR ELISHA FYE [NAME PRONOUNCER: E-LISH-AH FYE sounds like FRY]… MORE COMMONLY KNOWN AS E-W.

**Elisha Fye: **I grew up in the community, so, you know, you have to keep your ear on the pulse of the community, you know, try to preserve and protect it as much as you can.

JGP VO

E-W’S IN HIS SEVENTIES… AND HAS LIVED AT COOPER PARK MOST OF HIS LIFE.

HE’S A FIXTURE OF THE COMMUNITY AND VICE PRESIDENT OF THE COOPER PARK HOUSES RESIDENT COUNCIL. HE UNDERSTANDS WHAT IT MEANS TO LIVE IN A HEAVILY TRAFFICKED INDUSTRIAL CORRIDOR.

**Elisha Fye: **It's just a plethora of different things that were the north side, it's being attacked with, you know, pollution and it didn't just start yesterday.

SM VO

E-W GREW UP PLAYING ON LAND THAT IS NOW A BASEBALL FIELD… WELL… A CLOSED BASEBALL FIELD… CLOSED BECAUSE OF THE LEVELS OF DANGEROUS CHEMICALS FOUND IN THE SOIL.

AND… OF COURSE… NEARBY IS A MASSIVE UNDERGROUND OIL SPILL… THE ONE MENTIONED AT THE BEGINNING OF THIS EPISODE.

JPG VO

THAT’S NOT ALL.

**Elisha Fye: **We started out with the truckin’. We was receiving 75% of the garbage. Am I right? At one point right here, right here, right in our backyard.

JGP VO

AND THERE’S THE MEEKER AVENUE PLUME.

**Elisha Fye: **I'm just finding out about the plume.

JGP VO

COOPER PARK HOUSES DOES NOT SIT ON THE PLUME. BUT THE E-P-A TESTED THE HOUSES FOR VAPOR INTRUSION ANYWAY.

**Debra Benders: **Even though might be outside the boundaries we’re still part of this community because the way this place is divided if you go across the street it’s Greenpoint area, but this side is Williamsburg area, so we still part of it no matter what side of the street we on.

SM VO

THAT’S E-W’S NEIGHBOR… DEBRA BENDERS. SHE’S THE PRESIDENT OF THE RESIDENT COUNCIL. THAT’S A ROLE SHE SAYS INVOLVES…

**Debra Benders: **A lot of work. A lot of work that's not paid. But I don't mind doing it because I love where I live at.

JGP VO

PART OF THAT WORK IS STAYING INFORMED ABOUT THE MEEKER AVENUE PLUME. SHE WAS AT THE MEETING WHEN THE E-P-A SHARED RESULTS OF THE COOPER PARK TESTING.

FOR THE MOST PART… THE RESULTS WERE CLEAN. BUT THE E-P-A FOUND HIGH LEVELS OF CONTAMINANTS IN A FEW SAMPLES. BUT WHAT WAS FOUND WAS LIKELY NOT FROM THE PLUME.

Debra Benders: Whatever it was, it was like cleaning products.

SM VO

THE E-P-A FOUND IT DIDN’T NEED TO TAKE ANY OTHER ACTION AT THE COOPER PARK HOUSES… FOR THE TIME BEING. BUT DEBRA AND E-W WERE GLAD TO HAVE THE SAMPLING DONE.

IT’S A WAY TO PROTECT THEIR NEIGHBORS… WHO HAVE AMONG THE HIGHEST RATES OF ASTHMA… C-O-P-D… AND HEART DISEASE IN THE CITY.

ANY INFORMATION THEY HAVE IS ANOTHER TOOL TO ARM THEM IN THE FIGHT AGAINST POLLUTION IN THEIR COMMUNITY.

I ASKED DEBRA WHAT SHE WANTS FOR HER NEIGHBORHOOD.

**Debra Benders: **I wouldn't even know how to answer that question. I’m just hoping we get some clean air. I mean, like, trucks not coming through here, as much as some of these factories, we don't have as many as we used to have years ago, so that's a plus too. So, I mean, change how people do things, you know?

SM VO

FOR DEBRA AND E-W… THE PLUME’S REMEDIATION IS JUST ONE PIECE OF IMPROVING THE ENVIRONMENT IN THEIR NEIGHBORHOOD.

**Elisha Fye: **It's a lifetime battle. And we have to really try to combat this and get a hold of it.

SM VO

THAT’S WHAT’S SO IMPORTANT ABOUT THIS SUPERFUND CLEAN UP. FOR MANY… IT’S HOME… AND THEY’RE NOT GOING ANYWHERE.

Christine Facella: It's more than just a toxic site.

JGP VO

CHRISTINE FACELLA AGAIN.

Christine Facella: One of the things that I love about it, because we are at the end of the world, is it's a haven for wildlife. And so I want people to know that too, that this isn't just a gross place, and I'm a little tired of people saying you need to move because we're kind of dedicated to our space and land.

[THEME MUX IN]

JGP VO [CREDITS]

THIS HAS BEEN EPISODE TWO OF HAZARD N-Y-C… A SPECIAL FOUR PART LIMITED SERIES FROM F-A-Q N-Y-C.

THE SHOW IS WRITTEN AND HOSTED BY SAMANTHA MALDONADO…

AND ME… JORDAN GASS-POORE… THE CREATOR AND EDITOR OF THE SHOW.

OUR ENGINEERS ARE ADAM CHIMERA AND MARK BUSH… WHO ALSO DID OUR SOUND DESIGN.

MUSIC FOR THE SHOW WAS COMPOSED BY NICK PENNINGTON.

ARTWORK BY MATTHEW FLEMING.

COME BACK TOMORROW TO HEAR EPISODE THREE.

[THEME MUX OUT]

**HS VO [POST-ROLL] **

FAQ NYC is part of The City, a nonprofit, nonpartisan newsroom dedicated to hard-hitting reporting that serves the people of New York. Our work is freely available to everyone, and is supported by listeners and readers like you — go to the city dot nyc slash give if you’d like to pitch in. Harry Siegel is FAQ NYC’s executive producer. The pod also receives support from P&T Knitwear, an independent bookstore, cafe, and event space on Manhattan's Lower East Side with a podcast studio that can be freely reserved for community use. The pod is a proud member of the Brickhouse cooperative of independent journalists, critics and artists, and is affiliated with the Colin Powell School at CUNY’s City College where co-host Christina Greer is one of the Moynihan Public Scholars inaugural fellows.

This story was originally published by THE CITY. Sign up to get the latest New York City news delivered to you each morning.

Newtown Creek is one of the country’s most polluted waterways. Flooding from sea level rise and storms threatens to spread the creek’s contamination and bring pollution from outside the water into it. The feds are figuring out how to include climate change into the clean-up plan they’re developing. 

THE CITY’s senior reporter Samantha Maldonado and independent journalist Jordan Gass-Pooré dive in on episode one of Hazard NYC, a four-part FAQ NYC Presents limited series exploring the city’s Superfund sites. 

As one scientist puts it, “We cannot accept that there are regions of our city that are so contaminated that we would say, ‘I wouldn't want to touch it.’ Because guess what? It comes for you. That's the reality of climate change and our coastal waterways.”

See and read more about Newtown Creek here.

If you like what you’re hearing, please spread the word, and subscribe on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever podcasts are found.

THE CITY is a nonprofit newsroom that serves the people of New York. Sign up for our SCOOP newsletter and get exclusive stories, helpful tips, a guide to low-cost events, and everything you need to know to be a well-informed New Yorker.

Read the episode transcript below:

**HS VO [PRE-ROLL] **

It’s FAQ NYC PRESENTS, where the only podcast in the only city in the world brings in other voices to dig into what it’s all about.

I’m Harry Siegel, FAQ NYC’s co-host and executive producer, and right now you’re going to hear part 1 of Hazard NYC, a four-part limited series looking at New York’s four federal superfund sites hosted by Samantha Maldonado of The City and independent journalist Jordan Gass-Poore.

Hazard NYC was made possible by support from the Fund for Investigative Journalism. The project was produced in partnership with the McGraw Center for Business Journalism at the CUNY Graduate School of Journalism, and is part of the Pulitzer Center's Connected Coastlines initiative. For more information, go to pulitzer center dot org… forward slash… connected hyphen coastlines.

Hazard NYC is supported in part by Newlab – a platform helping deep-tech startups succeed to address the climate crisis. Learn more at newlab.com.

Let’s jump right in.

[BOAT TOUR SFX: BOAT BEING LOWERED INTO THE WATER]

**JGP VO [BOAT TOUR] **

I CLIMBED INTO A SMALL BOAT THAT LAUNCHED FROM A DOCK IN GREENPOINT INTO NEWTOWN CREEK.

[BOAT TOUR SFX]

**Willis Elkins: **I'll show you real quick on the map, where we're headed here.

JGP VO

MY GUIDE WAS WILLIS ELKINS. HE’S THE EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR OF NEWTOWN CREEK ALLIANCE… HE KNOWS THE HISTORY OF THESE MURKY WATERS…

**Willis Elkins: **The sediment below us is the most contaminated stuff in the creek.

JGP VO

AND THE BRIGHT SPOTS.

**Willis Elkins: **It's also an area where there's, like, the most, like, bird wildlife activity.

JGP VO

FOR NEARLY FOUR MILES… NEWTOWN CREEK SNAKES BETWEEN NORTH BROOKLYN… AND PARTS OF QUEENS.

[SFX: CAR, BRIDGE]

JGP VO

FROM THE BOAT I SAW EGRETS AND CORMORANTS AND WATCHED WAREHOUSES SLIDE BY.

[SFX]

I ALSO SAW WATER THAT REMINDED ME OF PICKLE JUICE. AND THEN FURTHER DOWNSTREAM… IT SMELLED KINDA LIKE ROTTEN EGGS.

[MUX IN: “Hazard NYC Theme”]

JGP VO

I’M JORDAN GASS POORE… AN INDEPENDENT JOURNALIST AND PODCAST PRODUCER.

SM VO

AND I’M SAMANTHA MALDONADO… A REPORTER WITH THE CITY.

WE’RE BRINGING YOU HAZARD N-Y-C… A MINI SERIES FROM F-A-Q N-Y-C.

ON THIS EPISODE… WE TAKE A JOURNEY TO NEWTOWN CREEK… ONE OF NEW YORK CITY’S FOUR SUPERFUND SITES.

[MUX OUT: “Hazard NYC Theme”]

**Laura Hoffman: **I remember when I was a child coming back from vacation, and hitting the Greenpoint Avenue Bridge, in the car, that the smell would literally wake me up. It was like a slap in the face. The smell was so bad that it could make you want to vomit. Sewage, and other chemicals, all kinds of stuff.

SM VO

LAURA HOFFMAN, A LIFELONG BROOKLYN RESIDENT, LIVES RIGHT NEAR NEWTOWN CREEK, ONE OF THE MOST POLLUTED WATERWAYS IN THE U-S.

AS A SUPERFUND SITE, IT’S ON THE ROAD TO GETTING CLEANER.

JGP VO

NEWTOWN CREEK IS PRONE TO FLOODING… WHICH THREATENS TO SPREAD POLLUTION BEYOND THE CREEK… AND BRING MORE POLLUTION INTO IT.

TO UNDERSTAND WHY THE CREEK NEEDS A CLEAN UP… YOU NEED TO KNOW ITS HISTORY.

[MUX IN: “Awful Sad”]

SM VO

ALMOST TWO HUNDRED YEARS AGO… THE CREEK’S COASTLINE WAS LINED WITH OVER FIFTY OIL REFINERIES… SAWMILLS… AND FACTORIES THAT PRODUCED FERTILIZER AND GLUE… AMONG MANY OTHER THINGS.

JGP VO

BUT AS MUCH AS MUCH AS THOSE BUSINESSES CONTRIBUTED TO THE CITY’S ECONOMY… THEY ALSO POLLUTED THE CREEK.

FOR DECADES… THESE COMPANIES USED THE WATERWAY AS A DUMPING GROUND FOR CHEMICALS AND FUELS.

SM VO

HUMAN WASTE ENTERED THE WATER FROM THE CITY’S SEWER SYSTEM STARTING IN THE MID 18-HUNDREDS.

NOW THE AREA IS STILL PRETTY INDUSTRIAL… AND… THE CONTAMINATION FROM THOSE YEARS REMAINS.

JGP VO

OIL… METALS LIKE LEAD AND COPPER… AND OTHER CARCINOGENIC CHEMICALS HAVE BEEN FOUND IN THE CREEK’S SEDIMENT.

THE CLEAN UP OF THE SITE COULD TAKE A DECADE — AND THE E-P-A HAS TO FINALIZE ITS PLAN FIRST.

SM VO

UNTIL THAT DAY COMES… LOCAL RESIDENTS WILL KEEP PUSHING FOR A CLEANER WATERWAY.

[MUX FADE OUT: “Awful Sad”]

**Laura Hoffman: **I’m Laura Hoffman. Pain In The Ass. I guess that's my expertise in the neighborhood.

JGP VO

THIS LAURA HOFFMAN… SIXTY FIVE… WHO YOU HEARD EARLIER. SHE’S A BORN AND BRED GREENPOINTER AND A SELF-PROCLAIMED AGITATOR.

Laura Hoffman: My husband and I are members of practically every organization that begins with the words Newtown Creek.

JGP

EVEN HER HUSBAND’S FAMILY HAS LIVED IN THE AREA FOR GENERATIONS.

WE SAT WITH HER AT HER DINING ROOM TABLE… WHILE HER CAT TRIED TO JOIN THE INTERVIEW.

**Laura Hoffman: **Sorry, that's my cat. There we go. There we go. Sorry about that.

SM VO

FAMILY PHOTOS HUNG ON HER WALLS… REMINDERS OF LAURA’S DEEP ROOTS IN THE COMMUNITY.

**Laura Hoffman: **I had so many aunts and uncles that came from this area that I could practically map out who died from what and connect them with the area and the toxins that they lived near.

JGP VO

WHEN SHE WAS KID… LAURA SAYS SHE DIDN’T NEED TO SEE THE FILTH ON THE SURFACE OF NEWTOWN CREEK TO KNOW IT WAS POLLUTED…

…SHE COULD SMELL IT.

SM VO

BUT MANY PEOPLE DIDN’T KNOW THE EXTENT OF THE CONTAMINATION.

**Laura Hoffman: **As we were growing up, my husband and I both have swam in either the Newtown Creek or the East River, played on the barges. I used to play on the salt piles in the industrial area near where the Department of Sanitation is located now. We went crabbing with our kids.

JGP VO

LAURA AND HER HUSBAND INITIALLY GOT INVOLVED WITH EFFORTS TO CLEAN UP NEWTOWN CREEK AND THEIR NEIGHBORHOOD YEARS AGO. THAT’S WHEN THEY NOTICED STRANGE ODORS WHILE THEIR KIDS WERE PLAYING SOFTBALL.

**Laura Hoffman: **We found out that some of the odors that the kids was smelling and things that were happening were because we were located near an oil spill, near a PVC manufacturer, near a sewage sludge tank, near all kinds of industry.

SM VO

LAURA WAS IN GREENPOINT IN 19-78… WHEN THE U-S COAST GUARD SPOTTED OIL FLOWING INTO NEWTOWN CREEK.

THEY DISCOVERED ONE OF THE LARGEST OIL SPILLS IN THE COUNTRY’S HISTORY.

IT’S ESTIMATED AT LEAST SEVENTEEN MILLION GALLONS OF OIL HAD LEAKED FROM AN OIL REFINERY AND FUEL STORAGE FACILITIES.

JGP VO

IN THE EARLY TWO THOUSANDS… A SERIES OF LAWSUITS WERE BROUGHT AGAINST EXXON MOBIL TO GET THE COMPANY TO PAY FOR THE CLEANUP OF THE SPILL…

EXXON SETTLED IN 20-10, THE SAME YEAR THE E-P-A DESIGNATED NEWTOWN CREEK AS A SUPERFUND SITE.

UNDER THAT PROGRAM, THE E-P-A WOULD OVERSEE THE CLEAN-UP AND MAKE THE POLLUTERS PAY.

**Laura Hoffman: **You know, one by one different polluters have been getting caught, and, you know, they have their feet being held to the fire and being forced to take responsibility for their actions. The creek is becoming somewhat cleaner, although by somewhat cleaner, you know, I'm using that real loose, because there's a lot to do to get that creek to be healthy and clean.

[MUX IN: “2nd Edit Interstitial Sad or Contemplative”]

SM VO

THE E-P-A IS WORKING WITH A GROUP OF COMPANIES THAT BEAR RESPONSIBILITY FOR POLLUTING THE CREEK.

AND THE CLEAN UP CAN’T COME SOON ENOUGH.

JGP VO

NEIGHBORHOODS AROUND NEWTOWN CREEK …PARTS OF GREENPOINT… EAST WILLIAMSBURG… MASPETH… AND LONG ISLAND CITY… FOR INSTANCE… HAVE A ONE PERCENT CHANCE OF EXPERIENCING A MAJOR FLOOD IN ANY GIVEN YEAR.

SM VO

AND CLIMATE CHANGE WILL MAKE IT WORSE.

HERE IN NEW YORK SEA LEVELS ARE ESTIMATED TO RISE BETWEEN ABOUT A FOOT AND TWO FEET BY THE 20-50s. THAT’S ACCORDING TO THE NEW YORK CITY PANEL ON CLIMATE CHANGE.

JGP VO

ON TOP OF RISING SEA LEVELS… CLIMATE CHANGE WILL BRING MORE INTENSE AND FREQUENT STORMS.

HURRICANE SANDY GAVE US A PEEK INTO WHAT CLIMATE CHANGE HAS IN STORE FOR US.

DURING THE 20-12 STORM… NEWTOWN CREEK SURGED PAST ITS BANKS AND INFLICTED FLOOD DAMAGE… UP AND DOWN THE WATERWAY.

[MUX FADE OUT: “2nd Edit Interstitial Sad or Contemplative”]

Gregory O'Mullan: I've been there in the days following Sandy crawling around in basements where Newtown Creek was in people's homes, it was in the streets, you saw the watermarks, often with the grit associated with it on the buildings.

SM VO

GREGORY O’MULLAN IS AN ASSISTANT PROFESSOR AND MICROBIOLOGIST AT QUEENS COLLEGE.

TO HIM… HURRICANE SANDY UNDERSCORES THE IMPORTANCE OF A CLEANUP.

**Gregory O'Mullan: **That waterway will not stay within its bounds, it will not in the climate context that's coming. And therefore the contamination that is in those environments and the sewage that we put into those environments, often associated with the same events that cause it to breach its banks. Those moments we have to be prepared for. And part of that means we cannot accept that there are regions of our city that are so contaminated that we would say I wouldn't want to touch it. Because guess what, it comes for you — that's the reality of climate change and our coastal waterways.

JGP VO

PAUL PULLO KNOWS THIS ALL TOO WELL. FOR YEARS… HIS FAMILY RAN A HEATING OIL BUSINESS CALLED METRO FUEL. IT SAT ON THE SOUTH BANK OF NEWTOWN CREEK IN GREENPOINT.

HE SOLD THE BUSINESS ABOUT A DECADE AGO… BUT NOT BEFORE SANDY HIT.

**Paul Pullo: **We had four feet of water in the offices. We were prepared for probably two feet but we had four, so everything we did it went over all the, all the preparations that we may never expected it to go that high.

SM VO

PAUL SAYS THEY HAD INSTALLED BARRIERS AROUND THE BUILDING TO PREVENT DAMAGE.

**Paul Pullo: **This wasn't the first flood we had. So over the years, being there we knew some of the things we should do.

SM VO

AFTER THE STORM ENDED… PAUL SAYS HE REMEMBERS THERE WAS SOME NASTY STUFF INSIDE HIS FACILITY THAT HE HAD TO CLEAN UP.

Paul Pullo: There was some residue on some of the dike walls from floating oil, but there was no contamination that we found.

JGP VO

PAUL MAY NOT HAVE FOUND ANY CONTAMINATION… BUT THE E-P-A DID.

AFTER SANDY… THE AGENCY SAMPLED THE FLOODWATER. THEY FOUND CHEMICALS… BUT THEY WERE AT SUCH LOW LEVELS THERE WASN’T ANY CAUSE FOR CONCERN.

**Walter Mugdan: **It was very, very low, in many cases negligible or under non-detect levels of the chemical contamination.

JGP VO

THAT’S WALTER MUGDAN. HE’S A FORMER DEPUTY REGIONAL ADMINISTRATOR FOR THE E-P-A.

**Walter Mugdan: **But we did find pathogens bacteria that are associated with sewage. So it wasn't good to have in people's homes. But it wasn't the chemical stuff that's in the bottom of these waterways.

SM VO

IN GENERAL… THE E-P-A SAID IT’S MOSTLY FOCUSED ON LONG-TERM EXPOSURE TO CHEMICALS.

CONTAMINATION SPREAD AFTER A FLOOD MAY NOT POSE THAT KIND OF HARM.

HERE’S JOHN PRINCE. HE OVERSEES THE E-P-A’S SUPERFUND PROGRAM IN THE NEW YORK REGION.

**John Prince: **We wouldn't expect an exposure like sediments that might get deposited after a storm to pose that kind of a risk.

JGP VO

ANOTHER THING TO CONSIDER… WITHOUT PROPER PROTECTION… THE BUSINESSES THEMSELVES COULD CONTRIBUTE TO THE POLLUTION OF THE CREEK WHEN THERE’S A FLOOD.

THAT’S WHAT HAPPENED AFTER SANDY. AROUND THE CREEK…

**Willis Elkins: **All these trucks got totally flooded. And it's, like, there's oil and other fluids leaking out of those trucks.

JGP VO

THAT’S WILLIS ELKINS AGAIN. HE’S THE ONE WHO TOOK ME ON THE BOAT TOUR AT THE TOP OF THE EPISODE.

**Willis Elkins: **For weeks after Sandy, the creek was a rainbow of chemicals.

SM VO

HE REMEMBERS THIS AND WORRIES THAT THE CONTAMINATION FROM THE LAND AROUND THE CREEK WILL GET INTO THE WATER… AND ULTIMATELY MESS UP THE EFFORTS TO CLEAN THE CREEK.

**Willis Elkins: **We're concerned about a remedy that doesn't fully address all those and that for years to come, we still have ongoing sources of pollution that put the ecology and put the community at risk.

JGP VO

THE E-P-A IS STUDYING HOW THE GROUNDWATER AND THE POLLUTANTS MAY BE MOVING AROUND… AND WILL INCORPORATE THE RESULTS INTO ITS CLEANUP PLAN.

THE AGENCY MAY HAVE TO WORK WITH PRIVATE PROPERTY OWNERS TO ADDRESS ANY MOVEMENT OF CONTAMINANTS FROM AREAS AROUND THE CREEK.

THAT’S BECAUSE THE E-P-A’S PURVIEW INCLUDES ONLY THE CREEK ITSELF… NOT THE LAND AROUND IT.

**Stephanie Vaughn: **There's a world outside of Superfunds.

SM VO

HERE’S STEPHANIE VAUGHN… AN E-P-A PROJECT MANAGER FOR NEWTOWN CREEK.

**Stephanie Vaughn: **We're going to do as much as we can through Superfund, and then try to work with the other entities to facilitate, encourage increased improvement, investment and best practices, so that the overall health of the creek can improve over time.

**HS VO [MID-ROLL] **

THE CITY's Hazard NYC podcast is supported in part by Brooklyn SolarWorks, a solar design and installation firm dedicated to helping homes and buildings in New York City reduce their energy costs and their carbon footprints. Want to know if your home or building is right for solar? Schedule a free consultation by visiting brooklynsolarworks.com or calling 347-712-3915

SM VO

THE ACTUAL PLAN FOR REMEDIATION IS HOTLY ANTICIPATED.

LOTS OF PEOPLE WHO CARE ABOUT NEWTOWN CREEK ARE PRETTY FRUSTRATED BY HOW LONG THE PROCESS IS TAKING.

WILLIS ELKINS BLAMES THE BACK-AND-FORTH BETWEEN THE E-P-A… AND THE PARTIES THE AGENCY IDENTIFIED AS RESPONSIBLE FOR THE CREEK’S POLLUTION.

JGP VO

THOSE PARTIES INCLUDE THE CITY OF NEW YORK PLUS…

**David Haury: **Five industrial corporations, Exxon Mobil, National Grid, Phelps, Dodge Refining Corporation, BP, and Texaco.

JGP VO

THAT’S DAVID HAURY [har-ee]… PRINCIPAL OF THE CONSULTING FIRM ANCHOR Q-E-A. HE WAS HIRED BY THOSE FIVE COMPANIES TO DO THE TECHNICAL WORK AT NEWTOWN CREEK.

TOGETHER… THOSE COMPANIES ARE KNOWN AS THE NEWTOWN CREEK GROUP… OR N-C-G.

**David Haury: **Other parties have been identified by EPA and the NCG. But they're not currently participating in any of the studies being done and to pay for the cleanup where they have some responsibility.

SM VO

DAVID SAYS THE E-P-A MAKES THE CALLS DURING THE PROCESS.

**David Haury: **It has taken a long time. The schedule is controlled by EPA; they decide what they want to do, and when they want to do it, and we develop work plans and go implement the work.

JGP VO

SOME IN THE COMMUNITY ARE SKEPTICAL.

**Willis Elkins: **We want to have full faith in EPA that they are driving the show, and then we're gonna get a thorough proper remediation in a timely manner.

SM VO

IN THE MEANTIME… THERE’S BEEN LOTS OF SAMPLING… DATA COLLECTION… AND TECHNICAL WORK DONE BY THE E-P-A AND DAVID AND HIS STAFF.

JGP VO

PART OF WHAT THE E-P-A IS TRYING TO FIGURE OUT IS WHICH CONTAMINANTS PRESENT AT THE SITE POSE AN “UNACCEPTABLE RISK” TO HUMAN HEALTH AND THE ENVIRONMENT.

HERE’S STEPHANIE FROM THE E-P-A AGAIN.

**Stephanie Vaughn: **Those include total PCBs, polychlorinated biphenyls, total pH is hydrocarbons and dioxins interference.

SM VO

LET’S BREAK THAT DOWN.

JGP VO

NEWTOWN CREEK’S TOXIC COCKTAIL IS MADE UP OF MAINLY HUMAN MADE INDUSTRIAL CHEMICALS THAT COULD CAUSE CANCER…

… LONG TERM EXPOSURE TO THESE CHEMICALS COULD CAUSE ORGAN DAMAGE… RASHES… AND CATARACTS.

THE CREEK IS ALSO POLLUTED WITH DANGEROUS HEAVY METALS… INCLUDING LEAD AND COPPER.

**Stephanie Vaughn: **The exposure to the hazardous substances in the creek, it would be primarily through ingestion of fish and crabs from the creek.

JGP VO

PEOPLE DO GO FISHING IN THE CREEK. AND DESPITE SIGNS WARNING AGAINST EATING WHAT THEY CATCH, IT’S ASSUMED SOME PEOPLE STILL DO.

**Stephanie Vaughn: **From an ecological perspective, we also have the biggest risks are to those little critters that live in the creek.

SM VO

SOME OF THOSE CONTAMINANTS COME FROM PAST AND CURRENT INDUSTRIAL USES. OTHER POLLUTION IS FROM THE SEWER. THAT’S WHY THE CITY OF NEW YORK IS IMPLICATED.

HERE’S RIT AGGARWALA… THE COMMISSIONER OF THE CITY DEPARTMENT OF ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION.

**Rit Aggarwala: **Part of DEP’s responsibility is to come up with a plan to reduce the combined sewer overflows into Newtown Creek.

[MUX IN: “Interstitial - Fast,Sad,Weird TRACK”]

SM VO

RIT IS TALKING ABOUT WHAT HAPPENS WHEN RAW SEWAGE IS UNLEASHED INTO THE CREEK.

IN MOST OF THE CITY… THE SEWER SYSTEM’S PIPES CARRY BOTH WATER FROM RAIN AND THE WATER THAT COMES FROM THE TOILETS… SHOWERS… AND LAUNDRY.

AND WHEN IT RAINS… THE SYSTEM GETS OVERWHELMED.

JGP VO

INSTEAD OF GETTING TO THE TREATMENT PLANT… THIS MIX OF WATER AND WASTE POURS INTO WATER BODIES LIKE NEWTOWN CREEK. THAT’S A COMBINED SEWER OVERFLOW… A C-S-O.

SO WHEN YOU FLUSH DURING RAINY DAYS… WHATEVER’S IN YOUR TOILET HAS A GOOD CHANCE OF ENDING UP IN THE WATER.

BUT THAT’S WHERE THERE’S BEEN SOME REAL MOVEMENT IN RECENT YEARS.

SM VO

THE CITY MADE UPGRADES TO A WASTEWATER TREATMENT PLANT AT NEWTOWN CREEK.

YOU CAN SEE THE PLANT FROM AFAR BECAUSE OF ITS EIGHT GIANT METAL EGGS THAT DIGEST WASTEWATER. THAT’S WHERE MILLIONS OF GALLONS OF THE CITY’S SEWAGE GOES TO GET PROCESSED.

[MUX FADE OUT: “Interstitial - Fast,Sad,Weird TRACK”]

**Willis Elkins: **That's resulted in a lot of improvements to water quality in the lower two miles closest to the East River. And that has meant more return of marine wildlife.

SM VO

BUT THE CITY HAS TO DO MORE TO REDUCE THE POOP IN NEWTOWN CREEK. THE MAIN WAY THIS WILL HAPPEN IS THROUGH A NEW MASSIVE UNDERGROUND TUNNEL.

THE TUNNEL WILL HOLD THE WASTEWATER DURING A STORM THAT CAUSES THE SEWERS TO REACH CAPACITY… AND WHEN THE STORM ENDS… WHAT GOT CAPTURED WILL GO TO THE TREATMENT PLANT.

**Rit Aggarwala: **Think about what we're talking about: a 39-million-gallon tunnel around and across the creek. That’s a two-and-a-half billion dollar project.

JGP VO

WHEN THE TUNNEL IS COMPLETE… IT WILL SIGNIFICANTLY DECREASE THE SEWAGE ENTERING THE CREEK.

BUT IT WON’T GET IT DOWN TO ZERO.

STILL… THE E-P-A DETERMINED THAT’S OK.

BUT THERE”S QUESTIONS ABOUT HOW CLIMATE CHANGE COULD PUT SOME OF THAT PROGRESS AT RISK.

**Willis Elkins: **We're facing increasing rainfall. So, we're concerned that the pace going forward for reduction of CSO is not going to be as strong as was originally planned.

SM VO

REMEMBER… RAW SEWAGE SPILLS INTO THE CREEK WHEN IT RAINS A LOT.

BUT OFFICIALS SAY THE TUNNEL WILL BE EFFECTIVE EVEN WITH MORE RAIN.

**Rit Aggarwala: **The most harmful CSO events are actually the ones where you have a relatively low rainfall, but we have very little storage capacity and, therefore, you're actually dumping what is a relatively high concentration of sewage into the water.

SM VO

THE WAY THIS WILL WORK IS THE NEW TUNNEL WILL CAPTURE THE NASTIEST STUFF FIRST.

**Walter Mugdan: **It’s called the first flush.

SM VO

AGAIN… WALTER MUGDAN… FORMERY OF THE E-P-A.

**Walter Mugdan: **So, whatever water is in whatever sewage and in the sewage pipes, sewage, from people's toilets, and showers and dishwashers and everything else, whatever's in the pipes, when the rain starts, is the most concentrated amount of sewage, right? The more it rains, the more diluted it becomes.

SM VO

THE REST OF THE RAIN ALONG WITH SEWAGE WILL STILL ENTER THE CREEK. BUT…

**Walter Mugdan: **It's less and it's cleaner than what's going into the creek today.

[MUX IN: “Interstitial - Thoughtful GTR”]

SM VO

THE TUNNEL WON’T BE DONE UNTIL ABOUT 20-40…

JGP VO

CLEANING UP THE WATER IS ONE THING… BUT REMOVING THE CONTAMINATED SOIL ON THE BOTTOM OF THE CREEK IS A SEPARATE CONSIDERATION.

ONE WAY THE E-P-A CAN DO IT… IS TO DREDGE THE SEDIMENT. THAT MEANS SCOOPING OUT THE CONTAMINATED SOIL.

ANOTHER WAY IS CAPPING… WHICH IS COVERING UP THE CONTAMINATED SEDIMENT.

THERE ARE PROS AND CONS TO EACH STRATEGY… IN TERMS OF COSTS… HOW LONG IT WILL TAKE… THE IMPACTS TO THE ENVIRONMENT… AND HOW EFFECTIVE THEY ARE AT KEEPING THE POLLUTION AT BAY.

[MUX FADE OUT: “Interstitial - Thoughtful GTR”]

HERE’S JOHN PRINCE AGAIN FROM THE E-P-A.

**John Prince: **This is a very old waterway in a highly urban environment and it's reasonable for us to assume that remedies are not going to reach some sort of pristine clean level through dredging.

SM VO

JOHN SAYS THAT EVEN IF THE TEAM WAS TO DREDGE MANY FEET DOWN… A CAP WOULD PROBABLY STILL BE NEEDED.

**John Prince: **We still need to put a cap on to cover whatever's down there. Whatever the new bottom of the creek is probably likely to still have some level of contamination.

SM VO

AND CAPS CAN FACE PROBLEMS TOO.

CAPS CAN BE DISTURBED BY TURBULENCE IN THE WATER.

THE E-P-A SAID THEY WOULD TAKE INTO ACCOUNT CREEK CONDITIONS LIKE TIDES… FLOODING… BOATS TRAVELING THROUGH… AND RUNOFF… IN DEVISING A LONG-LASTING CAP.

**John Prince: **Our other expectation is we're not just going to build it and walk away, right? We're going to build it and then expect it to be monitored.

SM VO

THAT’S FOR WHATEVER ROUTE THEY END UP TAKING.

JGP VO

IN THE MEANTIME… THE E-P-A AND THE GROUP OF RESPONSIBLE COMPANIES ARE ALSO WORKING ON AN EARLY PLAN TO TACKLE ONE PART OF THE CREEK: THE EAST BRANCH.

THAT’S A TRIBUTARY OF THE CREEK THAT REACHES OUT TO MASPETH AND EAST WILLIAMSBURG. HERE’S STEPHANIE FROM THE E-P-A.

**Stephanie Vaughn: **This will allow work to start on that portion of the creek while the remedy for the rest of this site is being developed.

**[MUX IN: “1st go Interstitial 4 - Hopeful”] **

JGP VO

EVERYTHING IS STILL BEING WORKED OUT AMONG THE COMPANIES AND THE E-P-A … AND THEY MUST PRESENT ANY PROPOSALS THEY COME UP WITH TO THE COMMUNITY FOR FEEDBACK.

SM VO

AND THAT’S IMPORTANT. IT’S THE COMMUNITY WHO ARE THE ONES WHO LIVE AND PLAY AND WORK AROUND THE CREEK… IN SPITE OF HOW GROSS IT CAN BE.

THERE ARE BIRDERS WHO APPRECIATE FINDING PEACE ALONG THE WATER… EVEN WITH SOUNDS OF THE HIGHWAY IN THE BACKGROUND. STUDENTS LEARN ALONG THE BANKS AND SEE TINY FISH SWIMMING IN THE WATER.

AND… ALTHOUGH NEWTOWN CREEK IS NO LONGER THE ECONOMIC POWERHOUSE IT ONCE WAS… IT IS STILL AN ACTIVE COMMERCIAL ZONE.

ALL KINDS OF BUSINESSES OPERATE ALONG THE WATER…BEVERAGE DISTRIBUTORS… RESTAURANT SUPPLY COMPANIES… FURNITURE MAKERS… AND MORE.

**[MUX FADE: “1st go Interstitial 4 - Hopeful”] **

**Willis Elkins: **You know, one thing we're really interested in is, like, how the creek can be an example of both an industrial space that also has significant ecological function and community access and benefit.

JGP VO

WILLIS AND OTHERS WHO CARE ABOUT NEWTOWN CREEK SEE A FUTURE FOR IT THAT’S NOT SO DIFFERENT FROM HOW IT IS NOW. THEY JUST WANT IT CLEANER AND HEALTHIER.

**Willis Elkins: **We're not just doing this for, like, the residents that live in the surrounding areas or for tourists; it's for also the people that are working here every day that they should deserve to be able to work in a place that doesn't have legacy contamination.

JGP VO

THAT’S THE IDEAL OUTCOME FOR LAURA HOFMANN. SHE LIVES JUST A FEW BLOCKS AWAY FROM THE CREEK.

LAURA REMEMBERS THE FIRST TIME SHE SAW THE CREEK BY BOAT ABOUT TWO DECADES AGO.

**Laura Hoffman: **We went to, like, the most polluted parts and we saw, like, all this black and a black muck on top, and the odor just hit us in the face. And I remember that I got teary eyed, I got angry because this is like being in the belly of the beast. I can't even explain it when you've gone through all of these environmental disorders and, you know, medical issues, this is like being in the belly of the beast. it's just so powerful being there that I just started crying, you know? I carry that with me when I go to different meetings.

SM VO

SHE’S SEEN LOTS OF THINGS AROUND THE CREEK CHANGE FOR THE BETTER OVER THE YEARS.

EVEN AS THE PROGRESS TO FULLY CLEAN UP THE CREEK SEEMS SO SLOW… KNOWING THAT PEOPLE TAKE TO THE WATER GIVES HER HOPE THAT THE AREA WILL IMPROVE EVEN MORE.

**Laura Hoffman: **I know, a lot of people think that they're crazy for going on the creek in the kayaks and stuff, but they're, like, you know, frontiersman; they're forcing the agencies to look at the quality and the standards for the creek just for the simple fact that they're there and using the creek in that way.

[THEME MUX IN]

JGP VO [CREDITS]

THIS HAS BEEN EPISODE ONE OF HAZARD N-Y-C… A SPECIAL FOUR PART LIMITED SERIES FROM F-A-Q N-Y-C.

THE SHOW IS WRITTEN AND HOSTED BY SAMANTHA MALDONADO…

AND ME… JORDAN GASS-POORE… THE CREATOR AND EDITOR OF THE SHOW.

OUR ENGINEERS ARE ADAM CHIMERA AND MARK BUSH… WHO ALSO DID OUR SOUND DESIGN.

MUSIC FOR THE SHOW WAS COMPOSED BY NICK PENNINGTON.

ARTWORK BY MATTHEW FLEMING.

COME BACK TOMORROW TO HEAR EPISODE TWO.

[THEME MUX OUT]

**HS VO [POST-ROLL] **

FAQ NYC is part of The City, a nonprofit, nonpartisan newsroom dedicated to hard-hitting reporting that serves the people of New York. Our work is freely available to everyone, and is supported by listeners and readers like you — go to the city dot nyc slash give if you’d like to pitch in. Harry Siegel is FAQ NYC’s executive producer. The pod also receives support from P&T Knitwear, an independent bookstore, cafe, and event space on Manhattan's Lower East Side with a podcast studio that can be freely reserved for community use. The pod is a proud member of the Brickhouse cooperative of independent journalists, critics and artists, and is affiliated with the Colin Powell School at CUNY’s City College where co-host Christina Greer is one of the Moynihan Public Scholars inaugural fellows.

Check out Hazard NYC, a four-part limited series from FAQ NYC that explores how climate change affects the city's Superfund sites. Follow Samantha Maldonado, a senior reporter at THE CITY, and independent journalist Jordan Gass-Pooré on a tour of New York City's dirtiest places and what's at stake with the cleanups—before it's too late. Hazard NYC is produced by the nonprofit news outlet The City. Find Hazard NYC under the FAQ NYC banner.

Happy Earth Day from Hazard NJ and NJ Spotlight News! Thank you all for taking the time to listen to our podcast, and learn about the ways in which climate change is impacting some of New Jersey’s most toxic places. We’re happy to say that we are already working on our next season, which will take a hard look at a new pollution threat in the Garden State and beyond: PFAS, also called “forever chemicals.” We’ll have more on that soon, but for now, here’s a look back at the second half of Season 1.

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

Small steps forward this week on the clean-up of the lower Passaic River, where past dumping of Agent Orange and other chemicals created a toxic mess that is now one of the nation’s largest Superfund sites. But that progress comes as one of the main companies on the hook for the work is pushing hard against a deal the EPA has made with other polluters.

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

The decades-long drip, drip, drip of toxic chemicals from the Price Landfill in South Jersey reached crisis levels in the early '80s when the hazardous plume threatened to taint the water supply for the Atlantic City area.

The site earned an emergency response and a reputation as the most polluted Superfund site in America. Now, more than 40 years later, the Price Landfill has entered a new chapter. And this time it's helping, not harming.

*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 **

FOR FUNDAMENTAL AND DEEPLY ROOTED PSYCHOLOGICAL REASONS... AS WELL AS MORE MUNDANE UTILITARIAN CONSIDERATIONS... IT IS CHARACTERISTIC OF MAN TO BURY THAT WHICH HE FEARS AND WISHES TO RID HIMSELF OF.

IN THE PAST... THIS ENGRAINED PATTERN OF BEHAVIOR HAS GENERALLY PROVEN HARMLESS AND... INDEED... HAS OFTEN LEFT MAN TO RESTORE TO THE EARTH THE SUBSTANCES HE HAD REMOVED FROM IT.

IN TODAY'S INDUSTRIALIZED SOCIETY... HOWEVER... THE ROUTINE PRACTICE OF BURYING HIGHLY TOXIC CHEMICAL WASTES HAS RESULTED IN SERIOUS THREATS TO THE ENVIRONMENT AND TO PUBLIC HEALTH.

THAT WAS PART OF THE CASE OPINION IN 1981 FROM STANLEY BROTTMAN... A FORMER FEDERAL JUDGE IN NEW JERSEY.

HE WAS TALKING ABOUT THE PRICES... A FAMILY WHO KNOWINGLY ALLOWED TOXIC CHEMICALS TO BE DUMPED NEAR AN AQUIFER ON THEIR LANDFILL IN PLEASANTVILLE NEW JERSEY.

WELL... THE DIRT ON THE PRICES HAD BEEN REPEATEDLY DUG UP... AND FOR DECADES IT SEEMED LIKE THE SCARS WOULD NEVER FADE.

BUT PRICE'S PIT... REFERRED TO AS THE "GRANDFATHER OF SUPERFUND SITES"... WAS NOT ONLY TURNED INTO A MUSICAL... I KID YOU NOT... BUT HAS GOTTEN A MAKEOVER AS A RENEWABLE ENERGY FACILITY THAT COULD ACTUALLY HELP FIGHT CLIMATE CHANGE.

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.

AS A KID... I WOULD GO TO MY FAMILY'S RANCH IN THE TEXAS HILL COUNTRY DURING THE SUMMER. IT WAS NO LONGER AN OPERATING RANCH... AND THERE WERE NO LONGHORNS... OR HORSES. SORRY.

BECAUSE THE RANCH WAS IN THE MIDDLE OF NOWHERE AT THE TIME... WE WOULD BURN AND BURY OUR TRASH.

SOMETIMES I'D BE DIGGING HOLES AROUND THE PROPERTY... BECAUSE THAT'S WHAT WE DID FOR FUN... AND I'D FIND OLD GLASS BOTTLES... NAILS... AND OTHER STUFF MY ANCESTORS BURIED.

OUR TRASH UNITED US IN THIS STRUGGLE TO... ON ONE HAND... BURY THE PAST... AND ON THE OTHER... LEAVE THESE REMNANTS BEHIND TO BE FOUND LATER AS A REMINDER OF OUR EXISTENCE.

DRIP... DRIP... DRIP.

CHEMICAL WASTE LEACHED FROM THE BOTTOM OF PRICE LANDFILL... THROUGH THE SANDY SOIL UNDERNEATH... AND INTO THE PERSONAL WELLS OF RESIDENTS IN THE SMALL TOWN OF PLEASANTVILLE.

TRACES OF BENZENE... THALLIUM... AND ARSENIC... CREEPED CLOSER AND CLOSER TO THE WELL FIELD THAT SUPPLIED DRINKING WATER TO NEARBY ATLANTIC CITY...

BEFORE CONTAMINATING A SEGMENT OF THE WELL FIELD... A MILE AWAY FROM THE SITE.

THIS IS HOW AN ATLANTIC COUNTY HEALTH OFFICIAL DESCRIBED THE PROBLEM BACK IN 1981.

Alice Gitchell -- Atlantic County Health Department

It's clear that a large quantity of chemicals is in the ground and is moving in the direction of the Atlantic City well field. And this is certainly extreme cause for concern.

**Jordan Gass-Poore' -- Host **

THIS CONTAMINATION WAS SO BAD THAT EVEN DECADES LATER... FORMER NEW JERSEY GOVERNOR... THE LATE JIM FLORIO... CITED IT AS ONE OF THE WORST OF THE WORST.  THIS IS HOW HE DESCRIBED THE SITE TO ME IN AN INTERVIEW BEFORE HE DIED.

Gov. Jim Florio -- D, NJ 1st Congressional District 1975-1990, Governor 1990-1994

Price's Pit, which is down in Atlantic City, which was a plume of pollution that was headed towards the aquifer. And we got to the aquifer, you have bad water for half of South Jersey.

Jordan Gass-Poore' -- Host

ATLANTIC CITY HAD LITTLE CHOICE BUT TO ABANDON ITS WELLS IN FAVOR OF A NEW FIELD SITE.

MANY RESIDENTS OF THE UNINCORPORATED COMMUNITIES NEAR PRICE LANDFILL WERE NOT HOOKED UP TO ANY MUNICIPAL WATER SYSTEM. INSTEAD... THEY RELIED ON INDIVIDUAL PRIVATE WELLS.

Don Torrance -- New Jersey Nightlight News

So you drink it, and it gives you pain in the stomach?

Gregory Woodson -- Pleasantville Resident

Yeah, right here.

Don Torrance -- New Jersey Nightlight News

Really? Have you been to the doctor?

Gregory Woodson -- Pleasantville Resident

No. It only happens when I drink the water.

Jordan Gass-Poore' -- Host

AT THE TIME... RESIDENTS OF NEARBY EGG HARBOR TOWNSHIP FLEW WHITE FLAGS THREE DAYS A WEEK TO SIGNAL THEIR NEED TO HAVE WATER DELIVERED.

EACH HOUSEHOLD RECEIVED 15 GALLONS OF WATER EACH DELIVERY DAY.

THIS EVENT MAY HAVE HAPPENED IN THE 1980s... BUT THE SITE STILL LEAVES A BAD TASTE IN THE MOUTHS OF SOME LOCALS.

PRICE LANDFILL... AFFECTIONATELY KNOWN AS PRICE'S PIT... WAS ONE OF THE FIRST DESIGNATED SUPERFUND SITES IN THE COUNTRY.

IT'S TAKEN DECADES TO CLEAN UP THE 26-ACRE SITE... AS LAWSUITS WOUND THEIR WAY THROUGH THE COURTS AND A TANGLE OF FEDERAL AND STATE AGENCIES WORKED OUT A PERMANENT FIX TO THE TOXIC STEW.

PRICE LANDFILL WAS STARTED BY CHARLES PRICE AS A SAND AND GRAVEL MINING OPERATION IN 1960... BEFORE IT BECAME A COMMERCIAL SOLID WASTE LANDFILL IN 1971.

COMMON PRACTICE AT LANDFILLS IN THE 1970s WAS TO DUMP CHEMICALS ON TOP OF THE TRASH BECAUSE THE TRASH WOULD ACT AS A FILTER.

THE TRASH... OF COURSE... DIDN'T FILTER ANYTHING.

CHEMICAL WASTE WAS OPENLY POURED FROM AN OPEN SPIGOT ON TANK TRUCKS... AND DRUMS WERE BURIED IN SHALLOW PITS UNDERNEATH THE TRASH. SOME OF THESE DRUMS ARE REPORTED TO HAVE BEEN PUNCTURED.

LIQUID WASTE FROM THE ATLANTIC CITY ELECTRIC COMPANY AND AT LEAST 36 OTHER COMPANIES WAS DISPOSED ON THE SITE FOR EIGHT YEARS.

BY THE TIME THE LANDFILL CLOSED... THE EPA DETERMINED THAT 9 MILLION GALLONS OF TOXIC WASTE HAD BEEN DUMPED.  YES... I SAID 9 MILLION GALLONS.

THE DAMAGE HAD BEEN DONE. AND... ACCORDING TO COURT DOCUMENTS... CHARLES PRICE KNEW ABOUT IT ALL ALONG.

HE WORKED AT THE SITE FROM 1969 UNTIL IT CLOSED IN 1976... SUPERVISING OTHER WORKERS AND DIRECTING THEM TO DISPOSE OF THE WASTE THAT CONTAMINATED THE GROUNDWATER... SOIL... AND NEARBY CREEKS.

CHARLES PRICE... KNOWN TO HIS FAMILY AND FRIENDS AS "BUB"... WAS... AN INTERESTING MAN. I'LL LET HIS NIECE DAWN PRICE BROWN DESCRIBE HIM.

Dawn Price Brown -- Niece of Charles Price

Bub was a jerk. And my whole family was pretty much you know, they were bad, all of them. So, I'm sorry.

Jordan Gass-Poore' -- Host

DAWN WROTE A SCREENPLAY ABOUT HER FAMILY'S INVOLVEMENT WITH THE SUPERFUND SITE. IT'S CALLED "THE PRICE OF DIRT."

Dawn Price Brown -- Niece of Charles Price

Go to sleep, little town. Wake up tomorrow with no frown. Life is simple, shoot the breeze. Walk to the bay, do as you please. Those who live here, friendly and such, ain't got much money but lot's of luck. Yet, X is waiting.

Jordan Gass-Poore' -- Host

"X"... BY THE WAY... IS BUB... CHARLES PRICE. HE'D SIGN HIS NAME WITH AN X.

Dawn Price Brown -- Niece of Charles Price

With no fear -- Money he wants, land to clear. Life's unsure; what will remain? Dump it all, forget the blame; think nothing of it.

Jordan Gass-Poore' -- Host

THOSE ARE LYRICS FROM ONE OF THE SONGS DAWN WROTE FOR "THE PRICE OF DIRT"... THE MUSICAL WHICH NEVER GOT PRODUCED... BUT DIGGING UP THIS FAMILY HISTORY WAS A FORCED RECKONING FOR DAWN.

Dawn Price Brown -- Niece of Charles Price

The people said they couldn't go outside because they guess they would get sick, they couldn't take a bath. They couldn't wash their clothes because their clothes were yellow. And it said hear that the chickens were dying and the windows were shut because of the stink.

Jordan Gass-Poore' -- Host

THE SEARCH TURNED UP HARD TRUTHS.

Dawn Price Brown -- Niece of Charles Price

Bub would tell these people, like Atlantic City Electric and whatever, to come after nine o'clock, into the pit. And there the entrance was, I think it was on Fire Road in Pleasantville. And they would give him an envelope and he would let them dump their crap in there, their chemicals.

Jordan Gass-Poore' -- Host

THE DUMPING WENT ON FOR YEARS... EVENTUALLY LEAVING WATER UNDRINKABLE FOR DOZENS OF NEIGHBORS. ATLANTIC CITY LEADERS PANICKED ABOUT THE FUTURE OF THE RESORT'S WATER SUPPLY.

IN THE END... 49 COMPANIES WERE HELD LIABLE FOR THE DAMAGE DONE AT THE SITE... INCLUDING ATLANTIC CITY ELECTRIC... DU PONT... FORD MOTOR COMPANY... GENERAL MILLS... AND PROCTER AND GAMBLE.

THE CONTAMINATED WELLS... OR THOSE THOUGHT TO BE THREATENED WITH CONTAMINATION... WERE SHUT DOWN. THOSE 37 HOUSEHOLDS SWITCHED FROM WELL TO UTILITY WATER.

THE EPA GOT INVOLVED WITH THE SITE'S CLEANUP IN 1982.

A YEAR LATER... PRICE LANDFILL WAS ADDED TO THE NATIONAL PRIORITIES LIST... BECOMING ONE OF THE COUNTRY'S FIRST SUPERFUND SITES. AND THE EPA'S BEEN CONTINUING TO MONITOR AND TREAT THE GROUNDWATER EVER SINCE.

IN 2013... A 50 MILLION DOLLAR WASTEWATER TREATMENT FACILITY WAS BUILT ACROSS THE STREET FROM THE SITE TO REMOVE THE MAJORITY OF THE TOXIC CHEMICALS FROM THE GROUNDWATER.

IT WORKS BY HAVING WELLS AT VARYING DEPTHS ON THE SITE PUMP THE GROUNDWATER TO THE TREATMENT PLANT. ONCE THERE... THE WATER IS TREATED AND THEN RELEASED INTO THE ATLANTIC OCEAN.

THE EPA ESTIMATES IT'LL TAKE AT LEAST 25 YEARS... AND ABOUT 70 MILLION DOLLARS BEFORE THE GROUNDWATER IS CLEAN.

PERRY KATZ... EPA PROJECT MANAGER FOR PRICE LANDFILL... SAYS THE SITE'S CAP AND WASTEWATER TREATMENT FACILITY HAVE HELPED PREVENT ANY FURTHER CONTAMINATION.

Perry Katz -- Project Manager for Price Landfill, EPA

Nobody's drinking the groundwater. There's no landfill gas emanating from the landfill. You know, vapor intrusion was addressed a while ago by the state of New Jersey, that there's no issue there. So, you know, from our perspective, any potential exposures, you know, they're not there.

Jordan Gass-Poore' -- Host

MANY OF THE TREATMENT FACILITY'S SYSTEMS ARE AUTOMATED... WHICH MEANS IF ANYTHING GOES HAYWIRE IN THE MIDDLE OF THE NIGHT... STAFF CAN REMOTELY TRY AND FIX IT BEFORE GOING TO THE OFFICE.

THIS FACILITY TREATS ABOUT 10-TO-12 GALLONS OF WATER A MONTH... BREAKING DOWN THOSE TOXIC CHEMICALS FROM THE SUPERFUND SITE.

AS PART OF THE OVERALL CLEANUP... PERRY SAYS THE SITE WAS CAPPED IN 2015 TO KEEP CHEMICALS IN PLACE TO PREVENT THEM FROM SPREADING.

Perry Katz -- Project Manager for Price Landfill, EPA

It's a multi-layer impermeable cap, proven technology, you know, you'd have to have a pretty substantial event to start talking about layers of the cap being disrupted to the point where anything would be exposed. I mean, that's what would have to happen before you start worrying about any of the contents of the landfill moving around.

Jordan Gass-Poore' -- Host

DECADES AFTER ATLANTIC CITY AVOIDED THE CRISIS OF POISONED DRINKING WATER FROM THE PRICE'S PIT POLLUTION... THE CITY NOW FACES A MORE EXISTENTIAL THREAT... RAPID SEA LEVEL RISE.

THE OCEAN AND BAYS SURROUNDING ATLANTIC CITY ARE CREEPING UP NEARLY TWICE AS FAST AS THE GLOBAL AVERAGE.

THESE DAYS... HIGHWAYS LEADING INTO TOWN REGULARLY FLOOD... AS DO MANY OF THE LOW-LYING NEIGHBORHOODS.

BY 2050... FEDERAL SCIENTISTS PREDICT ATLANTIC CITY WILL FACE UP TO 110 DAYS OF SUNNY DAY FLOODING EACH YEAR.

SLOWING SEA LEVEL RISE MEANS STOPPING CLIMATE CHANGE... AND THE KEY TO THAT IS TO STOP THE BURNING OF FOSSIL FUELS.

IN THIS WAY... PRICE'S PIT MAY BE A BRIGHT SPOT IN THE SUPERFUND PROGRAM.

TODAY... PRICE LANDFILL IS AN INNOCUOUS GRASSY FIELD WITH A FENCE AROUND IT.

IT LOOKS LIKE ANY OTHER SUPERFUND SITE... EXCEPT FOR THE HUNDREDS OF SOLAR PANELS. PRICE'S PIT HAS FOUND NEW LIFE AS A SOLAR FARM, GENERATING SOME OF THE CARBON-FREE ELECTRICITY THAT CLIMATE EXPERTS SAY WE SO DESPERATELY NEED.

THIS IS PART OF A TREND TO REUSE FORMER TOXIC SITES.

PERRY SAYS THE LAND ISN'T SUITABLE FOR MUCH ELSE.

Perry Katz -- Project Manager for Price Landfill, EPA

There's a kind of the greater good benefit where you're using renewable energy to put into the energy grid. There's beneficial reuse to the landfill. We wouldn't be building houses out there, but in the context of what type of beneficial uses available, I mean, from an economic standpoint, this is more beneficial than if it were just a walking trail, which they do at some landfills. You're limited in what you can do once they're cleaned up in the sense that there can, you know, kept and contained. So, you know,  this works all the way around, really, and it doesn't impede anything we're trying to do.

Jordan Gass-Poore' -- Host

THE CONTAMINATED GROUNDWATER STILL AT THE SITE MEANS THAT BREAKING GROUND ISN'T AN OPTION.

BUT IT IS STILL POSSIBLE TO PUT SOLAR PANELS ON TOP OF THE OLD DUMP. THE SOLAR PANELS AT PRICE LANDFILL BEGAN OPERATING IN MID 2020... AND PRODUCE ENOUGH POWER FOR ABOUT 4,020 HOUSEHOLDS EVERY YEAR.

THAT IDEA IS GAINING TRACTION ACROSS NEW JERSEY AND THE U-S. ACCORDING TO THE EPA... AT LEAST 12SUPERFUND SITES IN THE STATE... AND AT LEAST 57 ACROSS THE COUNTRY HAVE BEEN REDEVELOPED AS RENEWABLE ENERGY INFRASTRUCTURE.

Jaclyn Kondrk -- Remedial Project Manager, EPA

I'd say definitely a popular one is solar because a lot of these properties are large and flat, and that's really the most feasible property that you're looking at for a solar project.

Jordan Gass-Poore' -- Host

THAT'S JACKIE KONDRK. SHE'S THE EPA'S REMEDIAL PROJECT MANAGER WHO OVERSEES THE REDEVELOPMENT OF SUPERFUND SITES IN NEW JERSEY.

Jaclyn Kondrk -- Remedial Project Manager, EPA

Solar is really a great option, because there's not much else you could do with it. We want to use these sites that would otherwise not be used likely at all.

Jordan Gass-Poore' -- Host

JACKIE SAYS LOCALS BENEFIT ECONOMICALLY FROM PUTTING SOLAR PANELS ON SUPERFUND SITES IN THEIR COMMUNITIES.

Jaclyn Kondrk -- Remedial Project Manager, EPA

I think there's multiple benefits. One is a more affordable energy, hopefully. There's also jobs that come in through doing those projects. And there's a program through the Superfund redevelopment program, that actually helps train people to do the cleanup at the sites and to facilitate these types of reuse too.

Jordan Gass-Poore' -- Host

SUPERFUND SITES DOT THE GARDEN STATE, AND MANY OF THEM ARE BECOMING SOLAR FARMS.

NOT FAR FROM PRICE'S PIT... THE DELILAH ROAD SUPERFUND SITE BECAME HOME TO A SOLAR FARM IN 2016.

SOLAR PANELS NOW COVER LARGE PARTS OF THE INFAMOUS CIBA-GEIGY SITE IN TOMS RIVER.

AND JUST LAST MONTH IN NORTH JERSEY... THE COMBE FILL NORTH SUPERFUND SITE BECAME THE LARGEST LANDFILL-SOLAR CONVERSION IN NORTH AMERICA.

THE SITE HAS MORE THAN 50,000 SOLAR PANELS... ENOUGH TO GENERATE ELECTRICITY TO POWER 4,000 HOMES.

THESE PROJECTS... AND OTHERS LIKE THEM... ARE CRITICAL TO REACHING A NEWLY SET STATE TARGET. THE GOAL IS TO BUILD 40 MEGAWATTS WORTH OF SOLAR POWER ON LANDFILLS AND OTHER CONTAMINATED SITES IN THE NEXT THREE YEARS.

Governor Phil Murphy

For most of its life, this site represented our throwaway culture, with all the long-term challenges that that way of living produced. But today, it represents a more sustainable and energy resilient New Jersey and all the opportunities that we are just beginning to realize.

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 Manager – Chloe Motisi

Sound Designer & Engineer – Mark Bush

Composer – Nick Pennington

Art – Matthew Fleming

Efforts to clean up the lower stretch of the Passaic River are getting a $150 million boost, thanks to a new settlement between the federal government and 85 likely polluters. This stretch of the river, running through Newark and nearby towns, is coated with a lining of toxic mud, tainted by decades and decades of chemical dumping. Getting it cleaned up will be difficult – and expensive. At roughly $1.8 billion, the Passaic River is estimated to be the costliest project currently facing the EPA’s Superfund program. That makes the settlement a small, but welcome, step forward.

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

We’re bringing you a special episode from the podcast “Damages”, which examines court cases that matter in the fight against climate change. In this episode, “Damages” host Amy Westervelt takes listeners to Minnesota, where the rights of threatened wild rice (or manoomin in the Ojibwe language) are considered in the face of efforts to build the Line 3 pipeline across the state. Check it out, and be sure to follow “Damages” wherever you get your podcasts.

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

We’re bringing you a special episode from the podcast “Drilled”, which scrutinizes the powers that have long profited from unfettered fossil fuel use. In this episode, “Drilled” host Amy Westervelt takes a look at how the oil and gas industry has pushed to portray environmentalists as idealists detached from reality, in an effort to undercut campaigns against fossil fuels. Check it out, and be sure to follow “Drilled” wherever you get your podcasts.

The Pinelands, a million-acre swath of pine forest dominating South Jersey, is one of America’s most unique environments. The Pinelands have always been a place prone to catch fire. Today, climate change is making the area’s wildfire season more unpredictable. The fear is not only fire, but its impact on the area’s legacy of illegal toxic dumping.

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

IT FORMED AT NIGHT... WHEN THEY WERE ASLEEP. CREEPING INTO THEIR HOMES... UNSEEN.

FOR THOSE WHO WERE STILL AWAKE... THE VIEW OUTSIDE THEIR WINDOWS WAS ALMOST ETHEREAL... A SOFT GLOW LIKE A FLAME FROM A CANDLE.

THIS HAPPENED FOR ABOUT AN HOUR-AND-A-HALF A FEW NIGHTS A WEEK... FOR NEARLY TWO YEARS.

DAYLIGHT ERASED THE ORANGE FOG THAT ENVELOPED THE SMALL COMMUNITY OF PEDRICKTOWN NEW JERSEY... NIGHT AFTER NIGHT.

BUT EVEN THOUGH RESIDENTS COULD NO LONGER SEE THE FOG... THE PROOF OF ITS EXISTENCE REMAINED.

THERE WERE UNEXPLAINED HEADACHES... AND PINHOLES IN THE ALUMINUM SIDING OF THEIR HOMES... AS IF THE FOG HAD GOTTEN HUNGRY.

IT WAS LIKE SOMETHING OUT OF A STEPHEN KING NOVEL... EXCEPT THE FOG'S ORIGINS WEREN'T SUPERNATURAL. IT CAME FROM THE SMOKESTACKS OF THE N-L INDUSTRIES PLANT.

IN 19-76... DANIELLE FLOOD WAS A YOUNG REPORTER FREELANCING FOR THE NEW YORK TIMES. A CAB DROPPED HER OFF IN PEDRICKTOWN ONE MORNING TO INVESTIGATE THE ORANGE FOG.

Danielle Flood: I'm not sure that I remember seeing anything over two stories, I think it was all one stories or small houses around, not close, some were close actually. It looked like the houses were built and then somebody came and put this factory next to them and there was a big dump next to the factory with, I guess, about 500 car batteries dumped there.

AT THE TIME... THE N-L INDUSTRIES PLANT RECOVERED LEAD FROM USED CAR BATTERIES. THEY DID THIS BY DRAINING THE BATTERIES OF SULFURIC ACID... AND THEN BREAKING THEM... ON THE GROUND.

Danielle Flood: I talked to this one guy, he must have been retired or something. He was kind of old. And he was really upset, and I asked him what it was like to live next to, across the street from this factory that was reclaiming lead from car batteries. So, he said that he was not happy at all. And he showed me his car. The hood of his car, the paint had been eaten away.

Jordan Gass-Poore' -- Host

A FORMER N-L INDUSTRIES EMPLOYEE TOLD DANIELLE FOR HER ARTICLE THAT THE PLANT STORED THE CAR BATTERIES WAITING TO BE RECYCLED IN A DUMP BEHIND THE BUILDING.

WHEN IT RAINED ON THE BATTERIES... THE FORMER EMPLOYEE TOLD HER THAT LEAD AND SULFURIC ACID COULD LEAK INTO THE GROUND.

AND THAT'S A BIG PROBLEM. THE CAPE MAY AQUIFER LIES UNDER THE SITE... JUST ONE-AND-A-HALF MILES FROM THE DELAWARE RIVER.

JUST TO BE CLEAR... NEARBY WELLS NEVER DREW FROM THIS AQUIFER. INSTEAD... THEY TAPPED INTO DEEPER POCKETS OF WATER.

TODAY... EVEN THOUGH THE PLANT NO LONGER EXISTS... THE GROUNDWATER REMAINS CONTAMINATED WITH LEAD AND CADMIUM... TOXIC METALS THAT CAN CAUSE LEARNING PROBLEMS IN CHILDREN.

SALTWATER IS ALSO CREEPING INLAND AS CLIMATE CHANGE RAISES SEA LEVELS AND AMPLIFIES STORM SURGES AND FLOODING. ACROSS SOUTH JERSEY... THAT SLOW TRICKLE OF SALTWATER IS KILLING FORESTS... THREATENING FARMLAND... AND IMPERILING DRINKING WATER SUPPLIES.

SO... WHAT HAPPENS IF SALTWATER MIGRATES FROM THE OCEAN TO THE GROUNDWATER UNDERNEATH THE N-L INDUSTRIES SITE?

IT MIGHT NOT BE A BAD THING. IN FACT... THE SALTWATER COULD HELP LOCK THE POLLUTION IN PLACE... RATHER THAN SPREADING IT.

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.

WHEN I WAS SIXTEEN... I WAS PART OF THIS LOCAL BEAUTY PAGEANT. IT WAS SOMETHING I WANTED TO DO TO PROVE A POINT. WHAT POINT THAT WAS... I CAN'T REMEMBER.

DURING THE PAGEANT... WE WERE ALL ASKED: WHAT IS THE MOST PRESSING PROBLEM FACING TEENS? MY RESPONSE: DEFORESTATION. THE AUDIENCE WAS SILENT. I DON'T THINK I EVEN GOT A CLAP FROM MY FAMILY WHO WERE THERE.

BELIEVE IT OR NOT... I DIDN'T WIN.

I'M MENTIONING THIS BECAUSE NO ONE BELIEVED ME. THEY DIDN'T THINK DEFORESTATION WAS A PROBLEM... IF THEY EVEN KNEW WHAT THAT WAS. ALL OF THE GREENPEACE STICKERS I STUCK AROUND TOWN COULDN'T CHANGE THEIR MINDS. IF THEY COULDN'T SEE IT... THEY COULDN'T BELIEVE IT.

MUCH LIKE THE ENVIRONMENTAL OFFICIALS IN THE SEVENTIES WHO WENT TO THE N-L INDUSTRIES SITE NEAR PEDRICKTOWN NEW JERSEY... AFTER BEING MADE AWARE OF THE ORANGE FOG. THEY TOLD NEW YORK TIMES FREELANCE REPORTER DANIELLE FLOOD THAT THEY HAD TO SEE THE FOG THEMSELVES BEFORE THEY COULD DO ANYTHING ABOUT IT.

OKAY... I'LL JUST GET THIS OUT OF THE WAY: IT WAS NEVER PROVEN THAT N-L INDUSTRIES WAS THE SOURCE OF THE ORANGE FOG.

BUT IN THE EIGHTIES... NEW JERSEY'S DEPARTMENT OF ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION STILL FOUND THE COMPANY RESPONSIBLE FOR POLLUTING THE AIR WITH VARIOUS TOXIC CHEMICALS.

THE E-P-A PLACED THE SITE ON THE SUPERFUND LIST IN 19-83... AND THEY GOT TO WORK DEALING WITH THE LEAD IN THE SOIL AND GROUNDWATER.

NEARLY FORTY YEARS LATER... RENEE GELBLAT WITH THE E-P-A SAYS THE CONTAMINATED SOIL HAS BEEN REMOVED... AND NOW THE FOCUS IS ON THE GROUNDWATER.

Renee Gelblat: It's not really moving anywhere. It's kind of a big, little lake underneath part of the site. I mean, the water moves, but the lead and cadmium are not. We tested the two streams and it's not there.

Jordan Gass-Poore' -- Host

RENEE IS THE REMEDIAL PROJECT MANAGER FOR THE N-L INDUSTRIES SITE... JUST SOUTH OF PEDRICKTOWN.

SHE SAYS LEAD AND CADMIUM DON'T DISSOLVE IN WATER UNLESS IT'S REALLY ACIDIC. AND THE GROUNDWATER AT THIS FORTY-FOUR-ACRE SITE IS STILL PRETTY ACIDIC.

Renee Gelblat: It's down around four where it should be somewhere between six and eight. So, what we're doing is injecting, I mean, really simple would be, say, baking soda, it's a little more complicated than that, to bring the pH back toward neutral. And the tricky part is, in order to get the lead out of the water, you actually have to bring it up toward eight or nine. So, we have to make it basic, just to get it to come out of the solution. And then we'll let it go back down to, you know, six to eight, which is what's normal for the groundwater.

Jordan Gass-Poore' -- Host

THAT'S BEING DONE BY INJECTING A PHOSPHATE REAGENT... BASICALLY A SUBSTANCE SIMILAR TO BAKING SODA... LIKE RENEE SAID... INTO THE POLLUTED GROUNDWATER TO RAISE THE P-H AND MAKE THE WATER LESS ACIDIC.

ONCE THE GROUNDWATER'S P-H IS RAISED HIGH ENOUGH... THE TOXIC METALS WILL STICK TO THE SOIL PARTICLES THAT ARE UNDERGROUND AND JUST SIT THERE... SAYS JON GORIN. HE'S THE E-P-A'S CHIEF OF THE SOUTHERN NEW JERSEY REMEDIATION SECTION UNDER THE SUPERFUND AND EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT DIVISION.

Jon Gorin: What's going to happen is it's going to precipitate out and it's going to bind to the soil itself. The water is contaminated above acceptable levels, but the concentrations you can have on water is much less than you could have in soil. So, if it all binds to the soil, the concentrations in the soil would still be below a soil cleanup level.

Jordan Gass-Poore' -- Host

JUST SOME LEAD... NOT ENOUGH TO POSE A RISK TO ANYTHING OR ANYONE.

AND SO FAR... JON SAYS... CONTAMINATION HAS MIRACULOUSLY NOT SPREAD TO THE DELAWARE RIVER.

CLEANUP AT THE N-L INDUSTRIES SITE SEEMS TO BE RUNNING SMOOTHLY. AND THE STICKER PRICE TO CLEAN IT ALL UP IS RELATIVELY LOW... ABOUT ONE-AND-A-HALF-MILLION DOLLARS.

RENEE AND JON ARE HOPEFUL THAT EVERYTHING CAN BE SAID AND DONE IN A COUPLE OF YEARS.

IF THAT'S THE CASE... UNLESS MOTHER NATURE UNLEASHES A MASSIVE FLOOD AND IT ROLLS THROUGH SOON... CLIMATE CHANGE MAY JUST PASS THIS SUPERFUND SITE OVER.

I MENTIONED SALTWATER INTRUSION EARLIER. THE SITE IS ABOUT HALF A MILE FROM THE DELAWARE RIVER. RENEE SAYS IT WOULD HAVE TO FLOOD AN AWFUL LOT BEFORE SALTWATER FROM THE ATLANTIC OCEAN MAKES ITS WAY UP THE RIVER AND UNDERGROUND TO THE SITE.

Renee Gelblat: Our big issue here is acidity, right? Not salinity. So even if there was some flooding, and it left some salt behind it, it wouldn't affect anything.

Jordan Gass-Poore' -- Host

BUT THERE ARE PROJECTIONS FROM FEMA AND RUTGERS THAT SHOW THAT THE NEARBY STREAMS AND TRIBUTARIES DO PUT THE SITE AT SOME RISK DURING HURRICANES... THIS AS THE DESTRUCTION FROM HURRICANE IAN CONSUMES OUR HEADLINES.

OBVIOUSLY... THIS COULD BE A ONCE-IN-A-LIFETIME EVENT. THOUGH CLIMATE CHANGE IS MAKING WEATHER JUST A TAD BIT MORE UNPREDICTABLE.

JON SAYS IF A HURRICANE DID SWEEP THROUGH THE SITE BEFORE THEY WERE DONE... THEY'D BE LESS WORRIED ABOUT CONTAMINATION... AND MORE CONCERNED WITH LOGISTICS.

Jon Gorin: We'd have to shut down the site, call everybody away, tie up the trailers, but, you know, for an injection remedy it's not too difficult. The problem with a big superstorm is if you're doing it, save an excavation, then you have a real headache because you have to control the sediments, and we're not doing that here.

Jordan Gass-Poore' -- Host

MUCH LIKE DANIELLE IN THE SEVENTIES... I MADE A BRIEF SOJOURN IN PEDRICKTOWN. IT'S AN UNINCORPORATED COMMUNITY WITHIN OLDMANS TOWNSHIP IN SALEM COUNTY.

I LEARNED A FEW THINGS ALONG THE WAY... LIKE THERE ARE NEW JERSEY TOMATOES GROWN LOCALLY AND CREATED BY RUTGERS... AND SELLING FIREWOOD IN THE STATE CAN MAKE PROPERTY AG EXEMPT. ALSO... COFFEE FROM WAWA... IF THAT'S YOUR THING.

THE FIRST STOP IN TOWN... THE N-L INDUSTRIES SITE. THE SOUTHERN PORTION OF THE SITE WAS BOUGHT IN 20-16 BY ECRECON. THAT STANDS FOR ECONOMY... RECOVERY... AND CONSERVATION.

IT'S KIND OF FITTING FOR A BUSINESS THAT BUYS AND SELLS USED EQUIPMENT TO BE ON A SUPERFUND SITE. THEY DEAL WITH SOME OF THE SAME INDUSTRIES ASSOCIATED WITH POLLUTING PLACES... LIKE PETROCHEMICAL COMPANIES... WHICH MAKE PESTICIDES AND PLASTICS.

I MET UP WITH ECRECON'S OWNERS... TOM AND NICK BERCUTE ... TO TALK ABOUT THE FUTURE OF THE SITE. RENEE WITH THE E-P-A ALSO JOINED US TO PROVIDE SOME CONTEXT.

RENEE SAYS THE E-P-A LOVES SEEING SUPERFUND SITES LIKE THIS ONE GETTING REDEVELOPED. BUT THE AGENCY'S ONLY CONCERN IS MAKING SURE THE SITE GETS CLEAN... NOT WHAT HAPPENS TO IT AFTER.

Renee Gelblat: Don't get in the way of us when we're doing the injections. We don't even go to zoning meetings. They don't get in the way of our remedy, and they don't mess with the remedy itself.

Jordan Gass-Poore' -- Host

WE ALL MADE OUR WAY OUTSIDE TO TOUR THE FIELD THAT IS THE N-L INDUSTRIES SUPERFUND SITE.

I WAS ASSURED THERE WERE NO ISSUES WITH WALKING AROUND THE SITE... I WASN'T GOING TO TRACK TOXIC DIRT BACK TO PENN STATION.

I'VE SAID IT BEFORE... AND I'LL SAY IT AGAIN... MOST OF THESE SUPERFUND SITES DON'T LOOK LIKE MUCH. THEY'RE MAINLY FLAT PIECES OF LAND WITH PATCHES OF GRASS AND ROCKY SOIL. THEY COULD BE THE PARK I USED TO PLAY IN AS A KID... OR MY OWN CHILDHOOD BACKYARD.

BUT THAT'S WHAT'S SCARY TO ME... I CAN'T SEE THE POLLUTION.

I COULD... HOWEVER... SEE A BUNCH OF WHITE INJECTION PIPES DOTTING THE PROPERTY. THOSE ARE THE PLACES WHERE TRUCKS FULL OF THE REAGENT SOLUTION EMPTIED THE STUFF INTO THE TOXIC GROUNDWATER.

Renee Gelblat: I don't know if that's a sampling well or an injection well. And I'm sure those pipes are there to keep people from running into them.

Jordan Gass-Poore' -- Host

NOW IT'S A MATTER OF WAITING FOR THE CHEMICAL PROCESS TO PLAY OUT... THEN EXAMINING THE RESULTS TO SEE HOW WELL THE INJECTIONS ARE WORKING.

RENEE SAYS INJECTIONS HAPPENED FROM APRIL TO SEPTEMBER OF LAST YEAR.

Renee Gelblat: If the metals were truly mobile, and the site was first cleaned up in the '80s, then everything would be gone by now. So, the metals aren't moving but they are in solution. The groundwater moves. And we see the reagents we injected, the stuff we injected moving around, but for some reason the metals are just in too high a concentration or staying in an area.

Jordan Gass-Poore' -- Host

NOW REMEMBER THE CREEPING SALTWATER I MENTIONED EARLIER? IT'S TECHNICALLY CALLED SALTWATER INTRUSION... AND IT'S CAUSING HEADACHES FOR SOME AROUND SOUTH JERSEY.

SEE... NEW JERSEY IS EXPERIENCING SEA LEVEL RISE ABOUT TWICE AS FAST AS THE GLOBAL AVERAGE. AND ONE OF THE EFFECTS OF THAT IS THE SPREAD OF SALTWATER UNDERGROUND IN COASTAL AREAS... WHERE IT DISPLACES THE EXISTING FRESHWATER.

LARGE STANDS OF COASTAL FORESTS ALONG DELAWARE BAY ARE DYING OFF BECAUSE THE TREE ROOTS CAN'T HANDLE SALTIER WATER.

THE SAME ISSUE IS THREATENING TO MAKE SOME FARMLAND FALLOW IN CUMBERLAND COUNTY... WHICH IS THE POOREST COUNTY IN THE STATE.

AND IN CAPE MAY... THE MAIN SOURCE OF DRINKING WATER IS AN AQUIFER THAT IS SLOWLY BECOMING SALTIER. CITY OFFICIALS THERE MAY HAVE TO SPEND MORE THAN 30 MILLION DOLLARS BUILDING A NEW DESALINATION PLANT TO KEEP CLEAN WATER FLOWING IN THE FUTURE.

MUCH IS STILL NOT FULLY UNDERSTOOD ABOUT SALTWATER INTRUSION IN SOUTH JERSEY... INCLUDING HOW FAST IT'S HAPPENING AND HOW FAR IT'S SPREADING.

STATE AND FEDERAL SCIENTISTS ARE WORKING ON STUDIES NOW TO ANSWER THOSE QUESTIONS... BUT THAT'S A YEARS-LONG PROCESS.

SO... WHAT DOES THIS SALTWATER INTRUSION MEAN FOR PEDRICKTOWN? WELL... IF SALTWATER DOES ACTUALLY MAKE ITS WAY UP TO THE N-L INDUSTRIES SITE... IT MIGHT ACTUALLY BE HELPFUL BECAUSE IT WOULD RAISE THE GROUNDWATER'S PH LEVEL.

THAT'S A GOOD THING BECAUSE WE WANT THE SITE'S GROUNDWATER TO BE LESS ACIDIC... SO THOSE TOXIC METALS DON'T DISSOLVE INTO THE WATER.

DIBS SARKAR... A PROFESSOR AT STEVENS INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY IN THE SCHOOL OF ENGINEERING AND SCIENCE ... SAYS RAISING THE P-H OF THE SITE'S GROUNDWATER WAS A GOOD MOVE ON THE E-P-A'S PART.

Dibs Sarkar: They didn't go with pump and treat and actually took a pretty bold step of, like, increasing the pH. So, I thought that that was pretty cool of EPA. Typically, they are very risk averse. And they would have, like, again kept on pumping and treating until the time I, at least I was dead, and the site will still not be remediated.

Jordan Gass-Poore' -- Host

DIBS TEACHES A COURSE ON ENVIRONMENTAL MANAGEMENT THAT PARTLY DEALS WITH SUPERFUND SITES. AND HE'S AN EXPERT ON LEAD... WHICH IS GOOD FOR US BECAUSE THE N-L INDUSTRIES SITE... REMEMBER... REMOVED LEAD FROM OLD CAR BATTERIES.

I'M NO SCIENTIST... SO I ASKED DIBS TO EXPLAIN HOW CHANGING THE GROUNDWATER'S P-H ACTUALLY WORKS.

Dibs Sarkar: Raising pH is not that easy, yeah? Metals like cadmium and lead, like, they are getting adsorbed on the aquifer materials and soils, okay? Cadmium and lead they actually absorb, specifically that means by forming covalent bonds, okay? So, what is happening there is, like, what was there, like, dissolved cadmium, dissolved lead in water --- happy because, again, it was acidic, like again, there was nothing to hold them, now, they are getting absorbed on the aquifer materials, okay? So, the aquifer materials are effectively working as filter materials now. So, this is basically what's happening in the system.

Jordan Gass-Poore' -- Host

SECOND STOP ON MY VISIT TO PEDRICKTOWN... THE SALEM COUNTY HISTORICAL SOCIETY TO FIND OUT MORE ABOUT THE HISTORY OF THE N-L INDUSTRIES SITE... AND USE MICROFICHE FOR THE FIRST TIME.

I REALLY FELT LIKE I WAS IN A HORROR MOVIE... TRYING TO FIND OUT WHY MY HOUSE IS HAUNTED.

REEL AFTER MICROFICHE REEL... I SPUN THROUGH THE SEVENTIES AND EIGHTIES... THE CHURCH BAKE SALES... THE NOT-POLITICALLY-CORRECT OP-EDS... UNTIL THE N-L INDUSTRIES SITE MADE HEADLINES...

NATIONAL SMELTING FAILED TO CLEAN UP THE WASTE SITE.

ABOUT FIVE MONTHS AFTER THE SITE WAS ADDED TO THE SUPERFUND LIST IN 19-83... IT WAS BOUGHT BY NATIONAL SMELTING OF NEW JERSEY.

THE PLANT HADN'T BEEN IN OPERATION SINCE MAY 19-82 BECAUSE OF THE AIR POLLUTION.

IN MARCH 19-84... TODAY'S SUNBEAM... THE LOCAL PAPER IN SALEM COUNTY AT THE TIME... WROTE ABOUT THE FINE NATIONAL SMELTING RECEIVED FROM THE D-E-P FOR FAILING TO PREVENT THE RELEASE OF LEAD-CONTAMINATED SURFACE WATER FROM THE LANDFILL.

THAT LANDFILL IS ACROSS THE STREET FROM THE N-L INDUSTRIES SITE I VISITED BEFORE COMING TO THE HISTORICAL SOCIETY.

I THEN FOUND AN ARTICLE FROM 19-89 THAT TALKED ABOUT TESTS FROM SIX PRIVATE WELLS NEAR THE SITE SHOWING NO MAJOR CONTAMINATION.

MY FINAL STOP ON THE SALEM COUNTY TOUR WAS THE HOME OF FORMER OLDMANS TOWNSHIP MAYOR HARRY MOORE. HE'S THE MAN WHO REALLY KICKED THE N-L INDUSTRIES SITE CLEANUP INTO GEAR.

HARRY WAS DOING YARD WORK AND HIS WIFE WAS ON A RIDING LAWNMOWER WHEN I ARRIVED. HARRY WILL BE NINETY THIS YEAR.

HE GOT INTO POLITICS IN 19-91.

Harry Moore: I don't know if you call it working your way up or not, but I worked my way up to the mayor, because it's only a three-man committee and it makes a difference who your friends are.

Jordan Gass-Poore' -- Host

AT THE TIME... THE COMMITTEE WAS TRYING TO GET THE N-L INDUSTRIES SITE CLEANED UP... ONCE AND FOR ALL.

HARRY SAYS THE TOWN WENT ROUND-AND-ROUND WITH THE D-E-P AND THE E-P-A AND GOT NOWHERE.

UNTIL HE ENTERED THE PICTURE.

Harry Moore: So, myself and the mayor went to a // welcoming committee and what you might say, for an individual that was nominated to the prosecutor's office. So, I went down for the ceremony. Well, after the ceremony here was Congressman Hughes there. And Congressman Hughes was two grades ahead of me in school.

Jordan Gass-Poore' -- Host

SO... HARRY WENT UP TO HIM AFTER THAT MEETING IN 19-93 TO SEE IF THE CONGRESSMAN COULD HELP.

Harry Moore: When I walked up to him, he said, "Oh, hi, Harry." I said, "Hi, Bill." He said, I shook his hand, and I didn't let go. He looked down. I says, "I'm not letting go of your hand until you tell me what you're going to do with National Lead.

Jordan Gass-Poore' -- Host

CONGRESSMAN HUGHES AGREED WITH HARRY THAT SOMETHING SHOULD BE DONE ABOUT THE POLLUTED SITE. SO... HE CONTACTED THE POWERS THAT BE AND THEY GOT TO WORK. THANKS, HARRY.

ORIGINALLY... HARRY SAYS THE E-P-A WANTED TO PUT A CAP ON THE SITE'S CONTAMINATED MATERIALS.

Harry Moore: I said, "No, it's not acceptable." "Well, we'll see what we can do." And what they did -- so, they contacted chemical companies and they were glad to come down and get it and clean it up a little bit and resell it. They were tickled to death with that. So, that's what they did, so we weren't left with chemicals.

Jordan Gass-Poore' -- Host

WHEN HUGHES LEFT CONGRESS IN 1995 ... HARRY SAYS A LOCAL GROUP HE WAS A MEMBER OF INVITED HIM AS A GUEST SPEAKER FOR A DINNER IN THE CONGRESSMAN'S HONOR.

DURING THE EVENT... HARRY PRESENTED HUGHES WITH A SPECIAL GIFT.

Harry Moore: I went to K-Mart, where they had the display cameras on or display batteries on sale, just plastic, nothing in 'em. So, I told them what I wanted to use them for; they gave them to me. So, I had a company make up a plaque on there, and it went into detail about all relating to a battery, but "we want to thank Congressman Hughes for jumpstarting the cleanup," and anything related to a battery jumpstart, we laid out the speech to him and gave him this battery. Well, he was overwhelmed. Since he's passed away, but I've been wanting to contact one of his kids to see if that battery is floating around so we can put it in the municipal building.

Jordan Gass-Poore' -- Host

HAZARD IS A SPACE NOT JUST FOR LEARNING ABOUT SUPERFUND SITES... BUT FOR ENGAGING OUR COMMUNITIES IN CONVERSATION AROUND THE CLEANUP OF THESE TOXIC PLACES.

DO YOU HAVE QUESTIONS ABOUT SUPERFUND SITES IN NEW JERSEY? DO YOU LIVE NEAR ONE? IF SO... I WANT TO HEAR FROM YOU. SEND ME A TWEET USING HASHTAG HAZARD N-J.

OR... LEAVE ME A VOICE MEMO AT... HAZARD AT MY N-J P-B-S DOT ORG.

WE MAY PLAY YOUR COMMENTS IN A FUTURE EPISODE.

HAZARD N-J IS AN N-J SPOTLIGHT NEWS PRODUCTION.Jordan Gass-Poore' -- Host

IT STARTED AS A CAMPFIRE... AND GREW INTO THE LARGEST WILDFIRE NEW JERSEY'S SEEN IN MORE THAN A DECADE.

Briana Vannozzi -- Anchor, NJ Spotlight News

Firefighters in South Jersey are still battling a massive wildfire that broke out Sunday in Wharton State Forest.

Ted Goldberg --Reporter, NJ Spotlight News

The New Jersey Forest Fire Service says it's finally gotten a handle on the Mullica River fire, that started burning Sunday.

Jordan Gass-Poore' -- Host

THE BLAZE... CALLED THE MULLICA RIVER FIRE... BURNED 15,000 ACRES IN WHARTON STATE FOREST THIS PAST JUNE.

FROM THE SKY IT LOOKED LIKE LIT MATCHES BLOWING IN THE WIND... CASTING A YELLOW HAZE OVER MOST OF SOUTH JERSEY.

THERE WERE NO INJURIES... BUT SEVERAL CAMPGROUNDS AND FARMS WERE THREATENED.

FIRES IN THE PINELANDS GENERALLY DON'T CAUSE CASUALTIES... BUT PROPERTY LOSS CAN AMOUNT TO MILLIONS OF DOLLARS FROM EACH FIRE... ESPECIALLY IF HOMES OR STRUCTURES ARE DAMAGED.

WILDFIRES AREN'T NEW IN THE STATE... BUT CLIMATE CHANGE IS CHANGING THE INTENSITY... DURATION... AND WHEN THEY OCCUR.

WITHIN THE SOUTHERN REACHES OF THE PINES... THE EPA IS TRYING TO WORK AROUND THOSE RISKS AS THEY TRY TO CLEAN UP A TOXIC LANDFILL NEARBY.

BUT ALL IT COULD TAKE IS A SPARK TO HARM THEIR EFFORTS.

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.

WHEN I WAS A KID... I WAS DEATHLY AFRAID OF FIRE. OVENS... STOVES... MATCHES... YOU NAME IT... ANYTHING THAT COULD LIGHT ON FIRE TERRIFIED ME.

OH... AND I DON'T GO CAMPING BECAUSE OF MOSQUITOES... BUT ALSO BECAUSE BUILDING A CAMPFIRE JUST SOUNDS LIKE A RECIPE FOR DISASTER.

I WOULD WATCH THAT TV SHOW ARE YOU AFRAID OF THE DARK... WHERE THESE KIDS SIT AROUND A CAMPFIRE AND TELL GHOST STORIES... BAFFLED THAT THEY WEREN'T MORE AFRAID OF STARTING A FOREST FIRE.

SMOKEY THE BEAR ALSO REALLY SCARED ME... LIKE... MAN... WHY AM I THE ONLY ONE THAT CAN PREVENT FOREST FIRES? I'M NOT EVEN CAMPING.

PUTTING MY CHILDHOOD NEUROSES ASIDE... I RECENTLY FOUND MYSELF IN THE MIDDLE OF THE NEW JERSEY PINELANDS. TURNS OUT... THAT'S ONE OF THE MOST WILDFIRE-PRONE AREAS IN THE COUNTRY.

I WAS THERE TO VISIT EMMELL'S SEPTIC LANDFILL... A 38-ACRE SUPERFUND SITE IN GALLOWAY TOWNSHIP THAT'S SURROUNDED BY PINE FOREST.

BACK IN THE '60S AND '70S... WHEN THE SITE OPERATED AS A DUMP FOR SEPTIC WASTE... AND... REPORTEDLY... DRUMS OF PAINT SLUDGE... THE FOREST HELPED HIDE THE EMMELL FAMILY'S ILLEGAL ACTIVITIES.

TODAY... THE FOREST AND THE THREAT OF WILDFIRES PUT THE SITE AT RISK.

Joe Gowers -- Project Manager, EPA

What they were supposed to do was to bring in septic waste, they were supposed to pour it out, basically on the ground. And they were supposed to just get in or plow it into the ground. At some point during that operations, they decided to start illegally taking in chemical waste.

Jordan Gass-Poore' -- Host

JOE GOWERS HAS BEEN THE EPA PROJECT MANAGER FOR THE EMMELL SITE SINCE IT WAS LISTED IN 1999.

Joe Gowers -- Project Manager, EPA

And, ultimately, what we found was about 438 drums of what looked like to be paint sludge was disposed of in the ground at the site and that sort of triggered the contamination problem here because the solvents related to that leach into the groundwater, and then we had groundwater contamination related to the site.

Jordan Gass-Poore' -- Host

THE EPA WAS INITIALLY CONCERNED THAT THE FEW RESIDENTS WHO LIVE NEAR THIS RURAL SITE WERE DRINKING CONTAMINATED WELL WATER... TAINTED BY THAT PAINT SLUDGE.

SO... IN 2003... THE AGENCY CONNECTED RESIDENTS WHO WERE POTENTIALLY THREATENED BY THE POLLUTION TO THE LOCAL WATER COMPANY'S SUPPLY.

AS THEY CONTINUED THEIR INVESTIGATIONS... GOWERS SAYS THEY FOUND MORE CONTAMINATED WELLS.

Joe Gowers -- Project Manager, EPA

In 2008 and 2010, our removal program, once again, came in and basically provided an alternate water supply for those residences, and what they did was install deeper groundwater monitoring wells into an unimpacted aquifer below about 50 to 100 feet of clay out there, and those wells are down about 300 feet.

Jordan Gass-Poore' -- Host

SINCE 2010... MILLIONS OF GALLONS OF WATER HAVE BEEN TREATED AT THE EPA'S GROUNDWATER EXTRACTION AND TREATMENT FACILITY ON THE SITE.

WHILE THE GROUNDWATER IS THE EPA'S PRIMARY CONCERN... GOWERS SAYS THEY FOUND PCBs... A LIKELY HUMAN CARCINOGENIC... IN SOME OF THE SOIL.

Joe Gowers -- Project Manager, EPA

Those materials were excavated from the site, those materials were more of a direct contact risk, they generally don't get into groundwater and provide risk in that fashion.

Jordan Gass-Poore' -- Host

I WALKED WITH GOWERS AROUND PARTS OF THE SITE... A GLORIFIED FIELD THAT... IF YOU DIDN'T KNOW ABOUT THE SITE'S HISTORY... AND DIDN'T SEE THE EPA SIGN... WOULD PROBABLY LET YOUR KIDS PLAY SOCCER ON.

Joe Gowers -- Project Manager, EPA

That area that's fenced off is actually part of the groundwater pump and treat system here, those are recharge basins. So that's where the clean water goes after it's been treated. And, you know, the process of that is basically they re-inject or basically discharge the clean groundwater there, it percolates back down, that causes mounting, which helps push the groundwater towards the extraction well. So it actually helps with the groundwater cleaning process here.

Jordan Gass-Poore' -- Host

WE WALKED TO A CLEARING... WHERE REPORTS SAY DECADES AGO PEOPLE PAID THE EMMELL'S TO BURY DRUMS OF PAINT SLUDGE WASTE AND DUMP CHEMICALS RIGHT ONTO THE GROUND.

Joe Gowers -- Project Manager, EPA

They began illegally taking in chemical waste, the drums of paint sludge that we found, and that area where that was found was back in this tree line, you can see the cut in the tree line over here. So back in that area was where they had apparently dug a pit and then put in at least 438 drums of paint sludge and then covered that over. So that was basically the way the operations were conducted here. I know that during their operations they even mishandled it seemed the septic waste they got they got cited at least once that I'm aware of, I think it was maybe twice by the state of New Jersey because they were allowing septic waste to be ponded on the site when they were actually, you know, supposed to be plowing that stuff in.

Jordan Gass-Poore' -- Host

THE EPA STARTED TO CLEAN UP THIS LANDFILL SITE IN 1999... AND GOWERS SAYS THE AGENCY WILL TURN OVER OPERATION OF THE PUMP AND TREAT SYSTEM HERE TO THE NEW JERSEY DEPARTMENT OF ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AS EARLY AS NEXT YEAR.

OF THE SUPERFUND SITES LOCATED IN THE PINELANDS... EMMELL'S SEPTIC LANDFILL IS ONE OF SEVENTEEN THAT REMAINS ON THE LIST.

AND WITH THAT MANY TOXIC SITES IN THE AREA... IT'S IMPORTANT TO CLEAN THEM UP BEFORE THEY'RE DAMAGED BY WILDFIRES.

CLIMATE CHANGE IS MAKING THIS AREA MORE SUSCEPTIBLE TO WILDFIRES... AND MORE DIFFICULT FOR FIREFIGHTERS TO FIGHT THEM.

WHEN THERE'S LOW HUMIDITY AND HIGH HEAT... VEGETATION STARTS TO DRY AND WILT. THESE ARE THE KEY INGREDIENTS FOR A WILDFIRE DISASTER... A PERFECT STORM.

NEW JERSEY'S WILDFIRE SEASON HAS HISTORICALLY PEAKED IN THE LATE SPRING AND EARLY SUMMER. BUT NOW... THE SHIFT IN CONDITIONS HAS ALLOWED WILDFIRES TO GET MORE INTENSE... AND SPARK MORE EASILY THROUGHOUT THE ENTIRE YEAR.

TO PREVENT A WILDFIRE FROM SWEEPING ONTO THE EMMELL'S SITE... AND DESTROYING WHAT APPEARED TO BE AN EXPENSIVE PUMP AND TREAT FACILITY... GOWERS SAYS THEY KEEP THE AREA AROUND THE BUILDING FREE FROM BRUSH.

IN THE OFF CHANCE A WILDFIRE DID DAMAGE THE FACILITY... HE SAYS THEY'D SHUT IT DOWN UNTIL THE BUILDING COULD BE REPAIRED.

THAT MEANS THE CONTAMINATED GROUNDWATER WOULD BE SITTING IN THE AQUIFER AND COULD MOVE AROUND. BUT GOWERS SAYS HE ISN'T CONCERNED.

Joe Gowers -- Project Manager, EPA

Groundwater contamination down here in Southern Jersey, the type of aquifer you're dealing with, you're looking at groundwater that might move a foot a day. So, if it's shut down for a month, it might move 30 feet. So, once you start the extraction wells up again, it should theoretically pull most of that contamination back.

Jordan Gass-Poore' -- Host

EMMELL'S SEPTIC LANDFILL MAY BE THE QUIETEST SUPERFUND SITE I'VE COVERED ON THIS PODCAST... BOTH IN TERMS OF LOCATION... WHERE CICADAS WERE THE ONLY THINGS I HEARD... AND VIRTUALLY NO NEWS COVERAGE.

I COULDN'T FIND OUT MUCH ABOUT THE SITE ONLINE. THERE'S NO COMMUNITY ACTION GROUP MAKING SURE THIS SITE GETS CLEANED UP.

Jaclyn Rhodes -- Assistant Executive Director, Pinelands Preservation Alliance

More people, more exposure, more liability, right? Less people, less exposure, less liability. So, often what my experience has been for Superfund sites, it's typically the community that brings up the issue. And if you don't have a big community that's complaining about it, or you address those that are being exposed because there's a long list of Superfund sites.

Jordan Gass-Poore' -- Host

THAT'S JACLYN RHODES... THE ASSISTANT EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR OF THE PINELANDS PRESERVATION ALLIANCE.

I MET UP WITH HER ON THE SITE TO FIND OUT MORE ABOUT ITS HISTORY... AND FUTURE POTENTIAL WILDFIRE RISK.

Jaclyn Rhodes -- Assistant Executive Director, Pinelands Preservation Alliance

You would have to have an exceptional fire, very hot, burning for a long period of time for it to pass through an area that has, you know, essentially almost like a fire break around that typically gets moved out of woody vegetation from coming up.

Jordan Gass-Poore' -- Host

THE GOOD THING ABOUT EMMELL'S... AND OTHER SUPERFUND SITES THAT WERE LANDFILLS... IS THAT THEY HAVE LESS TREES AND MORE OF A GRASSLAND ENVIRONMENT. THIS PROTECTS THE SITE FROM A WILDFIRE GOING STRAIGHT THROUGH THE AREA.

EVEN IF A FIRE DID GO THROUGH THE SITE... THE EPA'S ALREADY REMOVED CONTAMINANTS FROM THE SOIL... SO THERE'S NOT REALLY A RISK OF THESE CHEMICALS BURNING OFF AND EFFECTING THE AIR QUALITY FOR THE SURROUNDING COMMUNITIES.

IN THE PINELANDS... FIRE IS A PART OF LIFE.

BUT THE WILDFIRES THAT HAVE SHAPED THE LANDSCAPE FOR CENTURIES... NOW THREATEN TO DESTROY THE COMMUNITIES WITHIN IT.

Mike Gallagher -- Fire Ecologist, US Forest Service

So, this here is the Silas Little Experimental Forest.

Jordan Gass-Poore' -- Host

I MET MIKE GALLAGHER AT HIS OFFICE IN NEW LISBON... ABOUT AN HOUR NORTH OF GALLOWAY AND THE EMMELL SITE... ON THE OTHER END OF THE MILLION-ACRE PINELANDS NATIONAL RESERVE.

HE'S A FIRE ECOLOGIST WITH THE US FOREST SERVICE... AND HIS JOB REQUIRES HIM TO INTENTIONALLY START AND STUDY FIRES.

THERE'S A NAME FOR THIS PRACTICE... AND IT DOESN'T INCLUDE THE WORD MANIA.

IT'S CALLED PRESCRIBED BURNING... AND THE IDEA IS TO PURPOSEFULLY SET SMALL... CONTROLLED FIRES TO PREVENT CATASTROPHIC WILDFIRES.

IT WORKS BECAUSE THE CONTROLLED BURNS ESSENTIALLY CLEAN UP THE FOREST... CLEARING OUT BRUSH AND DEAD VEGETATION THAT WOULD OTHERWISE BE PRIME FUEL FOR A FUTURE WILDFIRE.

THIS PRACTICE... THOUGH... DIDN'T START WITH THE US FOREST SERVICE.

Mike Gallagher -- Fire Ecologist, US Forest Service

Cranberry growers we're doing that since cranberries started as an industry, really before the 1840s, 1850s and folks were burning around their bogs regularly. But that culture was probably, well, almost inevitably, picked up by the Native Americans who were living here when Europeans got here because this sort of burning really wasn't a big thing in Europe, where a lot of folks came from. And that was adopted and still doing it today.

Jordan Gass-Poore' -- Host

I WANTED TO SEE THE EFFECTS OF FIRE MYSELF. SO... MIKE AND I DROVE THE FEW MINUTES DOWN THE ROAD FROM HIS OFFICE TO BRENDAN T BYRNE STATE FOREST.

Mike Gallagher -- Fire Ecologist, US Forest Service

On the one side of the road, here, we have a fire-excluded forest. And on the other side of the road, we have this area that was burned in a wildfire last year in 2021.

Jordan Gass-Poore' -- Host

BLACKENED TREES INDICATED WHERE THE FIRE MOVED IN-AND-OUT OF THE FOREST.

MIKE SAYS PRESCRIBED BURNS HAD TAKEN PLACE IN THIS AREA BEFORE... BUT IT HAD BEEN A WHILE.

PRESCRIBED BURNS ARE TOUGH TO CARRY OUT. THEY'RE COSTLY... LABOR INTENSIVE... AND ARE CONTINGENT ON FAVORABLE WEATHER.

CLIMATE CHANGE IS MAKING THESE INTENTIONAL BURNS EVEN MORE COMPLICATED TO CARRY OUT.

EVEN THOUGH NEW JERSEY IS SEEING MORE RAIN AND SNOW AS THE CLIMATE CHANGES... THAT PRECIPITATION IS INCREASINGLY CONCENTRATED IN HEAVY STORMS... WITH LONGER DRY SPELLS IN BETWEEN.

THAT MEANS WILDFIRE SEASON IS GROWING LONGER... NARROWING THE WINDOWS FOR PERFORMING PRESCRIBED BURNS SAFELY.

Mike Gallagher -- Fire Ecologist, US Forest Service

We're seeing more wet weather in some years during our prescribed burn season. So, either more wet weather or more fire weather. So, what that means is that there's fewer days available to do prescribed burns because either it's too wet and it won't burn or it's too flammable.

Jordan Gass-Poore' -- Host

NEW JERSEY HASN'T SEEN THE TYPES OF DEVASTATING MEGAFIRES THAT HAVE BECOME COMMON IN WESTERN STATES LIKE CALIFORNIA.

BUT MIKE SAYS THAT DOESN'T MEAN THE GARDEN STATE'S NOT AT RISK OF CATASTROPHIC WILDFIRES... ESPECIALLY AS TOWNS ON THE FOREST FRINGES BECOME MORE HEAVILY DEVELOPED... AND MORE PEOPLE MOVE INTO FIRE-PRONE AREAS.

THOUGH HE NOTES THE FIRES IN NEW JERSEY TEND TO BEHAVE DIFFERENTLY.

Mike Gallagher -- Fire Ecologist, US Forest Service

One of the reasons that maybe we don't think about big fires as much here is because our fires do get big and they happen in one operational period, so one shift. Out west, their fires tend to burn a lot longer. Sometimes long enough that people from New Jersey have time to get there and help out. The history, they talk about how little rain they had leading up to some of those big fires. And so, this environment has a predisposition to dry out very quickly, because of its foundation, basically.

Jordan Gass-Poore' -- Host

THE SOIL IN THE PINELANDS IS SANDY... SO WHEN IT RAINS... WATER DOESN'T STICK AROUND. IT GOES DOWN TO THE AQUIFER QUICKLY.

MIKE SAYS THAT MEANS THERE CAN STILL BE A WILDFIRE IN THE AREA THE SAME DAY IT RAINS.

Mike Gallagher -- Fire Ecologist, US Forest Service

We can look in the road here, all the sand and cobbles weren't put here to make the road. This is the natural underlying foundation that everything is growing out of and so there's, we're looking at rocks and pebbles and looks like beach sand almost. And so that doesn't hold any, any moisture or not for very long, you know, hold a little bit, but it dries out, it's got big pore space between all the particles, a lot more than, like, a heavy, organic soil. The soil doesn't hold a lot of organic matter, either, so there's no real hope of ever developing a, you know, a really thick, you know, better soil. That was something, you know, going back to the Pine Barrens, the settlers could never get it to really grow their crops, they never could really improve their soil that much for the things that they wanted to grow.

Jordan Gass-Poore' -- Host

THIS ENVIRONMENT HAS SHAPED INDUSTRY... CULTURE... AND IN THESE PARTS... LEGEND.

LONG AGO... A WOMAN NAMED MRS. LEEDS WAS IN LABOR WITH HER 13TH CHILD.

SHE CRIED OUT IN AGONY... OH... LET THIS ONE BE THE DEVIL.

HER WISH CAME TRUE. THE CHILD RELEASED A HORRIFYING SCREECH... UNFURLED ITS WINGS... AND FLEW OUT OF THE HOUSE THROUGH THE CHIMNEY.

THAT NIGHT... THE JERSEY DEVIL WAS BORN.

OR... SO THE STORY GOES.

BACK IN THE PINELANDS OF THE TWENTY-FIRST CENTURY... THE ONLY DEMONIC THING I SPOTTED WAS WHAT APPEARED TO BE A SNUGGIE SOMEONE DISCARDED WITH BROKEN T-VS AND OTHER TRASH ALONG THE SIDE OF THE ROAD.

THIS PART OF THE PINELANDS ISN'T A LANDFILL LIKE THE EMMELL'S SUPERFUND SITE WAS... DESPITE GARAGE SALE-STYLE ILLEGAL DUMPING.

BUT MIKE SAYS THE PRESCRIBED BURNING GOING ON HERE WILL HELP SIMILAR SUPERFUND SITES LIKE EMMELL'S THAT ARE CONTAMINATED WITH HEAVY METALS.

Mike Gallagher -- Fire Ecologist, US Forest Service

Some species of plants can actually bring up heavy metals that were otherwise in the soil, but were relatively immobile, not going anywhere. Some early woody colonizers, of heavily disturbed areas can, will naturally want to start seeding in in certain types of scenarios and start growing, and they can take up these heavy metals, and then they'll get into their foliage and into their wood, and as the plant loses parts, naturally, leaves and twigs and things, it's starting to bring heavy metals up back into into the system, on the top, where then they can run off with rain or blow around and dust. And so one strategy that's been proposed is to actually use some prescribed fire in Superfund sites like that to actually control the species that would start moving the contamination around. And so the goal for some places might not be to restore it back to a forest because that might be counterproductive for the hazardous part. And so maybe maintaining it as a grassland or something like that with species of plants that aren't going to move the contamination around but still provide ecological opportunity for wildlife and recreation can be good.

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

We’re bringing you a special episode from our friends at “The Sweaty Penguin” podcast, which dives deep (with a bit of humor!) on all things climate change. In this episode, “The Sweaty Penguin” crew takes a look at the landmark Inflation Reduction Act, and what it does and does not do for the climate. Check it out, and be sure to follow “The Sweaty Penguin”, another show made possible by the Peril & Promise initiative, wherever you get your podcasts.

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

The National Lead company spent years in the 1970s recycling car batteries at a factory in rural South Jersey, haphazardly draining battery acid onto the ground. The pollution left dangerous heavy metals in the site’s soil and groundwater — a mess that is now on the verge of being cleaned up. But in an area along the Delaware Bay, sea level rise is slowly pushing a new potential problem into the ground.

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

IT FORMED AT NIGHT... WHEN THEY WERE ASLEEP. CREEPING INTO THEIR HOMES... UNSEEN.

FOR THOSE WHO WERE STILL AWAKE... THE VIEW OUTSIDE THEIR WINDOWS WAS ALMOST ETHEREAL... A SOFT GLOW LIKE A FLAME FROM A CANDLE.

THIS HAPPENED FOR ABOUT AN HOUR-AND-A-HALF A FEW NIGHTS A WEEK... FOR NEARLY TWO YEARS.

DAYLIGHT ERASED THE ORANGE FOG THAT ENVELOPED THE SMALL COMMUNITY OF PEDRICKTOWN NEW JERSEY... NIGHT AFTER NIGHT.

BUT EVEN THOUGH RESIDENTS COULD NO LONGER SEE THE FOG... THE PROOF OF ITS EXISTENCE REMAINED.

THERE WERE UNEXPLAINED HEADACHES... AND PINHOLES IN THE ALUMINUM SIDING OF THEIR HOMES... AS IF THE FOG HAD GOTTEN HUNGRY.

IT WAS LIKE SOMETHING OUT OF A STEPHEN KING NOVEL... EXCEPT THE FOG'S ORIGINS WEREN'T SUPERNATURAL. IT CAME FROM THE SMOKESTACKS OF THE N-L INDUSTRIES PLANT.

IN 19-76... DANIELLE FLOOD WAS A YOUNG REPORTER FREELANCING FOR THE NEW YORK TIMES. A CAB DROPPED HER OFF IN PEDRICKTOWN ONE MORNING TO INVESTIGATE THE ORANGE FOG.

Danielle Flood: I'm not sure that I remember seeing anything over two stories, I think it was all one stories or small houses around, not close, some were close actually. It looked like the houses were built and then somebody came and put this factory next to them and there was a big dump next to the factory with, I guess, about 500 car batteries dumped there.

AT THE TIME... THE N-L INDUSTRIES PLANT RECOVERED LEAD FROM USED CAR BATTERIES. THEY DID THIS BY DRAINING THE BATTERIES OF SULFURIC ACID... AND THEN BREAKING THEM... ON THE GROUND.

Danielle Flood: I talked to this one guy, he must have been retired or something. He was kind of old. And he was really upset, and I asked him what it was like to live next to, across the street from this factory that was reclaiming lead from car batteries. So, he said that he was not happy at all. And he showed me his car. The hood of his car, the paint had been eaten away.

Jordan Gass-Poore' -- Host

A FORMER N-L INDUSTRIES EMPLOYEE TOLD DANIELLE FOR HER ARTICLE THAT THE PLANT STORED THE CAR BATTERIES WAITING TO BE RECYCLED IN A DUMP BEHIND THE BUILDING.

WHEN IT RAINED ON THE BATTERIES... THE FORMER EMPLOYEE TOLD HER THAT LEAD AND SULFURIC ACID COULD LEAK INTO THE GROUND.

AND THAT'S A BIG PROBLEM. THE CAPE MAY AQUIFER LIES UNDER THE SITE... JUST ONE-AND-A-HALF MILES FROM THE DELAWARE RIVER.

JUST TO BE CLEAR... NEARBY WELLS NEVER DREW FROM THIS AQUIFER. INSTEAD... THEY TAPPED INTO DEEPER POCKETS OF WATER.

TODAY... EVEN THOUGH THE PLANT NO LONGER EXISTS... THE GROUNDWATER REMAINS CONTAMINATED WITH LEAD AND CADMIUM... TOXIC METALS THAT CAN CAUSE LEARNING PROBLEMS IN CHILDREN.

SALTWATER IS ALSO CREEPING INLAND AS CLIMATE CHANGE RAISES SEA LEVELS AND AMPLIFIES STORM SURGES AND FLOODING. ACROSS SOUTH JERSEY... THAT SLOW TRICKLE OF SALTWATER IS KILLING FORESTS... THREATENING FARMLAND... AND IMPERILING DRINKING WATER SUPPLIES.

SO... WHAT HAPPENS IF SALTWATER MIGRATES FROM THE OCEAN TO THE GROUNDWATER UNDERNEATH THE N-L INDUSTRIES SITE?

IT MIGHT NOT BE A BAD THING. IN FACT... THE SALTWATER COULD HELP LOCK THE POLLUTION IN PLACE... RATHER THAN SPREADING IT.

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.

WHEN I WAS SIXTEEN... I WAS PART OF THIS LOCAL BEAUTY PAGEANT. IT WAS SOMETHING I WANTED TO DO TO PROVE A POINT. WHAT POINT THAT WAS... I CAN'T REMEMBER.

DURING THE PAGEANT... WE WERE ALL ASKED: WHAT IS THE MOST PRESSING PROBLEM FACING TEENS? MY RESPONSE: DEFORESTATION. THE AUDIENCE WAS SILENT. I DON'T THINK I EVEN GOT A CLAP FROM MY FAMILY WHO WERE THERE.

BELIEVE IT OR NOT... I DIDN'T WIN.

I'M MENTIONING THIS BECAUSE NO ONE BELIEVED ME. THEY DIDN'T THINK DEFORESTATION WAS A PROBLEM... IF THEY EVEN KNEW WHAT THAT WAS. ALL OF THE GREENPEACE STICKERS I STUCK AROUND TOWN COULDN'T CHANGE THEIR MINDS. IF THEY COULDN'T SEE IT... THEY COULDN'T BELIEVE IT.

MUCH LIKE THE ENVIRONMENTAL OFFICIALS IN THE SEVENTIES WHO WENT TO THE N-L INDUSTRIES SITE NEAR PEDRICKTOWN NEW JERSEY... AFTER BEING MADE AWARE OF THE ORANGE FOG. THEY TOLD NEW YORK TIMES FREELANCE REPORTER DANIELLE FLOOD THAT THEY HAD TO SEE THE FOG THEMSELVES BEFORE THEY COULD DO ANYTHING ABOUT IT.

OKAY... I'LL JUST GET THIS OUT OF THE WAY: IT WAS NEVER PROVEN THAT N-L INDUSTRIES WAS THE SOURCE OF THE ORANGE FOG.

BUT IN THE EIGHTIES... NEW JERSEY'S DEPARTMENT OF ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION STILL FOUND THE COMPANY RESPONSIBLE FOR POLLUTING THE AIR WITH VARIOUS TOXIC CHEMICALS.

THE E-P-A PLACED THE SITE ON THE SUPERFUND LIST IN 19-83... AND THEY GOT TO WORK DEALING WITH THE LEAD IN THE SOIL AND GROUNDWATER.

NEARLY FORTY YEARS LATER... RENEE GELBLAT WITH THE E-P-A SAYS THE CONTAMINATED SOIL HAS BEEN REMOVED... AND NOW THE FOCUS IS ON THE GROUNDWATER.

Renee Gelblat: It's not really moving anywhere. It's kind of a big, little lake underneath part of the site. I mean, the water moves, but the lead and cadmium are not. We tested the two streams and it's not there.

Jordan Gass-Poore' -- Host

RENEE IS THE REMEDIAL PROJECT MANAGER FOR THE N-L INDUSTRIES SITE... JUST SOUTH OF PEDRICKTOWN.

SHE SAYS LEAD AND CADMIUM DON'T DISSOLVE IN WATER UNLESS IT'S REALLY ACIDIC. AND THE GROUNDWATER AT THIS FORTY-FOUR-ACRE SITE IS STILL PRETTY ACIDIC.

Renee Gelblat: It's down around four where it should be somewhere between six and eight. So, what we're doing is injecting, I mean, really simple would be, say, baking soda, it's a little more complicated than that, to bring the pH back toward neutral. And the tricky part is, in order to get the lead out of the water, you actually have to bring it up toward eight or nine. So, we have to make it basic, just to get it to come out of the solution. And then we'll let it go back down to, you know, six to eight, which is what's normal for the groundwater.

Jordan Gass-Poore' -- Host

THAT'S BEING DONE BY INJECTING A PHOSPHATE REAGENT... BASICALLY A SUBSTANCE SIMILAR TO BAKING SODA... LIKE RENEE SAID... INTO THE POLLUTED GROUNDWATER TO RAISE THE P-H AND MAKE THE WATER LESS ACIDIC.

ONCE THE GROUNDWATER'S P-H IS RAISED HIGH ENOUGH... THE TOXIC METALS WILL STICK TO THE SOIL PARTICLES THAT ARE UNDERGROUND AND JUST SIT THERE... SAYS JON GORIN. HE'S THE E-P-A'S CHIEF OF THE SOUTHERN NEW JERSEY REMEDIATION SECTION UNDER THE SUPERFUND AND EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT DIVISION.

Jon Gorin: What's going to happen is it's going to precipitate out and it's going to bind to the soil itself. The water is contaminated above acceptable levels, but the concentrations you can have on water is much less than you could have in soil. So, if it all binds to the soil, the concentrations in the soil would still be below a soil cleanup level.

Jordan Gass-Poore' -- Host

JUST SOME LEAD... NOT ENOUGH TO POSE A RISK TO ANYTHING OR ANYONE.

AND SO FAR... JON SAYS... CONTAMINATION HAS MIRACULOUSLY NOT SPREAD TO THE DELAWARE RIVER.

CLEANUP AT THE N-L INDUSTRIES SITE SEEMS TO BE RUNNING SMOOTHLY. AND THE STICKER PRICE TO CLEAN IT ALL UP IS RELATIVELY LOW... ABOUT ONE-AND-A-HALF-MILLION DOLLARS.

RENEE AND JON ARE HOPEFUL THAT EVERYTHING CAN BE SAID AND DONE IN A COUPLE OF YEARS.

IF THAT'S THE CASE... UNLESS MOTHER NATURE UNLEASHES A MASSIVE FLOOD AND IT ROLLS THROUGH SOON... CLIMATE CHANGE MAY JUST PASS THIS SUPERFUND SITE OVER.

I MENTIONED SALTWATER INTRUSION EARLIER. THE SITE IS ABOUT HALF A MILE FROM THE DELAWARE RIVER. RENEE SAYS IT WOULD HAVE TO FLOOD AN AWFUL LOT BEFORE SALTWATER FROM THE ATLANTIC OCEAN MAKES ITS WAY UP THE RIVER AND UNDERGROUND TO THE SITE.

Renee Gelblat: Our big issue here is acidity, right? Not salinity. So even if there was some flooding, and it left some salt behind it, it wouldn't affect anything.

Jordan Gass-Poore' -- Host

BUT THERE ARE PROJECTIONS FROM FEMA AND RUTGERS THAT SHOW THAT THE NEARBY STREAMS AND TRIBUTARIES DO PUT THE SITE AT SOME RISK DURING HURRICANES... THIS AS THE DESTRUCTION FROM HURRICANE IAN CONSUMES OUR HEADLINES.

OBVIOUSLY... THIS COULD BE A ONCE-IN-A-LIFETIME EVENT. THOUGH CLIMATE CHANGE IS MAKING WEATHER JUST A TAD BIT MORE UNPREDICTABLE.

JON SAYS IF A HURRICANE DID SWEEP THROUGH THE SITE BEFORE THEY WERE DONE... THEY'D BE LESS WORRIED ABOUT CONTAMINATION... AND MORE CONCERNED WITH LOGISTICS.

Jon Gorin: We'd have to shut down the site, call everybody away, tie up the trailers, but, you know, for an injection remedy it's not too difficult. The problem with a big superstorm is if you're doing it, save an excavation, then you have a real headache because you have to control the sediments, and we're not doing that here.

Jordan Gass-Poore' -- Host

MUCH LIKE DANIELLE IN THE SEVENTIES... I MADE A BRIEF SOJOURN IN PEDRICKTOWN. IT'S AN UNINCORPORATED COMMUNITY WITHIN OLDMANS TOWNSHIP IN SALEM COUNTY.

I LEARNED A FEW THINGS ALONG THE WAY... LIKE THERE ARE NEW JERSEY TOMATOES GROWN LOCALLY AND CREATED BY RUTGERS... AND SELLING FIREWOOD IN THE STATE CAN MAKE PROPERTY AG EXEMPT. ALSO... COFFEE FROM WAWA... IF THAT'S YOUR THING.

THE FIRST STOP IN TOWN... THE N-L INDUSTRIES SITE. THE SOUTHERN PORTION OF THE SITE WAS BOUGHT IN 20-16 BY ECRECON. THAT STANDS FOR ECONOMY... RECOVERY... AND CONSERVATION.

IT'S KIND OF FITTING FOR A BUSINESS THAT BUYS AND SELLS USED EQUIPMENT TO BE ON A SUPERFUND SITE. THEY DEAL WITH SOME OF THE SAME INDUSTRIES ASSOCIATED WITH POLLUTING PLACES... LIKE PETROCHEMICAL COMPANIES... WHICH MAKE PESTICIDES AND PLASTICS.

I MET UP WITH ECRECON'S OWNERS... TOM AND NICK BERCUTE ... TO TALK ABOUT THE FUTURE OF THE SITE. RENEE WITH THE E-P-A ALSO JOINED US TO PROVIDE SOME CONTEXT.

RENEE SAYS THE E-P-A LOVES SEEING SUPERFUND SITES LIKE THIS ONE GETTING REDEVELOPED. BUT THE AGENCY'S ONLY CONCERN IS MAKING SURE THE SITE GETS CLEAN... NOT WHAT HAPPENS TO IT AFTER.

Renee Gelblat: Don't get in the way of us when we're doing the injections. We don't even go to zoning meetings. They don't get in the way of our remedy, and they don't mess with the remedy itself.

Jordan Gass-Poore' -- Host

WE ALL MADE OUR WAY OUTSIDE TO TOUR THE FIELD THAT IS THE N-L INDUSTRIES SUPERFUND SITE.

I WAS ASSURED THERE WERE NO ISSUES WITH WALKING AROUND THE SITE... I WASN'T GOING TO TRACK TOXIC DIRT BACK TO PENN STATION.

I'VE SAID IT BEFORE... AND I'LL SAY IT AGAIN... MOST OF THESE SUPERFUND SITES DON'T LOOK LIKE MUCH. THEY'RE MAINLY FLAT PIECES OF LAND WITH PATCHES OF GRASS AND ROCKY SOIL. THEY COULD BE THE PARK I USED TO PLAY IN AS A KID... OR MY OWN CHILDHOOD BACKYARD.

BUT THAT'S WHAT'S SCARY TO ME... I CAN'T SEE THE POLLUTION.

I COULD... HOWEVER... SEE A BUNCH OF WHITE INJECTION PIPES DOTTING THE PROPERTY. THOSE ARE THE PLACES WHERE TRUCKS FULL OF THE REAGENT SOLUTION EMPTIED THE STUFF INTO THE TOXIC GROUNDWATER.

Renee Gelblat: I don't know if that's a sampling well or an injection well. And I'm sure those pipes are there to keep people from running into them.

Jordan Gass-Poore' -- Host

NOW IT'S A MATTER OF WAITING FOR THE CHEMICAL PROCESS TO PLAY OUT... THEN EXAMINING THE RESULTS TO SEE HOW WELL THE INJECTIONS ARE WORKING.

RENEE SAYS INJECTIONS HAPPENED FROM APRIL TO SEPTEMBER OF LAST YEAR.

Renee Gelblat: If the metals were truly mobile, and the site was first cleaned up in the '80s, then everything would be gone by now. So, the metals aren't moving but they are in solution. The groundwater moves. And we see the reagents we injected, the stuff we injected moving around, but for some reason the metals are just in too high a concentration or staying in an area.

Jordan Gass-Poore' -- Host

NOW REMEMBER THE CREEPING SALTWATER I MENTIONED EARLIER? IT'S TECHNICALLY CALLED SALTWATER INTRUSION... AND IT'S CAUSING HEADACHES FOR SOME AROUND SOUTH JERSEY.

SEE... NEW JERSEY IS EXPERIENCING SEA LEVEL RISE ABOUT TWICE AS FAST AS THE GLOBAL AVERAGE. AND ONE OF THE EFFECTS OF THAT IS THE SPREAD OF SALTWATER UNDERGROUND IN COASTAL AREAS... WHERE IT DISPLACES THE EXISTING FRESHWATER.

LARGE STANDS OF COASTAL FORESTS ALONG DELAWARE BAY ARE DYING OFF BECAUSE THE TREE ROOTS CAN'T HANDLE SALTIER WATER.

THE SAME ISSUE IS THREATENING TO MAKE SOME FARMLAND FALLOW IN CUMBERLAND COUNTY... WHICH IS THE POOREST COUNTY IN THE STATE.

AND IN CAPE MAY... THE MAIN SOURCE OF DRINKING WATER IS AN AQUIFER THAT IS SLOWLY BECOMING SALTIER. CITY OFFICIALS THERE MAY HAVE TO SPEND MORE THAN 30 MILLION DOLLARS BUILDING A NEW DESALINATION PLANT TO KEEP CLEAN WATER FLOWING IN THE FUTURE.

MUCH IS STILL NOT FULLY UNDERSTOOD ABOUT SALTWATER INTRUSION IN SOUTH JERSEY... INCLUDING HOW FAST IT'S HAPPENING AND HOW FAR IT'S SPREADING.

STATE AND FEDERAL SCIENTISTS ARE WORKING ON STUDIES NOW TO ANSWER THOSE QUESTIONS... BUT THAT'S A YEARS-LONG PROCESS.

SO... WHAT DOES THIS SALTWATER INTRUSION MEAN FOR PEDRICKTOWN? WELL... IF SALTWATER DOES ACTUALLY MAKE ITS WAY UP TO THE N-L INDUSTRIES SITE... IT MIGHT ACTUALLY BE HELPFUL BECAUSE IT WOULD RAISE THE GROUNDWATER'S PH LEVEL.

THAT'S A GOOD THING BECAUSE WE WANT THE SITE'S GROUNDWATER TO BE LESS ACIDIC... SO THOSE TOXIC METALS DON'T DISSOLVE INTO THE WATER.

DIBS SARKAR... A PROFESSOR AT STEVENS INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY IN THE SCHOOL OF ENGINEERING AND SCIENCE ... SAYS RAISING THE P-H OF THE SITE'S GROUNDWATER WAS A GOOD MOVE ON THE E-P-A'S PART.

Dibs Sarkar: They didn't go with pump and treat and actually took a pretty bold step of, like, increasing the pH. So, I thought that that was pretty cool of EPA. Typically, they are very risk averse. And they would have, like, again kept on pumping and treating until the time I, at least I was dead, and the site will still not be remediated.

Jordan Gass-Poore' -- Host

DIBS TEACHES A COURSE ON ENVIRONMENTAL MANAGEMENT THAT PARTLY DEALS WITH SUPERFUND SITES. AND HE'S AN EXPERT ON LEAD... WHICH IS GOOD FOR US BECAUSE THE N-L INDUSTRIES SITE... REMEMBER... REMOVED LEAD FROM OLD CAR BATTERIES.

I'M NO SCIENTIST... SO I ASKED DIBS TO EXPLAIN HOW CHANGING THE GROUNDWATER'S P-H ACTUALLY WORKS.

Dibs Sarkar: Raising pH is not that easy, yeah? Metals like cadmium and lead, like, they are getting adsorbed on the aquifer materials and soils, okay? Cadmium and lead they actually absorb, specifically that means by forming covalent bonds, okay? So, what is happening there is, like, what was there, like, dissolved cadmium, dissolved lead in water --- happy because, again, it was acidic, like again, there was nothing to hold them, now, they are getting absorbed on the aquifer materials, okay? So, the aquifer materials are effectively working as filter materials now. So, this is basically what's happening in the system.

Jordan Gass-Poore' -- Host

SECOND STOP ON MY VISIT TO PEDRICKTOWN... THE SALEM COUNTY HISTORICAL SOCIETY TO FIND OUT MORE ABOUT THE HISTORY OF THE N-L INDUSTRIES SITE... AND USE MICROFICHE FOR THE FIRST TIME.

I REALLY FELT LIKE I WAS IN A HORROR MOVIE... TRYING TO FIND OUT WHY MY HOUSE IS HAUNTED.

REEL AFTER MICROFICHE REEL... I SPUN THROUGH THE SEVENTIES AND EIGHTIES... THE CHURCH BAKE SALES... THE NOT-POLITICALLY-CORRECT OP-EDS... UNTIL THE N-L INDUSTRIES SITE MADE HEADLINES...

NATIONAL SMELTING FAILED TO CLEAN UP THE WASTE SITE.

ABOUT FIVE MONTHS AFTER THE SITE WAS ADDED TO THE SUPERFUND LIST IN 19-83... IT WAS BOUGHT BY NATIONAL SMELTING OF NEW JERSEY.

THE PLANT HADN'T BEEN IN OPERATION SINCE MAY 19-82 BECAUSE OF THE AIR POLLUTION.

IN MARCH 19-84... TODAY'S SUNBEAM... THE LOCAL PAPER IN SALEM COUNTY AT THE TIME... WROTE ABOUT THE FINE NATIONAL SMELTING RECEIVED FROM THE D-E-P FOR FAILING TO PREVENT THE RELEASE OF LEAD-CONTAMINATED SURFACE WATER FROM THE LANDFILL.

THAT LANDFILL IS ACROSS THE STREET FROM THE N-L INDUSTRIES SITE I VISITED BEFORE COMING TO THE HISTORICAL SOCIETY.

I THEN FOUND AN ARTICLE FROM 19-89 THAT TALKED ABOUT TESTS FROM SIX PRIVATE WELLS NEAR THE SITE SHOWING NO MAJOR CONTAMINATION.

MY FINAL STOP ON THE SALEM COUNTY TOUR WAS THE HOME OF FORMER OLDMANS TOWNSHIP MAYOR HARRY MOORE. HE'S THE MAN WHO REALLY KICKED THE N-L INDUSTRIES SITE CLEANUP INTO GEAR.

HARRY WAS DOING YARD WORK AND HIS WIFE WAS ON A RIDING LAWNMOWER WHEN I ARRIVED. HARRY WILL BE NINETY THIS YEAR.

HE GOT INTO POLITICS IN 19-91.

Harry Moore: I don't know if you call it working your way up or not, but I worked my way up to the mayor, because it's only a three-man committee and it makes a difference who your friends are.

Jordan Gass-Poore' -- Host

AT THE TIME... THE COMMITTEE WAS TRYING TO GET THE N-L INDUSTRIES SITE CLEANED UP... ONCE AND FOR ALL.

HARRY SAYS THE TOWN WENT ROUND-AND-ROUND WITH THE D-E-P AND THE E-P-A AND GOT NOWHERE.

UNTIL HE ENTERED THE PICTURE.

Harry Moore: So, myself and the mayor went to a // welcoming committee and what you might say, for an individual that was nominated to the prosecutor's office. So, I went down for the ceremony. Well, after the ceremony here was Congressman Hughes there. And Congressman Hughes was two grades ahead of me in school.

Jordan Gass-Poore' -- Host

SO... HARRY WENT UP TO HIM AFTER THAT MEETING IN 19-93 TO SEE IF THE CONGRESSMAN COULD HELP.

Harry Moore: When I walked up to him, he said, "Oh, hi, Harry." I said, "Hi, Bill." He said, I shook his hand, and I didn't let go. He looked down. I says, "I'm not letting go of your hand until you tell me what you're going to do with National Lead.

Jordan Gass-Poore' -- Host

CONGRESSMAN HUGHES AGREED WITH HARRY THAT SOMETHING SHOULD BE DONE ABOUT THE POLLUTED SITE. SO... HE CONTACTED THE POWERS THAT BE AND THEY GOT TO WORK. THANKS, HARRY.

ORIGINALLY... HARRY SAYS THE E-P-A WANTED TO PUT A CAP ON THE SITE'S CONTAMINATED MATERIALS.

Harry Moore: I said, "No, it's not acceptable." "Well, we'll see what we can do." And what they did -- so, they contacted chemical companies and they were glad to come down and get it and clean it up a little bit and resell it. They were tickled to death with that. So, that's what they did, so we weren't left with chemicals.

Jordan Gass-Poore' -- Host

WHEN HUGHES LEFT CONGRESS IN 1995 ... HARRY SAYS A LOCAL GROUP HE WAS A MEMBER OF INVITED HIM AS A GUEST SPEAKER FOR A DINNER IN THE CONGRESSMAN'S HONOR.

DURING THE EVENT... HARRY PRESENTED HUGHES WITH A SPECIAL GIFT.

Harry Moore: I went to K-Mart, where they had the display cameras on or display batteries on sale, just plastic, nothing in 'em. So, I told them what I wanted to use them for; they gave them to me. So, I had a company make up a plaque on there, and it went into detail about all relating to a battery, but "we want to thank Congressman Hughes for jumpstarting the cleanup," and anything related to a battery jumpstart, we laid out the speech to him and gave him this battery. Well, he was overwhelmed. Since he's passed away, but I've been wanting to contact one of his kids to see if that battery is floating around so we can put it in the municipal building.

Jordan Gass-Poore' -- Host

HAZARD IS A SPACE NOT JUST FOR LEARNING ABOUT SUPERFUND SITES... BUT FOR ENGAGING OUR COMMUNITIES IN CONVERSATION AROUND THE CLEANUP OF THESE TOXIC PLACES.

DO YOU HAVE QUESTIONS ABOUT SUPERFUND SITES IN NEW JERSEY? DO YOU LIVE NEAR ONE? IF SO... I WANT TO HEAR FROM YOU. SEND ME A TWEET USING HASHTAG HAZARD N-J.

OR... LEAVE ME A VOICE MEMO AT... HAZARD AT MY N-J P-B-S DOT ORG.

WE MAY PLAY YOUR COMMENTS IN A FUTURE EPISODE.

HAZARD N-J IS AN N-J SPOTLIGHT NEWS PRODUCTION.

Credits

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

Executive Producer – Jamie Kraft

Executive in Charge of Production – Joe Lee

Associate Producer – Michael Sol Warren

Production Assistant – Chris Pandza

Production Manager – Chloe Motisi

Sound Designer & Engineer – Mark Bush

Music composed by Nick Pennington

Artwork by Matthew Fleming

Special thanks to Rae Walzer and Salem County Historical Society

Few people have had as much impact on efforts to clean up New Jersey and America’s toxic messes as former New Jersey Gov. Jim Florio, who died on Sept. 25 at age 85. Before he was governor, Florio spent 15 years representing the Camden area in Congress. Arguably his crowning achievement in Washington was writing, and then pushing through, the Superfund law. The measure created the federal program that is dedicated to cleaning up some of the nation’s most hazardous pollution, and does so under the principle that the polluter should pay.

In this bonus episode, Hazard NJ reflects on Florio’s efforts to clean up dangerous pollution by revisiting an interview recorded with him earlier this year.

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

Hazard NJ is returning with four new episodes this fall, to take fresh new looks about the relationship between the Garden State's most toxic Superfund sites and climate change. Get ready for the new shows with a look back at some highlights from our first four episodes, and keep an eye on your podcast feeds: Episode 5 drops on September 28.

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

It’s official: The Hackensack River is New Jersey’s 115th Superfund site. EPA officials gathered with state and local leaders this week to announce the big news, which puts the polluted lower reaches of the river in line for a major cleanup that is expected to cost billions of dollars.

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

The Superfund program was designed to be paid for by a tax on chemical and oil companies, but that tax expired years ago, and the program has been strapped for cash since.

But that has changed in recent months. Last fall, the chemical tax was brought back as part of the massive federal infrastructure bill. And oil tax has returned as part of the Inflation Reduction Act, which was signed today by President Joe Biden.

NJ Spotlight News anchor Briana Vannozzi spoke with Rep. Frank Pallone about the tax's return, and why it matters.

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

The mud lining the Hackensack River is a mysterious mixture known to contain mercury, cadmium, lead, PCBs and plenty more nasty substances. Now the river is on its way to becoming New Jersey’s 115th Superfund site — and that’s not a bad thing.

Superstorm Sandy slammed up the Hackensack and surrounding Meadowlands, flooding towns and wreaking widespread damage. But the area’s wetlands likely blunted the blow, and with climate change intensifying storms, cleanup efforts and restoration work in the area are becoming more critical.

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

CADMIUM.

LEAD.

MERCURY.

DIOXIN.

PCBS.

THESE ARE SOME OF THE INGREDIENTS THAT MAKE UP THE TOXIC STEW THAT'S SIMMERED AT THE BOTTOM OF THE LOWER HACKENSACK RIVER FOR DECADES.

EVERY TIME THE RIVER FLOODS... AND IT DOES QUITE OFTEN... THERE'S A RISK THAT THESE TOXINS WILL SPREAD.

CLIMATE CHANGE IS EXPECTED TO MAKE FLOODING HERE MORE INTENSE... AND MORE FREQUENT.

BUT THERE IS SOME CAUSE FOR CELEBRATION... THE LOWER HACKENSACK RIVER MAY SOON BE NAMED NEW JERSEY'S 115th SUPERFUND SITE.

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.

MY FAMILY LIKES TO GO FISHING. MY FIRST BOYFRIEND LOVED TO FLY FISH. TO THIS DAY... I DON'T UNDERSTAND HOW ANYONE COULD FIND FISHING FUN. BUT I DO ENJOY LISTENING TO THE FOLKLORE.

HAVE YOU HEARD THE ONE ABOUT THE DIVER WHO SAW A CATFISH THE SIZE OF A PICKUP TRUCK?

OR THE ONE ABOUT THE TWO-HEADED TROUT?

WHAT ABOUT THE TALE OF THE BLUE CLAW CRABS THAT HAVE HIGH LEVELS OF CANCER-CAUSING TOXINS BUILT UP IN THEIR TISSUE?

THE SCARY THING ABOUT THAT STORY IS THAT IT'S TRUE.

A CENTURY OF POLLUTION LED THE STATE OF NEW JERSEY TO BAN FISHING AND EATING BLUE CLAW CRABS FROM THE LOWER HACKENSACK RIVER.

I'M IMAGINING THESE LARGE... MUTANT CRABS SCARING SWIMMERS AND JUMPING OUT OF THE WATER ONTO BOATS.

BUT MOST OF THE TIME THEY LOOK JUST LIKE NORMAL CRABS... EXCEPT FOR ALL THAT MERCURY INSIDE THEM THAT CAN CAUSE DAMAGE TO THE NERVOUS SYSTEM.

I WENT TO LAUREL HILL COUNTY PARK IN SECAUCUS TO TAKE A TOUR OF THE FAMED HACKENSACK RIVER.

THERE WERE SIGNS IN DIFFERENT LANGUAGES WARNING PARKGOERS ABOUT THE BAN.

I CAN UNDERSTAND WHY PEOPLE WOULD STILL WANT TO FISH IN THE RIVER... DESPITE THE TOXIC CRABS THAT ARE JUST BEGGING TO HAVE A HORROR MOVIE MADE ABOUT THEM.

THE WATER HAD THIS STRANGE BEAUTY... AND I KEPT GETTING HENRY DAVID THOREAU VIBES.

THOUGH ME BECOMING ONE WITH NATURE WAS SHORT-LIVED BECAUSE OF THE BEEP-BEEPING NOISES FROM THE NEARBY CONSTRUCTION OF A LUXURY APARTMENT BUILDING.

IT WAS A SIMILAR WAY OF THINKING ABOUT "DEVELOPMENT" AND "PROGRESS" THAT LAID WASTE TO THE HACKENSACK RIVER TO BEGIN WITH.

THE EPA FOUND THAT A 19-MILE STRETCH OF THE LOWER HACKENSACK'S RIVERBED IS FILLED WITH CONTAMINANTS.

WALTER MUGDAN WITH THE EPA SAYS THESE TOXINS CAN WASH ASHORE WHEN IT FLOODS AND SPREAD ALL OVER THE PLACE.

Walter Mugdan -- Deputy Regional Administrator, EPA Region 2

So, the biggest concern in that case is that major storms can mobilize the mud, they can re-entrain in the mud into the water. If you have flooding that sediment though that mud that's entrained in the water can get onto the land, it can get into people's homes, into buildings. And it can also move stuff around. So, it gets from an area that maybe has less contamination might be moved to an area excavated the other way around from an area that has more contamination, it might move into areas that were less contaminated and actually make them worse.

Jordan Gass-Poore' -- Host

THIS SPRING... AFTER YEARS OF STUDY... THE EPA FORMALLY NOMINATED THE HACKENSACK TO THE SUPERFUND LIST. IF THE PROCESS GOES AS PLANNED, THE RIVER WILL BECOME NEW JERSEY'S 115th SUPERFUND SITE IN THE FALL.

BEING A DESIGNATED A SUPERFUND SITE MEANS THE EPA CAN BEGIN THE YEARS-LONG PROCESS OF CLEANING UP THE RIVER.

AND ALTHOUGH THERE'S NO GUARANTEE THE RIVER WILL EVER BE CLEAN ENOUGH TO EAT THE BLUE CLAW CRAB... FOR CAPTAIN BILL SHEEHAN... WITH THE HACKENSACK RIVERKEEPER... IT'S WORTH A TRY.

Bill Sheehan -- The Hackensack Riverkeeper

One of the most natural things that humans can do is catch a fish and eat it. And yet, we're told it's not safe to do that. And if we let this river try to clean itself, and you know, shunting aside climate change and future impacts and everything else, if the river is just left to be itself, it could take 150 to 200 years to get to the point where it would be safe to eat a crab or eat a fish. And that means several generations of people living here will not have full beneficial use of the river. By putting it on the Superfund list, even if it takes 20 or 25 years to get it cleaned up, that's one generation's lifetime.

Jordan Gass-Poore' -- Host

BILL HAS BEEN PUSHING FOR THE HACKENSACK RIVER TO BE DESIGNATED A SUPERFUND SITE FOR YEARS.

HE WAS BORN AND RAISED ALONG THE RIVER... AND IS THE SON OF A BARGE CAPTAIN.

Bill Sheehan -- The Hackensack Riverkeeper

I was always told, growing up, stay away from the river, it was a mess. And, you know, there's raw sewage and dead animals and all kinds of stuff going on. And as I grew older, I got into fishing.

**Jordan Gass-Poore' -- Host   **

WHEN I MET HIM AT THE PARK... HE DEFINITELY LOOKED THE PART OF A CAPTAIN. WHAT STOOD OUT THE MOST TO ME WAS THE SHARK TOOTH NECKLACE. IT REMINDED ME OF MY FAVORITE CHARACTER FROM THE MOVIE "JAWS," QUINT. HE'S THE ONE THAT GETS EATEN BY THE SHARK ON THE BOAT.

ANYWHO... BILL STARTED THE HACKENSACK RIVERKEEPER IN 1997 TO PROTECT THE RIVER FROM POLLUTERS.

Bill Sheehan -- The Hackensack Riverkeeper

I was just getting an attitude about, you know, the fact that everywhere you look, they were destroying habitat. And I was like, don't complain to me about not being able to catch fish if you're giving people permits to fill in wetlands and destroy fish habitat. And so I had an epiphany one day and said, "Nobody else is doing it. I might as well try."

**Jordan Gass-Poore' -- Host   **

IN APRIL... I GOT TO GO ON A TOUR OF THE "URBAN WILDERNESS" WITH BILL ON A STATE GOVERNMENT BOAT.

WE WERE JOINED BY NEW JERSEY DEP COMMISSIONER SHAWN LATOURETTE... WALTER MUGDAN... WHO'S THE DEPUTY REGIONAL ADMINISTRATOR FOR EPA REGION TWO... AND STATE SENATOR TERESA RUIZ.

COMMISSIONER LATOURETTE SAYS IT'S NOT A BAD THING FOR NEW JERSEY TO ADD ANOTHER SUPERFUND SITE.

Shawn LaTourette -- Commissioner, New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection

You'll have many states throughout the country that are reluctant to have an NPL listing because they see Superfund as a stain on the state's reputation, or as an inconvenience or something that might detract from the ability to drive economic growth. We see it just the opposite.

**Jordan Gass-Poore' -- Host   **

DURING OUR TRIP... THE NOISES OF THE HIGHWAY... TRAINS... AND AIRPLANES COMPETED WITH THE SOUNDS OF BIRDS.

IT WAS A REMINDER OF THE RIVER'S PAST... AND A PEEK INTO THE FUTURE OF WHAT COULD BE IF THIS AREA IS CLEANED UP.

I'M GOING TO TAKE YOU BACK NOW TO 2015.

THIS WAS THE YEAR THE LOWER HACKENSACK ALMOST MADE THE SUPERFUND LIST.

WALTER MUGDAN WITH THE EPA SAYS THE AGENCY STUDIED THE RIVER TO SEE IF IT MET THE PROGRAM'S CRITERIA.

Walter Mugdan -- Deputy Regional Administrator, EPA Region 2

And we found pretty much what you'd expect. We find a lot of mercury. We found arsenic, we found lead. We found PCBs, polychlorinated biphenyls. We found PAH's, which are polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons. So, we found a whole soup of chemicals.

**Jordan Gass-Poore' -- Host **

BUT NEW JERSEY'S THEN-GOVERNOR... REPUBLICAN CHRIS CHRISTIE NEVER ENDORSED THE RIVER TO BE PUT ON THE LIST... EVEN THOUGH THE EPA URGED HIM TO DO SO.

IN 2017... THE EPA'S REPORT ON THE RIVER FOUND WIDESPREAD CONTAMINATION... BUT EVEN THAT WASN'T ENOUGH FOR THE CHRISTIE ADMINISTRATION TO SEEK SUPERFUND STATUS FOR THE RIVER.

THE TIDES SHIFTED JUST A FEW MONTHS LATER, WHEN DEMOCRAT PHIL MURPHY BECAME NEW JERSEY'S GOVERNOR AT THE START OF 2018.

NOW, OFFICIALS IN TRENTON WITH A DIFFERENT WAY OF THINKING ARE ALL-IN ON USING THE SUPERFUND TO FINALLY CLEAN UP THE LOWER HACKENSACK.

Shawn LaTourette -- Commissioner, New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection

Having learned a lot from Superfund sites, including the Passaic River nearby, I think we've got a great set of tools, an incredible set of partners in EPA to move this a hell of a lot faster. So, that's our goal.

Jordan Gass-Poore' -- Host

NO ONE KNOWS HOW MUCH IT'LL COST TO CLEAN UP THE SITE... BUT POLLUTED WATERWAYS ARE SOME OF THE MOST EXPENSIVE TO CLEAN.

TO GIVE YOU SOME IDEA... AND IN CASE YOU HAVEN'T LISTENED TO THE DIAMOND ALKALI EPISODE OF HAZARD NJ... THE PASSAIC RIVER CLEANUP IS EXPECTED TO COST MORE THAN A BILLION DOLLARS.

THE HACKENSACK RIVER WINDS THROUGH THE HEART OF THE NEW JERSEY MEADOWLANDS.... THAT VAST MARSHLAND LONG KNOWN AS A DUMPING GROUND FOR TRASH... AND SOME BELIEVE THE BODIES OF MOBSTERS.

ACCORDING TO URBAN LEGEND... JIMMY HOFFA... THE INFAMOUS TEAMSTER BOSS... IS BURIED UNDER THE OLD GIANTS STADIUM... NOW DUBBED MET LIFE STADIUM.

JUDITH WEIS IS A RUTGERS-NEWARK PROFESSOR WHO'S SPENT DECADES STUDYING THE BIOLOGICAL EFFECTS OF CONTAMINATION IN THE MEADOWLANDS.

Judith Weis -- Professor Emerita of Biological Sciences, Rutgers University, Newark

I think the wetlands is special because it's particularly urban wetland with a bunch of problems. And it has been abused for many, many years. I mean, all the garbage from New York City and the waste from demolishing Penn Station. So, it was a real mess.

Jordan Gass-Poore' -- Host

BACK IN THE DAY... PEOPLE THOUGHT THE WETLANDS WERE... WELL, MORE LIKE A WASTELAND THAN A PLACE OF TRANQUILITY.

IT WAS LAND THEY THOUGHT COULDN'T BE USED FOR ANYTHING OTHER THAN A DUMP.

OH, AND THEY DUMPED.

THERE WAS A REASON THIS AREA WAS CONSIDERED THE ARMPIT OF THE NORTHEAST. IN 1970... THERE WERE 51 DIFFERENT LANDFILLS OPERATING IN THE MEADOWLANDS.

BUT IT'S MORE THAN JUST A TRASH PROBLEM. THE MEADOWLANDS IS DOTTED WITH SOME OF THE WORST TOXIC SITES IN THE COUNTRY. AND MUCH OF THE POLLUTION IN THE MEADOWLANDS COMES FROM FIVE NEARBY SUPERFUND SITES.

YOU GOT BERRY'S CREEK... A SIX-MILE TRIBUTARY OF THE HACKENSACK RIVER THAT HAS HAD SOME OF THE HIGHEST MERCURY READINGS IN THE WORLD.

MUCH OF THE TOXINS THERE CAME FROM THE VENTRON/VELSICOL OPERATION IN CARLSTADT AND WOOD-RIDGE. THE COMPANY PROCESSED MERCURY FROM 1929 UNTIL 1974.

THEN THERE'S UNIVERSAL OIL PRODUCTS IN EAST RUTHERFORD... WHERE VARIOUS CHEMICALS WERE PRODUCED FROM 1930 TO 1979.

ALSO... SCIENTIFIC CHEMICAL PROCESSING IN CARLSTADT.... WHERE HARSH CHEMICALS WERE USED AS PART OF DEALING WITH SCRAP AND WASTE.

AND DIAMOND HEAD OIL REFINERY... AKA OIL LAKE... IN KEARNY. THAT ONE... KIND OF SPEAKS FOR ITSELF.

THINGS STARTED TO CHANGE... SLOWLY... FOR THE MEADOWLANDS IN THE '50S, WHEN THE NEW JERSEY TURNPIKE BROUGHT NEW INTEREST TO THE AREA.

STATE LEADERS NOW SAW ECONOMIC POTENTIAL IN THE TRASH-FILLED MARSHES. THE HACKENSACK MEADOWLANDS DEVELOPMENT COMMISSION WAS FORMED IN 1968, AND THE '70S BROUGHT A CRACK DOWN ON ILLEGAL DUMPING.

AS THE DUMPS CLOSED ONE-BY-ONE, NEW DEVELOPMENT SPRUNG UP AROUND THEM. A STADIUM FOR THE NEW YORK GIANTS AND NEW YORK JETS... A HORSE RACING TRACK... AN ARENA FOR THE NEW JERSEY NETS...AND MOST RECENTLY AMERICAN DREAM...THE NATION'S SECOND LARGEST MALL.

TODAY... ALL BUT ONE LANDFILL IN THE MEADOWLANDS HAS BEEN CLOSED. MOST OF THE FORMER DUMPS HAVE BEEN CAPPED TO KEEP THE GARBAGE JUICE FROM LEAKING OUT.

JUDITH SAYS THE FEDERAL CLEAN WATER ACT... PASSED IN 1972, WAS A CRITICAL STEP IN CURBING POLLUTION IN THE MEADOWLANDS.

Judith Weis -- Professor Emerita of Biological Sciences, Rutgers University, Newark

So, the raw sewage wasn't going in there anymore, so the water quality got better. I mean, there's things that I've never seen there before. So, I think, a very helpful place in that you see this huge improvement over something that nobody would have ever wanted to visit 50 years ago. When you stop abusing it, and you stop doing all that bad stuff to it, it comes back.

Jordan Gass-Poore' -- Host

EVEN WITHOUT A SUPERFUND DISTINCTION... THE MEADOWLANDS HAVE BECOME ONE OF THE STATE'S MOST SUCCESSFUL ENVIRONMENTAL COMEBACK STORIES.

MANY PEOPLE WROTE OFF THE MEADOWLANDS AS A PLACE THAT WAS LEFT FOR DEAD.

BUT THE CLEANUP EFFORTS HAVE ALREADY BROUGHT THE AREA BACK TO LIFE.

ANIMALS HAVE RETURNED.

AND WHAT MAY BE THE BIGGEST SURPRISE... IS THAT PEOPLE ARE ACTUALLY CHOOSING TO VISIT THE MEADOWLANDS TO BIRDWATCH OR KAYAK... OR DO OTHER OUTDOORSY THINGS THAT MY ALLERGIES PREVENT ME FROM DOING.

ECO-TOURISM IS GREAT. I'M GLAD THERE ARE PEOPLE WHO CAN BE OUT ON THE WATER WITHOUT GETTING MOTION SICKNESS.

BUT RESTORING AND PRESERVING THE MEADOWLANDS PLAYS AN EVEN BIGGER ROLE IN THE STATE'S ECONOMY.

THE AREA'S PREPARING THE STATE FOR RISING SEA LEVELS.

DURING SUPERSTORM SANDY IN 2012... COMMUNITIES IN THE MEADOWLANDS WERE DEVASTATED BY A WALL OF WATER THAT ROSE UP FROM NEWARK BAY AND RUSHED UP THE HACKENSACK RIVER.

THERE'S NOT MUCH THAT COULD HAVE TOTALLY PROTECTED PEOPLE FROM THE EIGHT-FOOT-TALL STORM SURGE.

BUT IT'S LIKELY THE MEADOWLANDS BLUNTED THE BLOW.

THINK OF WETLANDS AS NATURE'S SPONGE. THEY HELP SOAK UP WATER AND SEDIMENT FROM RAIN AND STORM EVENTS.

BECAUSE OF SANDY... THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT GAVE THE MEADOWLANDS A MULTI-MILLION-DOLLAR GRANT TO FIGURE OUT WAYS TO REDUCE THE RISK OF FLOODS AND IMPROVE STORM-WATER DRAINAGE.

IT'S A PROJECT CALLED REBUILD BY DESIGN... AND AFTER YEARS OF DEVELOPMENT OFFICIALS DECIDED TO MOVE AHEAD WITH A PROJECT THAT RELIES IN PART ON RESTORING WETLANDS.

DEVELOPMENT HAS SIGNIFICANTLY REDUCED THE SIZE OF THE MEADOWLANDS MARSHES.

AND AS SEA LEVELS CONTINUE TO RISE... THE REMAINING MARSHES AREN'T ALWAYS ABLE TO KEEP UP.

JUDITH SAYS PARTS OF THE MEADOWLANDS ARE BEING DROWNED AWAY... THAT MEANS THE AREA IS LOSING ITS ABILITY TO ABSORB SURGE WATER FROM EXTREME WEATHER EVENTS.

Judith Weis -- Professor Emerita of Biological Sciences, Rutgers University, Newark

There's still more development going on and losing marshes, and, you know, the marshes are so valuable, and they've lost so many already over the past centuries. You can't make up for it by making a new marsh somewhere else. So, we have greatly reduced the amount of marsh. And if you've built something on a marsh, this should be no surprise that it's going to flood easily.

Jordan Gass-Poore' -- Host

CAPTAIN BILL'S NOTICED THE RISE IN SEA LEVEL IN THE MEADOWLANDS.

THE WATER LINE THAT USED TO GO UP TO THE DOCKS AT LAUREL HILL PARK... WHERE I STARTED MY RIVER JOURNEY... IS NOW AT THE EDGE OF THE PARKING LOT WHERE THE HACKENSACK RIVERKEEPER'S KAYAKS ARE STORED.

THE TOWN OF LITTLE FERRY KNOWS THE HACKENSACK RIVER'S BEAUTY... AND ITS POTENTIAL FOR HARM.

MAURO RAGUSEO WAS THE MAYOR OF LITTLE FERRY IN 2012.

THAT SPRING HE AND HIS WIFE HAD MOVED INTO THEIR NEW HOME.

BY THE FALL... IT WAS DESTROYED.

Mauro Raguseo -- Mayor, Little Ferry

It was something you never forget; when you can finally get to your house for the first time, and you look and everything that you own is at the curb.

Jordan Gass-Poore' -- Host

LITTLE FERRY WAS SMACKED BY SUPERSTORM SANDY. MORE THAN EIGHTY PERCENT OF THE TOWN WAS UNDER WATER... AND RESIDENTS WERE DISPLACED FOR MONTHS AFTER THE STORM.

JOANN LIBRETTO HAS LIVED IN LITTLE FERRY FOR MOST OF HER LIFE.

THE NIGHT SUPERSTORM SANDY HIT THE TOWN... JOANN WAS STAYING WITH HER SISTER... WHO LIVED ACROSS THE STREET.

Joann Libretto -- Little Ferry Resident and Sandy Survivor

So, the night before the storm. I said to her, "You know, today, I have a bad feeling about this storm. I think I'll sleep by you tonight." She said, "Come on, we'll have a pajama party."

Jordan Gass-Poore' -- Host

AROUND TEN O'CLOCK... JOANN SAYS HER SISTER'S NEPHEW CALLED AND TOLD THEM "THE WATER'S COMING."

Joann Libretto -- Little Ferry Resident and Sandy Survivor

And before we knew it, the street was filled. The house was just filling up with water.

Jordan Gass-Poore' -- Host

THE NEXT DAY... JOANN SAYS SHE WALKED ACROSS THE STREET TO HER HOME TO INSPECT THE DAMAGE.

SHE COULDN'T BELIEVE HER EYES.

Joann Libretto -- Little Ferry Resident and Sandy Survivor

The water was five feet high. The refrigerator was floating. The dining room chairs were floating. In the back room, everywhere you could look, everywhere you can imagine there was water.

Jordan Gass-Poore' -- Host

THE WATER WAS MUDDY AND COATED JOANN'S BELONGINGS.

Joann Libretto -- Little Ferry Resident and Sandy Survivor

It was a very, very, very hard time for me. Very hard. I lost everything. I lost my children's wedding videos, my late husband's pictures, my grandchildren's pictures, my washer, my dryer, my refrigerator. Everything, everything. Everything was out on the curb. And when we walked down the blocked and witnessed all this, you thought to yourself 'What happened? What? Was it a bomb? What happened?' It was horrendous. There's no words. There's no words.

Jordan Gass-Poore' -- Host

JOANN SAYS EVERY TIME THERE'S A STORM SHE CRINGES.

Joann Libretto -- Little Ferry Resident and Sandy Survivor

I think over the years, the fear that it could happen again, is really bad for us. Yeah, that's how I feel right now. And I guess, I thought time would heal, but it doesn't, because you never know. You just don't know. And now they're predicting all these hurricanes. I mean 14 hurricanes. Are we going to be lucky enough to not have an issue?

Jordan Gass-Poore' -- Host

MAYOR RAGUSEO AGREES THAT ANOTHER SANDY COULD HAPPEN... IN LITTLE FERRY... AND OTHER PARTS OF THE COUNTRY.

Mauro Raguseo -- Mayor, Little Ferry

So, we need to do better as a state and as a nation to prepare for the effects of climate change. Because it's real, it's here and it will happen again.

Jordan Gass-Poore' -- Host

MAURO IS STILL THE MAYOR OF LITTLE FERRY... AND HAS WATCHED THE TOWN BOUNCE BACK.

Mauro Raguseo -- Mayor, Little Ferry

We are better off than we were 10 years ago, but certainly if another Sandy comes, it'll be the same effect because you cannot stop those sorts of surge events.

Jordan Gass-Poore' -- Host

HE BELIEVES CLEANING UP THE HACKENSACK RIVER WILL HELP PROTECT THE AREA FROM FUTURE STORMS... AND THE SPREAD OF ANY EXISTING TOXINS.

BUT THERE HAS TO BE MORE TO IT THAN THAT.

Mauro Raguseo -- Mayor, Little Ferry

I think that the wetlands that exist need to be restored, I think they have a purpose and a function, and I think they're necessary. But I also think that we have to look at all the options, not just wetlands restoration. But I'm completely for it. Now, all these homes and all these businesses in the entire region, they're not just going to disappear. So that's why we need to restore what's left. And we need to think of engineering opportunities to protect the area as well from surge events.

Jordan Gass-Poore' -- Host

HAZARD IS A SPACE NOT JUST FOR LEARNING ABOUT SUPERFUND SITES... BUT FOR ENGAGING OUR COMMUNITIES IN CONVERSATION AROUND THE CLEANUP OF THESE TOXIC PLACES.

DO YOU HAVE QUESTIONS ABOUT SUPERFUND SITES IN NEW JERSEY? DO YOU LIVE NEAR ONE? IF SO... I WANT TO HEAR FROM YOU. SEND ME A TWEET USING #HAZARD NJ.

OR LEAVE ME A VOICE MEMO AT... HAZARD@MYNJPBS.ORG.

WE MAY PLAY YOUR COMMENTS IN A FUTURE EPISODE.

Credits

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

Executive Producer – Jamie Kraft

Executive in Charge of Production – Joe Lee

Associate Producer – Michael Sol Warren

Production Assistant – Chris Pandza

Production Manager – Chloe Motisi

Additional research by Meril Mousoom

Sound Designer & Engineer – Mark Bush

The Hazard Podcast - America’s Biggest Crime Scene

In July 2005, Roger De Groat stepped outside his home in the secluded, forested community of Upper Ringwood to find a hole the size of a swimming pool where his backyard used to be. Roger’s home, like the rest in the neighborhood, sits atop an extensive and poorly understood system of abandoned iron mines, and sinkholes like these have opened every so often for decades.

But what’s in the mines is a different kind of lingering threat.

Ford Motor Company turned the mines and the area around them into a toxic waste dump in the ’60s and ’70s, with little regard for the community, which was overwhelmingly Ramapough-Munsee Lenape Nation tribal members, that was being dumped on. Today the community is gripped by cancer and other diseases that residents believe are tied to the chemicals Ford left behind.

When the Environmental Protection Agency put the Ringwood Mines on the Superfund list in 1983, an initial shoddy cleanup left so much pollution behind that the site was put back on the list in 2006. A second try at cleaning up the mess is underway. As climate change brings increasingly heavy rains and other impacts to the area, toxic chemicals tied to the site are known to be in the groundwater and threatening to migrate toward a critical water supply reservoir nearby.

And the Ramapough are still living through it all.

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

ROGER DE GROAT, SR. HAD JUST FINISHED MOWING HIS BACKYARD IN UPPER RINGWOOD... A SMALL NEIGHBORHOOD IN THE NORTH JERSEY HIGHLANDS.

HE WENT INSIDE HIS HOUSE FOR A WRENCH TO FIX HIS WEED WACKER.

WHEN HE CAME BACK OUT... HIS BACKYARD WAS GONE.

IN ITS PLACE WAS A CRATER THE SIZE OF A SMALL SWIMMING POOL.

ROGER WAS LUCKY... IF HE WOULD HAVE BEEN OUTSIDE EVEN SECONDS LATER... HE WOULD HAVE FALLEN INTO THE SINKHOLE.

BUT STORIES LIKE THIS ONE FROM JULY 2005 AREN'T ISOLATED EVENTS IN RINGWOOD... AND ARE BECOMING MORE FREQUENT BECAUSE OF EXTREME WEATHER FUELED BY CLIMATE CHANGE.

ROGER'S HOME... AND MANY OTHERS IN THIS NORTH JERSEY NEIGHBORHOOD... ARE LOCATED ON TOP OF THE FORMER RINGWOOD MINES.

IT'S AN UNDERGROUND LABYRINTH OF MINE SHAFTS... SOME CENTURIES OLD... THAT WEREN'T ALWAYS PROPERLY FILLED OR SEALED.

EXPERTS ACKNOWLEDGE THAT SOME OF THE OLDEST MINES... WHICH DATE BACK TO THE 1700s... MAY BE UNMAPPED AND HAD THEIR EXACT LOCATIONS LOST TO HISTORY.

THE FOLKS THAT LIVE IN THIS AREA ARE NOT ONLY IN DANGER OF BEING SWALLOWED BY THE EARTH... OH, IF MOTHER NATURE UNLEASHES HER WRATH THEY MAY BE IMPACTED BY WILDFIRES AND FLOODING AS WELL.

THIS WOULD BE TERRIFYING ALL ON ITS OWN. BUT THE FORMER RINGWOOD MINES... WHERE ABOUT 50 HOMES ARE LOCATED... IS ALSO A SUPERFUND SITE.

JUST ONE OF THESE EXTREME WEATHER EVENTS COULD RE-RELEASE TOXINS INTO THIS COMMUNITY... AND ITS WATERSHED.

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 SPENT MANY SUMMERS AS A KID ON MY FAMILY'S PROPERTY IN THE TEXAS HILL COUNTRY.

MY NANA WOULD FILL UP JUGS WITH WATER FROM THE CREEK FOR US TO DRINK.

I WAS CURIOUS IF THE WATER WAS CONTAMINATED. SO, FOR ONE MIDDLE SCHOOL SCIENCE PROJECT I TESTED THE WATER. MY SCIENCE TEACHER REMARKED THAT THE CREEK WATER WAS CLEANER THAN THE WATER I DRANK IN MY HOMETOWN OF SEGUIN TEXAS. HE ENCOURAGED ME TO KEEP DRINKING THAT CREEK WATER.

MORE THAN A DECADE LATER... THE AREA SURROUNDING MY FAMILY'S PROPERTY HAS BECOME DEVELOPED WITH MCMANSIONS AND SHOPPING CENTERS. I WONDER IF THAT CREEK WATER IS STILL AS CLEAN.

I'M NOT THE ONLY ONE WHO HAS WATER ON THE BRAIN. DRIVING TO RINGWOOD, NEW JERSEY... OKAY, BEING IN THE PASSENGER SEAT WHILE MY COLLEAGUE IS DRIVING US TO RINGWOOD, NEW JERSEY... I SAW NUMEROUS SIGNS ABOUT KEEPING THE AREA'S WATER PURE.

THE IRONY OF THESE SIGNS WASN'T LOST ON ME. SEE, FOR MORE THAN 50 YEARS... RINGWOOD HAS BEEN HOME TO A TOXIC DUMP THAT'S IMPACTED THE LAND AND ITS GROUNDWATER.

WELL, THE DUMP IS SPECIFICALLY IN UPPER RINGWOOD... A COMMUNITY IN THE BOROUGH OF RINGWOOD.

FOLKS IN RINGWOOD ARE PROUD OF THE FACT THAT IRON FROM THEIR MINES HELPED THE AMERICAN ARMY DURING THE REVOLUTIONARY WAR. AND THEY TOLD ME ABOUT HOW GEORGE WASHINGTON VISITED THE AREA.

RINGWOOD MANOR WAS ORIGINALLY BUILT TO HOUSE IRON WORKERS. THE BUILDING LATER BECAME THE SUMMER HOME TO THE WEALTHY COOPER-HEWITT FAMILY. TODAY... ITS VAST GROUNDS ARE PART OF RINGWOOD STATE PARK.

A LOT HAS CHANGED HERE OVER THE CENTURIES... THE MINING STOPPED DECADES AGO... AND MANY PEOPLE HAVE COME AND GONE... THAT IS, EXCEPT A SECT OF THE RAMAPOUGH-MUNSEE LENAPE NATION CALLED THE TURTLE CLAN... WHO CONTINUE TO LIVE IN UPPER RINGWOOD.

THEIR ROOTS IN THE AREA STRETCH BACK TO AT LEAST THE REVOLUTIONARY WAR.

Dennis DeFreese, Sr. -- Ramapough Lenape Turtle Clan member

Our people went back to the 1700s. And way back even further. Because I remember this area here, it used to be a college called Green Engineering Camp. And I remember all the young teenagers there, I used to hang out with them. And they were college students. And you know, it was nice. It was heaven. Ringwood's beautiful. Ringwood was beautiful. But now I go up and where I was born and raised, I look around. I'm like, man, what the heck happened?

Jordan Gass-Poore' -- Host

I MET WITH DENNIS DEFREESE SENIOR... AND HIS NEIGHBOR... VAL GUNN... AT THE CHURCH OF THE GOOD SHEPHERD IN UPPER RINGWOOD.

IT'S A SMALL EPISCOPAL CHURCH THAT'S BEEN A GATHERING PLACE FOR THE RAMAPOUGH FOR A LONG TIME.

Valerie Gunn -- Ringwood resident & Ramapough Lenape Turtle Clan member

This church has been in existence from the 1700s.

Jordan Gass-Poore' -- Host

THAT'S VAL. SHE'S ABOUT TO TURN 70... AND IS A PROUD GRANDMA. WHEN WE MET... SHE WAS WEARING A HOT PINK T-SHIRT THAT READ: "GRANDMA." WITH THE LIST OF HER GRANDCHILDREN'S NAMES. IT REMINDED ME OF MY NANA.

LIFE FOR VAL'S GRANDCHILDREN IS VERY DIFFERENT FROM WHEN SHE WAS A CHILD.

MANY OF HER CHILDHOOD MEMORIES INCLUDE EXPLORING THE SURROUNDING WOODLANDS.

WHAT STUCK OUT TO HER WAS THE WATER.

Valerie Gunn -- Ringwood resident & Ramapough Lenape Turtle Clan member

We used to walk down the path. And we would get water we would carry water from the spring. And you talk about delicious, absolutely great water. Oh, it was the best in the world. I'm telling you. But we had to carry our water when we were kids growing up, but we did it.

Jordan Gass-Poore' -- Host

LIKE VAL... DENNIS GREW UP IN UPPER RINGWOOD. HE REMEMBERS DRINKING THE WATER FLOWING NEAR HIS CHILDHOOD HOME.

Dennis DeFreese, Sr. -- Ramapough Lenape Turtle Clan member

I drank the water. And I never got sick. All the time. I drank it, me and my brothers.

Jordan Gass-Poore' -- Host

THAT IS... UNTIL FORD MOTOR COMPANY STARTED DUMPING THOUSANDS OF TONS OF PAINT SLUDGE AND OTHER WASTE FROM THE COMPANY'S ASSEMBLY PLANT IN NEARBY MAHWAH... INTO --- AND AROUND --- THE ABANDONED MINES OF UPPER RINGWOOD

FOR YEARS IN THE 1960s AND '70s... FORD'S PLANT IN MAHWAH CHURNED OUT HUNDREDS OF CARS IN A DAY

FORD WAS MAKING THE AMERICAN DREAM COME TRUE FOR SOME PEOPLE ACROSS THE COUNTRY... AND CREATING AN AMERICAN NIGHTMARE FOR THE RAMAPOUGH PEOPLE.

-- RANGOON RED

-- BRITTANY BLUE

THESE WERE SOME OF THE COLORS OF PAINT THAT WERE SPRAYED ON FORD'S CARS. THE DROPLETS THAT DIDN'T STICK WOULD COLLECT ON THE GROUND AND IN DRAINS BENEATH THE CARS ON THE ASSEMBLY LINE.

AND THAT EXCESS PAINT WAS MUCH OF WHAT WAS COLLECTED AND DUMPED IN UPPER RINGWOOD.

IN 1984... THE 500-ACRE RINGWOOD MINES SITE WAS ADDED TO THE SUPERFUND LIST.

FORD WAS RESPONSIBLE FOR PAYING TO CLEAN UP THE SITE. AND THEY DID IT IN RECORD TIME.

THE EPA GAVE THE SITE A CLEAN BILL OF HEALTH WHEN THEY DELISTED IT IN 1994.

IT TOOK 11 YEARS TO "CLEAN UP" THE SITE... AND IT'LL TAKE EVEN MORE TIME TO UNDERSTAND HOW IT COULD HAVE GONE SO WRONG.

UNDER NORMAL CIRCUMSTANCES... CLEANING UP A SUPERFUND SITE IS CAUSE FOR CELEBRATION.

BUT RINGWOOD MINES WAS NEVER REALLY CLEANED UP IN THE FIRST PLACE.

EVEN AFTER THE SITE WAS DELISTED... RESIDENTS CONTINUED TO FIND PAINT SLUDGE IN THEIR YARDS AND SCATTERED THROUGHOUT UPPER RINGWOOD.

I MET JAN BARRY AT THE RINGWOOD MINES SUPERFUND SITE.

Jan Barry -- Former reporter, The Record

What caught my attention, besides the fact that somebody had tied colored ribbons along that whole area, because they were creating a hiking trail. And I said to the EPA person who is there, you know, "There's going to be kids walking down this hiking trail." No interest. We then went over on the far side of this community, at the end of Cannon Mine Road. There was a house, we go to the front yard, they have paint sludge heaving out of the grass in front of the kids play equipment. It was the same house that had the paint sludge in the backyard some years before. And at that point, frankly, I lost it. I said, "You've got to be kidding me. We're back to the same place that you said you cleaned up." And at that point, I started writing memos to editors.

Jordan Gass-Poore' -- Host

JAN WAS ONE OF THE REPORTERS WITH THE BERGEN RECORD THAT... ALONG WITH THE RAMAPOUGH... HELPED EXPOSE THE LARGE AMOUNTS OF POLLUTION THAT REMAINED ON THE SITE IN A SERIES OF ARTICLES CALLED "TOXIC LEGACY."

Jan Barry -- Former reporter, The Record

We found internal documents where they say, well, the state probably won't take a close look at this. And then it was a housing organization, nonprofit that built these newer houses over here, and they definitely want to take a close look at this gift to them. "Aren't we so nice, giving them this nice contaminated land?" And they had nasty things to say about these local people using the terminology that only local area people would know to use. So Ford was already into the local prejudice against Ramapough Indians. And I guess that plays a huge part in what's going on here.

Jordan Gass-Poore' -- Host

THE THING ABOUT PAINT SLUDGE IS THAT IT LOOKS LIKE A PLAIN OLE ROCK... NOTHING TO WORRY ABOUT

BUT BREAK OFF A CHUNK... AND IT SMELLS LIKE FINGERNAIL POLISH REMOVER... IT'S THE ACETONE INSIDE THAT'S STILL POTENT.

Jan Barry -- Former reporter, The Record

As you break it open, it's so fresh inside. The core never dried, so the chemical smell just erupts. I had a piece of this stuff on my desk in The Record for a long time. Until I'm at some meeting and somebody said, "You know, there's a chemical thing coming off of this all the time. Stick it into a paper bag and then take a breath."

Jordan Gass-Poore' -- Host

PAINT SLUDGE CONTAINS A MIXTURE OF TOXIC CHEMICALS... LIKE LEAD... ARSENIC... AND CHROMIUM... AMONG OTHERS.

LEVELS OF LEAD IN PAINT SLUDGE NEAR HOMES HAVE BEEN FOUND TO BE 100 TIMES THE LEVELS THE EPA CONSIDERS ACCEPTABLE

WAYNE MANN... A RAMAPOUGH COMMUNITY LEADER WHO GREW UP IN UPPER RINGWOOD... SAYS KIDS EVEN PLAYED WITH THE PAINT SLUDGE... NOT KNOWING WHAT IT WAS.

HE REMEMBERS ONE OF THE TIMES OFFICIALS CAME BY UPPER RINGWOOD TO INSPECT THE SITE BEFORE IT WAS PUT BACK ON THE SUPERFUND LIST. THIS IS WHAT THEY SAW.

Wayne Mann -- Ramapough Lenape Turtle Clan member, named plaintiff in Mann v. Ford

The one yard where they came, a kid was sitting, banging on something playing with his trucks. What he was banging on was a giant piece of sludge, lead. Another yard, kids were out swinging on a swing set. All around that yard and swing set was all protruding through the ground chunks of lead. It's all Ford's. Well, that was supposed to be all cleaned up.

Jordan Gass-Poore' -- Host

MANY OF UPPER RINGWOOD'S RESIDENTS SAY CONTAMINATION FROM THE PAINT SLUDGE HAS MADE THEM SICK.

THERE ARE CASES OF SKIN RASHES... SEVERE HEADACHES... BLEEDING FROM THE EYES, NOSE, AND THROAT... AND VARIOUS CANCERS.

SO MANY PEOPLE HAVE CANCER... VAL SAYS... THAT LOCALS CALL VAN DUNK LANE "CANCER ROW." IT EARNED THE GRIM NICKNAME BECAUSE EACH HOUSE ON THE STREET HAS BEEN IMPACTED BY CANCER IN ONE WAY, SHAPE, OR FORM.

WHEN VAL'S NEPHEW... COLLIN... DIED FROM A RARE FORM OF CANCER IN 2001... THAT'S WHEN LOCALS REALLY STARTED TO NOTICE HOW WIDESPREAD THE HEALTH ISSUES WERE IN UPPER RINGWOOD.

Valerie Gunn -- Ringwood resident & Ramapough Lenape Turtle Clan member

My nephew, my brother's son, developed, it was called Ewing's Sarcoma when he was 10. And he developed that, and that's how everything started. He died a year later; he lived for one year from the time that he developed it. And then after that, it was like, everybody started getting cancer.

Jordan Gass-Poore' -- Host

DESPITE THIS... NO ONE HAS BEEN ABLE TO FIND A DIRECT LINK BETWEEN THE PAINT SLUDGE AND THESE REPORTED DISEASES.

IN 2006... THE NEW JERSEY DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND SENIOR SERVICES AND THE FEDERAL AGENCY FOR TOXIC SUBSTANCES AND DISEASE REGISTRY RELEASED A REPORT ON THE HEALTH CONCERNS RELATED TO THE SUPERFUND SITE.

THE AGENCIES FOUND THAT FROM 1979 THROUGH 2002... OVERALL CANCER INCIDENCE WAS NOT ELEVATED IN THE AREA OR IN RINGWOOD BOROUGH AS A WHOLE... COMPARED TO NEW JERSEY.

SHORTLY BEFORE THE REPORT WAS RELEASED... THE RINGWOOD MINES WAS PUT BACK ON THE SUPERFUND LIST -- A FIRST FOR THE EPA.

WHILE EVERY SUPERFUND SITE NEEDS TO GET CLEANED UP QUICKLY... RINGWOOD MINES... IF I HAD TO MAKE A PRIORITIES LIST... WOULD BE NEAR THE TOP.

I'M NOT PICKING FAVORITES OR ANYTHING... BUT THERE'S JUST SO MANY DIFFERENT WAYS SEVERE WEATHER CAUSED BY CLIMATE CHANGE CAN STILL IMPACT THIS SUPERFUND SITE... AND WREAK HAVOC ON THE RESIDENTS OF UPPER RINGWOOD.

TO MAKE THINGS EASIER ON ALL OF US... I'M GOING TO BREAK DOWN EACH OF THE POTENTIAL CLIMATE IMPACTS AS SUCCINCTLY AS I CAN.

MORE PREVALENT... AND INTENSE FOREST FIRES MEANS DANGEROUS TOXINS COULD BE RELEASED IN THE AIR.

DOCTOR JUDITH ZELIKOFF... AN NYU RESEARCHER... LED A STUDY IN 2021 THAT FOUND MUCH HIGHER RATES OF ASTHMA AND BRONCHITIS AMONG THE RAMAPOUGH WHO USED TO OR CURRENTLY LIVE NEAR THE MINES.

WILDFIRES AND DROUGHT WILL ONLY MAKE THESE HEALTH PROBLEMS WORSE.

Judith Zelikoff -- Professor of Environmental Medicine, NYU Grossman School of Medicine

Not only do you have PCBs generated, you're going to have lots of metals, you're going to have polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon carcinogens. So you're going to have if anyone treated their couches or their furniture, you know, with these treatments. So they're all going to be in the air.

Jordan Gass-Poore' -- Host

JUDITH MENTIONED PCBs. THAT'S A GROUP OF HUMAN-MADE CHEMICALS THAT WERE BANNED IN THE U.S. IN THE LATE 1970s.

EVEN THOUGH THE PRODUCTION OF PCBs IS BANNED... THESE CHEMICALS ARE STILL PRESENT IN OUR AIR... WATER... AND SOIL.

CLIMATE CHANGE IS MAKING RAINSTORMS MORE INTENSE... AND FREQUENT.

WHEN THAT HEAVY RAINFALL COMES DOWN... THE WATER MAY RUSH THROUGH THE OLD MINES... FAULT LINES... AND CRACKS IN THE ROCK.

IF THIS HAPPENS... THE WATER COULD FLUSH CONTAMINATED GROUNDWATER INTO NEARBY STREAMS AND RIVERS.

Wenke Taule -- Former Mayor of Ringwood

Ringwood sits on what's called fractured bedrock. And no one can tell you where the contaminated water is going to go. It's impossible. Ford says they know. They just can't know.

Jordan Gass-Poore' -- Host

THAT'S WENKE TAULE. SHE BECAME THE BOROUGH'S FIRST WOMAN MAYOR IN 2005... AND WAS IN OFFICE WHEN RINGWOOD MINES WAS PUT BACK ON THE SUPERFUND LIST.

Wenke Taule -- Former Mayor of Ringwood

If something should occur, you know, an event with climate change, flooding, whatever, it could flush this contamination through the fractures.

Jordan Gass-Poore' -- Host

NOW... IF UPPER RINGWOOD WAS NOT ON TOP OF MINES... THERE'D BE LESS CONCERN ABOUT THESE FRACTURES IN THE GROUND.

BUT ALEC GATES... A GEOLOGIST WITH RUTGERS-NEWARK WHO SPENT MUCH OF HIS CAREER WORKING IN THE RINGWOOD AREA... SAYS THE MINING HAS PRETTY MUCH STRIPPED AWAY THE GROUND'S NATURAL FILTRATION SYSTEM... POTENTIALLY EXPOSING PEOPLE TO CONTAMINATED WATER.

Alexander Gates -- Distinguished Service Professor of Earth & Environmental Sciences, Rutgers -- Newark

So, if you have bad things on the surface, as long as you have that thick, black layer, they're all anything that comes through, it will tend to filter it out. If you don't have it there, like you do around a mine area, it'll just go straight into the groundwater system without any filtering.

Jordan Gass-Poore' -- Host

PEOPLE HAVE BEEN DRINKING THE WATER IN UPPER RINGWOOD FOR A VERY LONG TIME... WAY BEFORE FORD STARTED DUMPING CHEMICALS THERE.

BUT THE POLLUTION HAS GOTTEN SO BAD THAT NO ONE DRINKS IT ANYMORE. AND THEY MAY NEVER DRINK IT AGAIN.

ALEC SAYS THERE'S NO WAY ALL OF THE GROUNDWATER IN THE AREA CAN BE TREATED.

Alexander Gates -- Distinguished Service Professor of Earth & Environmental Sciences, Rutgers -- Newark

They can't even get all the sludge out, it's in the cracks. How are you going to do that? So you would have to, like, excavate the whole area. That's tough rock. That's not going to be easy to excavate. And then how are you going to clean it out?

Jordan Gass-Poore' -- Host

HEAVY RAINFALL MAY QUICKLY FLOW THROUGH THE SUPERFUND SITE'S FRACTURED BEDROCK... SPREADING ALREADY POLLUTED GROUNDWATER IN WAYS THAT GEOLOGISTS AND ENGINEERS DON'T FULLY UNDERSTAND.

THAT PUTS NEARBY BODIES OF WATER AT RISK... INCLUDING THE WANAQUE RESERVOIR... WHICH SUPPLIES DRINKING WATER TO MORE THAN THREE MILLION PEOPLE ACROSS NORTH JERSEY WHEN DEMAND FOR WATER IS AT ITS PEAK.

I WENT TO THE NORTH JERSEY DISTRICT WATER SUPPLY COMMISSION TREATMENT PLANT IN WANAQUE, JUST SOUTH OF RINGWOOD, TO SEE THE RESERVOIR FOR MYSELF.

WHILE I WAS THERE... I TALKED WITH THE COMMISSION'S EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR... TIM EUSTACE... ABOUT THE RISKS THE RINGWOOD MINES SUPERFUND SITE POSES TO THE RESERVOIR.

Timothy Eustace -- Executive Director, North Jersey District Water Supply Commission

The mine is two-and-a-half miles from here. So, I just want to make sure if anything happens that I can address it a mile away, that it never reaches this body of water.

Jordan Gass-Poore' -- Host

INCREASINGLY HEAVY RAINS ON THE RINGWOOD MINES SITE COULD SPREAD CONTAMINATION DOWNHILL... WHERE THE RESERVOIR SITS.

Timothy Eustace -- Executive Director, North Jersey District Water Supply Commission

My concern was the fault lines because there's a fault line under the reservoir and there's a fault line along the mountain range where the mines are the end, the geologists say the fault lines do not run the way that I should have concerns. I think the fault lines run east west, and they'd have to be north south for it to create runoff coming down here. So I'm somewhat quelled by that geology report. But you know, Earth doesn't always do what we think it's going to do. So I'm almost comfortable with that report.

Jordan Gass-Poore' -- Host

"ALMOST COMFORTABLE."

THERE'S ONE PESKY CONTAMINANT THAT KEEPS TIM UP AT NIGHT. THAT'S 1,4-DIOXANE... A COLORLESS SOLVENT USED BY INDUSTRIES TO DISSOLVE OILY OR GREASY SUBSTANCES

1,4-DIOXANE WAS FIRST FOUND IN GROUNDWATER AT THE SITE IN THE SPRING OF 2015.

BUT RESIDENTS WEREN'T TOLD UNTIL THE RECORD BROKE THE NEWS NEARLY A YEAR LATER. IN A PUBLIC MEETING AFTER THE FINDINGS WERE MADE PUBLIC, EPA OFFICIALS SAID THEY REGRETTED NOT ANNOUNCING THEM SOONER.

THE CHEMICAL HAS SINCE BEEN FOUND IN SALLY'S POND, A SMALL WATERBODY IN RINGWOOD STATE PARK JUST DOWNHILL OF THE MINES.

THE WATER IN SALLY'S POND EVENTUALLY FLOWS INTO THE WANAQUE RESERVOIR, BUT SO FAR, THE EPA SAYS NONE OF THE CHEMICAL HAS BEEN DETECTED DOWNSTREAM OF THE POND SINCE TESTING BEGAN IN 2016.

TIM SAYS THE EPA TOLD HIM THERE'S "VERY LITTLE CHANCE" OF THE WANAQUE RESERVOIR BEING CONTAMINATED.

Timothy Eustace -- Executive Director, North Jersey District Water Supply Commission

I want no chance of this happening. So, it's my overabundance of caution. And the commissioners here agree with me about that, that we want to be ahead of anything that happens.

Jordan Gass-Poore' -- Host

BUT JUST TO BE ON THE SAFE SIDE... TIM SAYS THE RESERVOIR IS ROUTINELY TESTED FOR ONE-FOUR DIOXANE... AND OTHER HAZARDOUS CHEMICALS.

TIM TOOK ME ON A TOUR OF THE COMMISSION'S BIG TREATMENT PLANT TO SHOW ME WHERE THE TESTING HAPPENS.

IT WAS LOUD AND SMELLED LIKE A HIGH SCHOOL GYM.

EVEN THOUGH THE EPA NOW CONSIDERS 1,4-DIOXANE TO BE A "LIKELY HUMAN CARCINOGEN"... IT'S NOT CURRENTLY REGULATED BY THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT.

THE SCARY PART IS... ONCE 1,4-DIOXANE IS IN WATER... IT'S LIKELY TO STAY THERE AND DOESN'T BREAK DOWN

AT THE RINGWOOD MINES SUPERFUND SITE... THERE'S ALSO THE INCREASED RISK OF MORE FREQUENT SINKHOLES... LIKE WHAT ROGER DE GROAT, SR. EXPERIENCED IN 2005

WENKE REMEMBERS GETTING A PHONE CALL ONE NIGHT FROM VIVIAN MILLIGAN... A FORMER RAMAPOUGH LEADER...

Wenke Taule -- Former Mayor of Ringwood

There's a gigantic hole in Roger's yard. I said, "What is it, the septic?" "Oh, no. This is something very different." As it turned out, it was a mine hole that had supposedly been closed in the 1800s that opened up because of water.

Jordan Gass-Poore' -- Host

IF THE RINGWOOD MINES SITE ISN'T CLEANED UP SOON... ALEC SAYS HEAVY AND MORE FREQUENT RAINFALL CAUSED BY CLIMATE CHANGE MAY INCREASE THE RISK OF SINKHOLES IN THE AREA.

Alexander Gates -- Distinguished Service Professor of Earth & Environmental Sciences, Rutgers -- Newark

Obviously, if you do any construction on these mines -- they're extremely dangerous. Because you're going to open things up; the construction equipment falling or you can build something on top of a place that you really shouldn't.

Jordan Gass-Poore' -- Host

THE CLIMATE CONCERNS ALEC... WENKE... AND TIM HAVE FOR UPPER RINGWOOD AREN'T SHARED BY RINGWOOD BOROUGH MANAGER SCOTT HECK.

LET'S SEE, GOING THROUGH OUR LIST HERE...

ON WILDFIRES: SCOTT SAYS...

Scott Heck -- Ringwood Borough Manager

With the exception of a fire that we had, I think a year or two ago, that was a result of the power lines that was in and around the Superfund site, we really have not seen any. We have had a few fires in Upper Ringwood, also, relative that were home fires. But our response is relatively quick to all of those situations, so it's not a big concern for us because we do watch that and we haven't had many at all.

Jordan Gass-Poore' -- Host

FLOODING AND GROUNDWATER CONTAMINATION AREN'T GOING TO BE AN ISSUE SCOTT SAYS BECAUSE PART OF THE SITE'S CLEANUP PLAN... WHICH INVOLVES CAPPING THE CONTAMINATED AREA... ADDRESSES THESE CONCERNS.

Scott Heck -- Ringwood Borough Manager

The capping calls for a pullback of the waste from the edges and consolidating it away from the brook, so that it minimizes and reduces any chance of that getting into the water stream.

Jordan Gass-Poore' -- Host

AND SINKHOLE SCHMINKHOLES... SCOTT SAYS THERE'S ONLY ONE AREA "IN-AND-AROUND THE SUPERFUND SITE" THAT'S SUSCEPTIBLE TO THIS PROBLEM.

TO HELP PREVENT THE GATES OF HELL FROM OPENING UP AGAIN... THE BOROUGH'S ENGINEER'S DID A "LOT OF EXTENSIVE RESEARCH" TO ENSURE THAT RESIDENTS STAY SAFE.

Scott Heck -- Ringwood Borough Manager

So, we had geotechnical individuals come in and do all kinds of extensive studies. We did borings down to bedrock throughout the entire area. The one area where there was a subsidence in the road we filled in, we remediated. And we have conducted a study throughout the entire area to identify, using mining maps and drilling and borings, to determine where there might be voids. And the engineer has determined that it is safe. And we have addressed any areas of concern.

Jordan Gass-Poore' -- Host

SCOTT ISN'T ALONE HERE... THE NEW JERSEY DEPARTMENT OF ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION TOLD ME THAT THE RINGWOOD AREA HAS A LOW LEVEL OF SINKHOLE RISK COMPARED TO THE REST OF THE STATE.

AND THE EPA SAYS THE NEW CLEANUP PLAN HAS BEEN DESIGNED TO PROTECT AGAINST POTENTIAL SINKING OR CAVING

THE DECADES-LONG SAGA BETWEEN THE RAMAPOUGH AND FORD IS A CLASSIC DAVID AND GOLIATH STORY.

THIS CAPTURED THE ATTENTION OF HBO. THEY SPENT YEARS CHRONICLING THE CLASS-ACTION LAWSUIT FILED BY THE RAMAPOUGH AGAINST FORD FOR DUMPING TOXIC CHEMICALS ON THEIR LAND.

THE DOCUMENTARY'S CALLED MANN V. FORD... NAMED AFTER WAYNE MANN... WHO BECAME A LEADER IN THE FIGHT TO HOLD FORD RESPONSIBLE FOR THE POLLUTION.

Wayne Mann -- Ramapough Lenape Turtle Clan member, named plaintiff in Mann v. Ford

In the filming of the documentary, 55 people died in the five years that was being filmed. So there's not as many people there as it used to be that even knows the woods anymore. You know what I mean? Because it's like, it's probably out there. But even more than just the sludge. It's what's in the mines that you're going to never fully investigate because they know, they know what's down there. Or they surmise what's down there. They don't, it's a can of worms, as I was told at one meeting, that doesn't want to be opened.

Jordan Gass-Poore' -- Host

WAYNE AND I MET UP AT RINGWOOD STATE PARK TO TALK ABOUT HIS PAST EXPERIENCES AS A COMMUNITY LEADER... WHAT HE'S LEARNED... AND WHAT HE PLANS TO DO NEXT.

Wayne Mann -- Ramapough Lenape Turtle Clan member, named plaintiff in Mann v. Ford

I stood my ground. And I stood the ground for the people that I loved. And I stood ground for people that I'll never meet that may even dislike me, because maybe they'll say, "Oh, he started trouble." But I started trouble because you're drinking the water.

Jordan Gass-Poore' -- Host

YEARS AFTER WAYNE AND OTHER MEMBERS OF THE RAMAPOUGH FILED SUIT... FORD... THEIR CONTRACTORS... AND THE BOROUGH OF RINGWOOD SETTLED WITH THEM FOR $11 MILLION.

MANY FAMILIES ONLY RECEIVED ABOUT $8,000 EACH.

SOME OF THE RAMAPOUGH MAINTAIN MANY OF THEIR TRADITIONS: THEY HUNT DEER AND FISH IN THE NEARBY STREAMS FOR FOOD. THEY GROW VEGETABLES IN THEIR YARDS.

LIVING OFF THIS LAND BEFORE IT WAS KNOWN TO BE A SUPERFUND SITE MAY HAVE EXPOSED THEM TO TOXINS AND HARMED THEIR HEALTH.

AND WHILE VAL STILL LIVES IN UPPER RINGWOOD... DENNIS AND MANY OTHERS HAVE LEFT THEIR ANCESTRAL LAND FOR FEAR THEY'D DIE FROM THE CONTAMINANTS.

NOW THERE'S ONLY A FEW PEOPLE LEFT TO PASS DOWN THE RAMAPOUGH TRADITIONS.

WAYNE SAYS UPPER RINGWOOD... WHERE THE MINES ARE... IS THE HEART OF RINGWOOD. IT STILL BEATS... JUST NOT AS FAST ANYMORE.

Wayne Mann -- Ramapough Lenape Turtle Clan member, named plaintiff in Mann v. Ford

You took care of all the treasures surrounding the heart, you let the heart be poisoned. Because why? Because we lived there. You know, but we absorbed it, we accepted it. We stayed. We fought, we didn't want to go anywhere.

Jordan Gass-Poore' -- Host

THE FEAR IS THAT ONE DAY SOON... THE ONLY LIVING REMINDERS OF THE RAMAPOUGH WILL BE THE RECREATIONAL SPACES NAMED BY EUROPEAN COLONISTS: THE RAMAPO MOUNTAINS AND THE RAMAPO RIVER.

AND DESPITE THE BATTLE WITH TOXINS... AND CLIMATE CHANGE... AND LAWSUITS WITH COMPANIES... THE BIGGER FEAR IN THIS REGION IS THAT PEOPLE WILL FORGET THE PEOPLE THESE PLACES ARE NAMED AFTER.

RAMAPOUGH CLAN MOTHER VIVIAN MILLIGAN WAS UPPER RINGWOOD'S UNOFFICIAL HISTORIAN.

VIVIAN SPOKE WITH THE RINGWOOD PUBLIC LIBRARY'S ORAL HISTORY PROJECT.

HERE SHE IS TALKING ABOUT THE ORIGINS OF THE LAST NAME VAN DUNK.

Vivian Milligan -- Lifelong Ringwood resident

Supposedly, a Dutch name because a lot of Dutch settlers did come right up the Hudson, far and wide, along with the Native Americans, and they settled along the Hudson.

Jordan Gass-Poore' -- Host

VAN DUNK LANE... AKA CANCER ROW... IS NAMED AFTER THESE FOLKS

VIVIAN LIVED IN THE AREA HER ENTIRE LIFE... AND SPENT YEARS TRYING TO GET FORD TO CLEAN UP THE MINES.

IN 2016... SHE GOT DOWN ON HER KNEES AT A PUBLIC MEETING WITH AN EPA OFFICIAL AND BEGGED THEM TO REMOVE THE WASTE... INSTEAD OF CAPPING IT

VIVIAN DIED LAST AUGUST, BEFORE SHE COULD SEE THE RINGWOOD MINES CLEANED UP. BUT HER LEGACY LIVES ON.

TO MANY RAMAPOUGH... THEIR CONCERNS HAVE FALLEN ON DEAF EARS.

THEIR STORY IS ONE THAT'S HISTORICALLY BEEN TOLD BY PEOPLE WHO AREN'T RAMAPOUGH.

RACIST MYTHS ABOUT THE COMMUNITY HAVE CAUSED THEM TO BE DEMONIZED. RESIDENTS TOLD US STORIES OF RACISM THEY'VE BEEN SUBJECTED TO... AND THERE'S A BELIEF THAT FORD PICKED THEIR HOMES TO DUMP ON AS A FORM OF DISCRIMINATION.

IN 1980... THE RAMAPOUGH WERE RECOGNIZED AS A TRIBE BY THE STATE OF NEW JERSEY. BUT... DESPITE NUMEROUS EFFORTS... THE TRIBE STILL ISN'T RECOGNIZED BY THE U.S. GOVERNMENT

THE RAMAPOUGH DON'T HAVE TIME TO WAIT AROUND FOR THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT TO CHANGE THEIR MIND.

INSTEAD... SOME MEMBERS ARE RECLAIMING THE TRADITIONS FORD AND THE BOROUGH OF RINGWOOD STOLE.

I VISITED THE MUNSEE THREE SISTERS MEDICINAL FARM IN ANDOVER TOWNSHIP... ABOUT AN HOUR AWAY FROM RINGWOOD.

IT WAS A DAY TOO HOT FOR MY BLACK CARDIGAN... AND THE GROUND WAS TOO MUDDY FOR MY BLACK FLATS. JUST GOES TO SHOW THAT IT'S BEEN A LONG TIME SINCE I WAS ON A FARM.

I WAS THERE TO MEET VINCENT MANN... CHIEF OF THE RAMAPOUGH'S TURTLE CLAN... AND CO-FOUNDER OF THE FARM.

CHIEF MANN CO-CREATED THE FARM IN 2019 TO ADDRESS FOOD INSECURITY IN UPPER RINGWOOD.

Vincent Mann -- Turtle Clan Chief, Ramapough Lenape Nation

It's not just about providing food to our community who shouldn't be growing vegetables where they are in the Superfund site, but it's also about food sovereignty. We grew up in a pretty crappy society, but in the same breath, you know, we're still here. And, you know, while we held on to a lot, you know, including our identity, people are now beginning to wake up to that fact even more so, right?

Jordan Gass-Poore' -- Host

BUT CHIEF MANN'S ULTIMATE GOAL IS TO HAVE THE RESIDENTS OF UPPER RINGWOOD RELOCATED... PERMANENTLY... TO A NEW COMMUNITY THAT WOULD BE BUILT ON NEARBY COUNTY PARK LAND.

IT'S AN IDEA THAT HAS COME UP IN PUBLIC MEETINGS IN THE PAST... BUT CHIEF MANN IS NOW READY TO REALLY START PUSHING IT.

JUST LAST MONTH... CHIEF MANN MET WITH EPA AND STATE OFFICIALS... PLUS CONGRESSMAN FRANK PALLONE AND JOSH GOTTHEIMER... TO MAKE HIS LATEST PITCH

THIS WAS LAID OUT IN A POWERPOINT PRESENTATION THAT WAS SHARED WITH NJ SPOTLIGHT NEWS AFTERWARDS.

IN THE POWERPOINT... CHIEF MANN ASKED FOR 300 RESIDENTS... CURRENTLY LIVING IN 50 HOMES... TO BE MOVED INTO 100 NEW HOMES ON TRANQUILITY RIDGE. THAT LAND'S NOT FAR FROM THE EXISTING NEIGHBORHOOD IN UPPER RINGWOOD.

THE COST? AT LEAST $50 million

THIS ISN'T UNHEARD OF. THE SUPERFUND LAW ALLOWS THE EPA TO PAY FOR TEMPORARY OR PERMANENT RELOCATION IF IT'S DEEMED NECESSARY TO PROTECT PUBLIC HEALTH

BUT THIS HAS ONLY HAPPENED 33 TIMES... AND ONLY 11 OF THOSE RELOCATIONS WERE PERMANENT.

ONE OF THOSE WAS THE GRAND STREET MERCURY SITE IN HOBOKEN... WHERE FREE-FLOWING MERCURY WAS FOUND DRIPPING BETWEEN THE FLOORS OF AN OLD INDUSTRIAL BUILDING.

Walter Mugdan -- Deputy Regional Administrator, EPA Region 2

Literally liquid mercury was found when they were doing reconstruction. It was found in the walls, it was dripping down to the ceilings, it was in the closets falling on to people. So, the County Health Department actually made the decision there, literally overnight, that people had to move out of the building.

Jordan Gass-Poore' -- Host

RIGHT NOW... THE EPA IS NOT CONSIDERING RELOCATION AS AN OPTION IN RINGWOOD

WALTER MUGDAN... THE DEPUTY REGIONAL ADMINISTRATOR FOR EPA REGION 2... SAYS RELOCATION IS ONLY CONSIDERED WHEN ALL OTHER CLEANUP OPTIONS HAVE BEEN EXHAUSTED.

Walter Mugdan -- Deputy Regional Administrator, EPA Region 2

Relocation is considered an extraordinary remedy. And one that is considered to be appropriate when there's an immediate threat to residents that can't be addressed through other less intrusive means.

Jordan Gass-Poore' -- Host

STILL... EPA DID COMMIT AT THE MEETING TO TAKE ANOTHER LOOK AT THE RELOCATION OPTION... AT CHIEF MANN'S REQUEST.

IT DOESN'T HELP THAT WITHOUT FEDERAL RECOGNITION, THE RAMAPOUGH DON'T HAVE THE SAME INFLUENCE OVER THE SUPERFUND PROCESS THAT ANOTHER TRIBE MIGHT.

CHIEF MANN SAYS AFTER THE DECADES OF DUMPING... AND THE BOTCHED CLEAN UP... THE RAMAPOUGH OF UPPER RINGWOOD DESERVE THE CHANCE TO START OVER WITH A CLEAN SLATE.

Vincent Mann -- Turtle Clan Chief, Ramapough Lenape Nation

It's not just because we want a shiny new house, and it isn't because relocating our community now is going to stop, you know, the health ailments, the cancers, and the deaths right now. But we don't think about just tomorrow, we think about the next seven generations. We need to bring our community back together. We have, you know, hundreds of people who moved away from there, thinking that they were going to protect themselves, except for the fact that because their parents were exposed to these toxic chemicals, they too, no matter how far away they move, they can move all the way to the moon, and they're still going to have those health ailments.

Jordan Gass-Poore' -- Host

BUT VAL... WHO I MET UP WITH AT THE CHURCH OF THE GOOD SHEPHERD IN RINGWOOD... DOESN'T WANT TO LEAVE.

Valerie Gunn -- Ringwood resident & Ramapough Lenape Turtle Clan member

Well, I'm not gonna lie to you. I love it here. You know, I'm not gonna say "Oh, yeah, you know." I absolutely love it here. It's just things have to be done right. Things have to be done better.

Jordan Gass-Poore' -- Host

WAYNE MANN SAYS THERE ARE PEOPLE LIKE VAL AND HIS SISTER WHO WANT TO STAY BECAUSE OF THEIR FAMILIAL CONNECTION WITH THE LAND.

Wayne Mann -- Ramapough Lenape Turtle Clan member, named plaintiff in Mann v. Ford

For my sister, she already told me when she goes, she's going like her parents did. You know, and it's home. It's the only home that they know. I can't answer that for the rest of the community, because that's Vincent's job. He speaks for them. I speak for the environment.

Jordan Gass-Poore' -- Host

AND ANGEL STEFANCIK, A 22-YEAR-OLD WHO HAS SPENT HER ENTIRE LIFE IN UPPER RINGWOOD AND IS NOW RAISING A FAMILY THERE, THINKS THAT LEAVING WOULD BE THE OPPOSITE OF THE GOAL OF DECOLONIZATION. TO HER, LAND BACK MEANS STAYING ON THE LAND THEY'RE CURRENTLY ON.

Angel Stefancik -- Ramapough Lenape Nation Turtle Clan member and Ringwood resident

You're giving them what they want. They want us to just uproot and just go. That's they're whole sole purpose because once they get their hands on our land, guess what? It's free game.

Jordan Gass-Poore' -- Host

SO, WHAT HAPPENS NOW FOR THE RAMAPOUGH?

IT'S CLEAR THAT CHIEF MANN FACES A TOUGH ROAD AHEAD IN CONVINCING BOTH THE GOVERNMENT AND HIS OWN COMMUNITY IN RELOCATING THE RESIDENTS OF UPPER RINGWOOD. AND THAT WORK IS JUST BEGINNING.

BUT BACK ON THE FARM... HE REMAINS OPTIMISTIC THAT THE TURTLE CLAN'S BEST DAYS LIE AHEAD.

SURROUNDED BY ACRES OF SPROUTING CROPS AND A PAIR OF PLAYFUL DOGS... CHIEF MANN SAYS HE FINDS HOPE AND INSPIRATION IN WHAT'S ALREADY BEEN ACCOMPLISHED.

AND THAT FUELS A DETERMINATION TO MOVE AHEAD.

Vincent Mann -- Turtle Clan Chief, Ramapough Lenape Nation

You know, my grandfather always told me that the sun is always shining somewhere. Doesn't matter if it's night or day. Doesn't matter right now. It always is shining. And I just thought when I was younger, that that meant that the sun was always shining. Which was a metaphoric thing. But I didn't really understand that, you know. But I do. The sun is literally shining, all the time.

Jordan Gass-Poore' -- Host

THE EPA REACHED A $21 MILLION SETTLEMENT WITH FORD IN 2019 TO CAP THE SITE. THIS MONEY WOULD ALSO HELP PAY TO REMOVE CONTAMINATED SOIL FROM AROUND THE OPENING OF ONE OF THE MINE'S PITS

THIS IS A CONTROVERSIAL MOVE BECAUSE IT MEANS TONS OF THE POLLUTED SOIL WILL STILL REMAIN ON SITE UNDER AN ASPHALT BARRIER... AND ACROSS THE STREET FROM MANY OF THE RAMAPOUGH'S HOMES.

FORD'S NOT THE ONLY ONE ON THE HOOK FOR THE CLEANUP.

THE BOROUGH OF RINGWOOD OWNED THE LAND THE COMPANY DUMPED ON... AND BECAUSE OF THAT THE EPA HAS DETERMINED THE LOCAL GOVERNMENT IS PARTLY RESPONSIBLE FOR THE MESS.

SCOTT SAYS OVER THE YEARS THE BOROUGH HAS APPEALED THE EPA'S DECISION THAT MAKES THEM PARTIALLY LIABLE FOR THE SITE'S POLLUTION.

HE SAYS THERE HAVE EVEN BEEN POINTS WHERE THE BOROUGH'S DISAGREED WITH FORD. BUT THERE WAS NO WAY AROUND THE BOROUGH PAYING SOMETHING TO CLEAN UP THE SITE.

Scott Heck -- Ringwood Borough Manager

At some point you have to determine, "Listen, the EPA said we're a responsible party and there's a percentage that has been agreed upon that we're going to be compensating the Ford Motor Company because there was also many, many years ago dumping there both acknowledged or known about by the borough of Ringwood as well as the state of New Jersey." So, are we a responsible party? We accept that we are only because we own the property and there was some knowledge back then, theoretically; I still don't understand why, when the state is in the exact same party, why they're not a responsible party.

Jordan Gass-Poore' -- Host

THE EPA HAD ORIGINALLY PLANNED TO HAVE THE BOROUGH AND FORD PAY MORE THAN $32 MILLION TO REMOVE THE CONTAMINATION FROM JUST ONE PART OF THE SITE.

BUT THAT CHANGED WHEN FORD AND THE BOROUGH PITCHED A NEW PLAN TO ONLY REMOVE SOME OF THE POLLUTION AND PUT A PROTECTIVE CAP OVER THE REST.

THIS PLAN ALLOWS THE BOROUGH TO BUILD A NEW... LARGER... RECYCLING CENTER ON TOP OF THE CAPPED SOIL... AND ACROSS THE STREET FROM THEIR CURRENT RECYCLING CENTER.

THE MOVE LOWERED THE CLEANUP COSTS TO A LITTLE OVER $5 MILLION... AND HAD A MIXED REACTION FROM RINGWOOD RESIDENTS.

THOSE WHO WANTED THE POLLUTION REMOVED WERE OUTRAGED. OTHERS... WHO WORRIED A MORE EXPENSIVE CLEANUP WOULD RAISE THEIR PROPERTY TAXES... SUPPORTED THE CONSTRUCTION OF A NEW RECYCLING CENTER.

THE EPA WENT ALONG WITH THE NEW PLAN BECAUSE, THEY SAID, IT STILL PROTECTS PUBLIC HEALTH ... AND BECAUSE, OF COURSE, THEY DON'T HAVE ANY CONTROL OVER HOW A TOWN WANTS TO USE THEIR LAND.

THIS IS DESPITE THE FACT THAT THE AGENCY ORIGINALLY WANTED TO GET RID OF THE TOXIC SOIL.

SCOTT SAYS CAPPING THE SITE WAS IN THE BEST INTERESTS OF "ALL INVOLVED."

Scott Heck -- Ringwood Borough Manager

I mean, think about it, to excavate all this material out, the plan was for 13,250 truck trips out of the neighborhood. What would that do to the folks that are living in and around there? I mean, 13,250 truck trips; it would have significantly increased the amount of time that this cleanup would take. It would significantly impact their day-to-day lives for a long time. What risks are associated with moving that type of material? What risks are associated to the children in the neighborhood? And what risks are associated with digging it out for that length of time and impacting a stream while you're digging out?

Jordan Gass-Poore' -- Host

MOST OF THE CLEANUP IS COMPLETE, SCOTT SAYS.

Scott Heck -- Ringwood Borough Manager

I think that the excavation is substantially complete. And I don't know exactly the ultimate percentage but I think that you'll see that in the next coming months that'll be wrapped up significantly.

Jordan Gass-Poore' -- Host

FORD DECLINED TO ANSWER SPECIFIC QUESTIONS THAT WE SENT THEM.

INSTEAD... A COMPANY SPOKESPERSON SENT US THIS:

"Ford Motor Company takes its environmental responsibility seriously and has shown through its actions a commitment to addressing the issues in Upper Ringwood that are related to Ford. Ford continues to work cooperatively with the Borough of Ringwood, the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), and the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection (NJDEP). Contractor activities to remedy the three soil areas requiring remediation started in late fall of 2021."

WHAT COULD BE THE FINAL CLEANUP AT RINGWOOD MINES BEGAN EARLIER THIS YEAR.

SCOTT'S HOPEFUL THIS WILL BE THE LAST TIME RINGWOOD MINES WILL BE ON THE SUPERFUND LIST BECAUSE THE CLEANUP AREA HAS BEEN EXPANDED.

Scott Heck -- Ringwood Borough Manager

I'm hoping that they have learned from their errors of the past that this is the last remediation, although I have to tell you, from my perspective, watching what went on, and they did really go above and beyond to ensure that there's not a third cleanup so, so they maybe they have corrected some of those issues in the past. And I think we're going to get a good cleanup and the residents are going to be better off for it.

Jordan Gass-Poore' -- Host

HAZARD IS A SPACE NOT JUST FOR LEARNING ABOUT SUPERFUND SITES... BUT FOR ENGAGING OUR COMMUNITIES IN CONVERSATION AROUND THE CLEANUP OF THESE TOXIC PLACES.

DO YOU HAVE QUESTIONS ABOUT SUPERFUND SITES IN NEW JERSEY? DO YOU LIVE NEAR ONE? IF SO... I WANT TO HEAR FROM YOU. SEND ME A TWEET USING HASHTAG #HazardNJ.

OR LEAVE ME A VOICE MEMO AT... HAZARD@MYNJPBS.ORG.

WE MAY PLAY YOUR COMMENTS IN A FUTURE EPISODE.

Credits

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

Executive Producer – Jamie Kraft

Executive in Charge of Production – Joe Lee

Associate Producer – Michael Sol Warren

Production Assistant – Chris Pandza

Production Manager – Chloe Motisi

Additional research by Mer Mousoom

Sound Designer & Engineer – Mark Bush

Audio Recording Engineer – Frank Brown

Music composed by Nick Pennington

Artwork by Matthew Fleming

Animated trailer created by Everest Strayer

The Hazard Podcast - America’s Biggest Crime Scene

The chemical company Diamond Alkali, one of the nation’s main producers of Agent Orange, spent years dumping chemical waste into the Passaic River and polluting Newark’s Ironbound neighborhood. Dioxin, a dangerous byproduct of the company’s work, was found in high levels in the neighborhood in the early ’80s, spurring emergency government action and leaving residents concerned about the safety of their homes and front yards.

State and federal authorities pledged to clean the mess up but today, nearly 40 years later, toxic mud still lies beneath the water — a 17-mile-long stretch of river that U.S. Sen. Cory Booker has called “America’s biggest crime scene.” Now the cleanup is facing a $1.8 billion price tag, an uncertain timeline, and the growing threat that intense storms fueled by climate change could stir the pollution up out of the river and back into the neighborhood.

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

TORRENTIAL RAINS.

HOWLING WINDS.

WIDESPREAD FLOODING.

IN 2012... HURRICANE SANDY WAS ONE OF THE MOST DESTRUCTIVE STORMS TO MENACE THE EAST COAST IN DECADES.

THE STORM SLAMMED INTO THE NEW JERSEY COASTLINE... CREATING A TIDAL SURGE THAT FORCED THE PASSAIC RIVER AND NEWARK BAY OVER THEIR BANKS AND INTO NEWARK'S IRONBOUND NEIGHBORHOOD.

THIS SMALL GRID OF STREETS IS SURROUNDED BY TOXIC SITES: FACTORIES... A POWER PLANT... WAREHOUSES... CHEMICAL REFINERIES... NEW JERSEY'S LARGEST TRASH INCINERATOR... AND THE DIAMOND ALKALI SUPERFUND SITE.

THAT LAND, WHICH ONCE HELD AN AGENT ORANGE FACTORY, IS JUST ONE PART OF THE TOXIC SITE. THE REST IS A GOOEY MIXTURE OF MUD... SAND... AND CHEMICALS AT THE BOTTOM OF THE PASSAIC RIVER.

TERRIFIED RESIDENTS WERE FORCED TO FLEE AFTER SANDY FILLED THEIR HOMES WITH POLLUTED WATER.

CLIMATE CHANGE HAS SET THE STAGE FOR MORE SANDY-SIZE MEGA-STORMS IN YEARS TO COME... AND THERE IS NO DOUBT THAT THE PASSAIC RIVER WILL FLOOD AGAIN.

WHEN IT DOES... THERE'S A RISK OF THESE CHEMICALS BEING STIRRED UP.

IF THE DIAMOND ALKALI SITE IS NOT CLEANED UP SOON... THIS TOXIC NIGHTMARE WILL CONTINUE.

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'VE NEVER BEEN IN A HURRICANE... BUT WHEN I WAS EIGHT YEARS OLD THERE WAS A MASSIVE FLOOD IN MY HOMETOWN OF SEGUIN TEXAS.

I REMEMBER WATCHING REFRIGERATORS FLOAT DOWN THE RIVER AND WONDERING WHAT KINDS OF CHEMICALS COULD BE LEACHING INTO THE WATER AND INTO PEOPLE'S HOMES.

AFTER THE FLOOD... NO ONE REALLY TALKED ABOUT THE POTENTIAL HEALTH EFFECTS OF DRINKING OR SWIMMING IN FREON-CONTAMINATED WATER. THERE WERE RUMORS THOUGH OF THREE-EYED FISH.

THE IRONBOUND ... WITH ABOUT FIFTY-THOUSAND RESIDENTS... HAS MORE PEOPLE THAN SEGUIN.

WHEN I VISITED THE NEIGHBORHOOD... I DIDN'T HEAR ANY STORIES OF THREE-EYED FISH... BUT I WAS TOLD NOT TO EAT ANYTHING THAT COMES OUT OF THE PASSAIC RIVER.

THERE ARE SIGNS ALL AROUND RIVERFRONT PARK WARNING GUESTS NOT TO CATCH AND EAT CRAB AND FISH FROM THE RIVER.

THIS HAS TO DO WITH THE AREA'S INDUSTRIAL LEGACY... AND SERVES AS A STARK REMINDER THAT THE IRONBOUND IS STILL EXTREMELY POLLUTED.

NEARLY A DECADE AFTER SANDY... RESIDENTS OF THE IRONBOUND ARE STILL AFRAID OF THE LONG-TERM HEALTH CONSEQUENCES OF THE TOXINS THAT SPILLED INTO THEIR HOMES.

AND THEY HAVE A GOOD REASON TO BE.

JUST A FEW FEET AWAY IS A SUPERFUND SITE. AND NOT JUST ANY SUPERFUND SITE... ONE OF THE LARGEST AND MOST EXPENSIVE ON THE LIST.

THE DIAMOND ALKALI SUPERFUND SITE SITS AT THE HEART OF THE IRONBOUND.

IT WAS A FORMER FACTORY WHERE THE DEADLY HERBICIDE AGENT ORANGE WAS MANUFACTURED THROUGHOUT THE VIETNAM WAR.

Maria Lopez-Nuñez -- Deputy Director of Organizing and Advocacy, Ironbound Community Corporation

So, the Diamond Alkali site, it was the largest producer of Agent Orange in the world, and everyone talks about this one thing: a white powder that, like, covered the whole factory, you know, like, everything was covered in this white dust, and it was, like, a sticky dust. So, if you walked in, you would get it all over your shoes and that dust was dioxin. And so, it was being carried all over the neighborhood.

Jordan Gass-Poore' -- Host

MARIA LOPEZ-NUNEZ IS LEADING THE FIGHT FOR ENVIRONMENTAL JUSTICE AS AN ORGANIZER WITH THE IRONBOUND COMMUNITY CORPORATION... OR ICC.

THE ICC WAS STARTED 52 YEARS AGO WHEN RESIDENTS CREATED A DAYCARE CENTER.

THEY LATER FOUGHT AGAINST THE CONSTRUCTION OF A GARBAGE INCINERATOR FROM COMING INTO THE NEIGHBORHOOD.

AND IT'S BEEN A WILD RIDE EVER SINCE.

AGENT ORANGE... NAMED FOR THE ORANGE IDENTIFICATION STRIPES PAINTED ON ITS BARRELS... CONTAINED DIOXIN. THAT'S A HIGHLY TOXIC CHEMICAL THAT HAS NO COLOR OR ODOR.

DIOXIN WAS AMONG THE TOXIC CHEMICALS FOUND IN 1978 AT ONE OF THE MOST NOTORIOUS SUPERFUND SITES... LOVE CANAL.

IN 1983... 14 YEARS AFTER DIAMOND ALKALI CLOSED... DIOXIN WAS FOUND IN THE IRONBOUND.

Nancy Zak -- Ironbound resident and activist

In the swimming pool there was dioxin discovered.

Jordan Gass-Poore' -- Host

THAT'S NANCY ZAK.

SHE'S TALKING ABOUT THE HAYS PARK SWIMMING POOL. DIOXIN WAS FOUND AROUND A DRAIN THERE WHEN OFFICIALS WERE TESTING THE AREA FOR THE CHEMICAL.

Larry Stuelpnagel -- New Jersey Nightly News, 1983

The dioxin was discovered as technicians looked for the possible spread of contamination from the former Diamond Alkali plant one-half mile away.

Jordan Gass-Poore' -- Host

BEFORE THE DISCOVERY... THERE WERE REPORTS THAT SOME OF THE CHILDREN WHO SWAM THERE DEVELOPED SKIN RASHES.

NANCY AND HER HUSBAND... ARNOLD COHEN... HAVE BEEN ACTIVISTS IN THE IRONBOUND FOR DECADES.

ARNOLD SAYS THE DISCOVERY OF DIOXIN IN THE NEIGHBORHOOD DIDN'T COME AS A COMPLETE SURPRISE.

Arnold Cohen -- Ironbound resident and activist

On the one hand, you knew there's a lot of toxic industries along the river, but yet the extent of it was unbelievable that, you know, you're talking about, could talk about the largest concentrations of dioxin found anywhere in soil blocks away from where we lived was completely shocking.

Jordan Gass-Poore' -- Host

THE IRONBOUND IS A TIGHT-KNIT COMMUNITY THAT'S ALREADY FACED A DISPROPORTIONATE NUMBER OF ENVIRONMENTAL HAZARDS.

IT'S NOT A COINCIDENCE THAT LOW-INCOME AND MINORITY COMMUNITIES ARE THE ONES LIVING NEXT TO THESE HAZARDOUS SITES THAT NO ONE WANTS IN THEIR BACKYARD.

ADVOCATES CALL THIS ENVIRONMENTAL RACISM.

WITHIN THE TANGLE OF ROADS... RAILWAYS... AND HIGHWAYS... THERE ARE PEOPLE... JUST TRYING TO LIVE THEIR LIVES.

RESIDENTS OF THE IRONBOUND ARE PREDOMINANTLY HISPANIC... AND THE NEIGHBORHOOD HAS LONG BEEN AN IMMIGRANT COMMUNITY.

UNFORTUNATELY... THIS ISN'T SURPRISING. MOST OF NEW JERSEY'S SUPERFUND SITES ARE IN THE BACKYARDS OF LOW-INCOME... OR MINORITY COMMUNITIES WHO ALREADY FACE A GREATER RISK OF HEALTH PROBLEMS.

AND NOW... CLIMATE CHANGE THREATENS TO DAMAGE SUPERFUND SITES LIKE DIAMOND ALKALI... AND SPREAD POLLUTION EVEN FURTHER.

Sen. Cory Booker -- D, New Jersey

I'm one of the, I would imagine, few senators that lives in a city that has the number of Superfund sites this one has and surprise, surprise, I'm a senator, I think the only senator who lives in a low-income black and brown community.

Jordan Gass-Poore' -- Host

THE INEQUITIES ARE FRUSTRATING FOR MANY OF THE PEOPLE WHO HAVE BEEN LEADING THE CHARGE TO CLEANUP DIAMOND ALKALI.

NANCY AND ARNOLD ORGANIZED DEMONSTRATIONS IN THE 1980S.

THEY BROUGHT THE COMMUNITY TOGETHER TO PROTEST AGAINST THE STATE'S HANDLING OF THE DIOXIN CONTAMINATION... AND TO STOP FUTURE POLLUTION.

Nancy Zak -- Ironbound resident and activist

It's always important; how many people you have involved and how many are calling up their councilman and stuff like that. So, we would have big demonstrations where people could come out. And that gave us, you know, just having those numbers is very important when you're dealing with any politicians of any kind.

Jordan Gass-Poore' -- Host

AS A CHILD... DOCTOR ANA BAPTISTA AND HER FAMILY PARTICIPATED IN SOME OF THESE EVENTS.

Ana Baptista -- Co-Chair, Passaic River Superfund Community Advisory Group

My parents bought a house down on the industrial end of town and my neighbor down the street, June, like, was knocking on all the neighbor's doors; she saw that we had moved in. And my parents, you know, don't speak English. So, she's, like, "We're fighting the incinerator, so tell your parents to come to this meeting at the Rec Center." And they had like a little flyer in Portuguese and Spanish and English. And I told my parents about it. And I would go with them to these meetings to translate. And I was like, maybe 10, 9, 10 years old. I'm sure I did a terrible job translating. But there I was.

Jordan Gass-Poore' -- Host

ANA SAYS HER PARENT MOVED TO THE NEIGHBORHOOD FROM PORTUGAL IN THE 1980S. THEY GOT INVOLVED WITH THE ICC EARLY ON AND AS ANA GREW OLDER... SHE JOINED IN THE FIGHT.

Ana Baptista -- Co-Chair, Passaic River Superfund Community Advisory Group

It was a very intergenerational fight. You know, the timeline also feels, like, impossibly long. But, like most things, you just have to keep showing up for them to come to life.

Jordan Gass-Poore' -- Host

GROWING UP... ANA SAYS SHE STAYED AWAY FROM THE PASSAIC RIVER.

Ana Baptista -- Co-Chair, Passaic River Superfund Community Advisory Group

The little you knew about the river was don't get near it. Don't go in it. Definitely don't touch it, like, everybody knew, like, it was a dirty river, very polluted.

Jordan Gass-Poore' -- Host

SHE SHOWED ME AROUND RIVERFRONT PARK... ONE OF THE FEW GREENSPACES IN THE AREA.

THE PARK OPENED IN 2013 AND EXPANDED A FEW YEARS LATER.

RIVERFRONT PARK SHOULDN'T BE HERE. THAT IS... IF ESSEX COUNTY AND THE CITY OF NEWARK HAD THEIR WAY IN THE '90S.

THE PARK WAS SUPPOSED TO BE A MINOR LEAGUE BASEBALL STADIUM. BUT THE IRONBOUND COMMUNITY CORPORATION DID WHAT THE ORGANIZATION HAS ALWAYS DONE BEST... FOUGHT TOOTH AND NAIL ON BEHALF OF RESIDENTS.

Ana Baptista -- Co-Chair, Passaic River Superfund Community Advisory Group

So, that just shows you that back then there was not much of a premium or value put to parks, especially on a waterfront that was really contaminated. They just didn't see the value of it. But residents, you know, kept it alive.

Jordan Gass-Poore' -- Host

ANA AND OTHER LONG-TIME RESIDENTS OF THE IRONBOUND REMEMBER PLAYING IN AND AROUND THE DIAMOND ALKALI SITE AS CHILDREN.

THEY ATE FOOD GROWN IN SOIL THAT MAY HAVE BEEN TAINTED WITH DIOXIN.

TRUCKS COMING IN-AND-OUT OF THE FACTORY TRACKED DIOXIN THROUGHOUT NEWARK.

COULD THESE EXPERIENCES BE THE CAUSE OF BIRTH DEFECTS AND CANCER?

MAYBE. THERE AREN'T MANY STUDIES LOOKING AT THE LONG-TERM HEALTH EFFECTS OF DIOXIN.

Melissa Miles -- Executive Director, New Jersey Environmental Justice Alliance

It wasn't until my own family was impacted by the sort of things that we know happen, you know, when you live in a neighborhood with pollution.

Jordan Gass-Poore' -- Host

MELISSA MILES IS THE EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR FOR THE NEW JERSEY ENVIRONMENTAL JUSTICE ALLIANCE.

Melissa Miles -- Executive Director, New Jersey Environmental Justice Alliance

When you're pregnant and you live too close to roadways that have diesel pollution, when you have children in a community that has an issue with lead in the water, like, these things started to manifest in my own family and that's when it really became more of a mission for me to make sure that other parents in this community, you know, knew what was happening and that they had a voice and that they could stand up and fight for their community that they lived in.

Jordan Gass-Poore' -- Host

SHE WAS INVOLVED IN THE PASSAGE OF THE STATE'S LANDMARK ENVIRONMENTAL JUSTICE BILL IN 2020.

THE BILL REQUIRES COMPANIES TO GET APPROVAL FROM THE STATE DEPARTMENT OF ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION BEFORE BUILDING... EXPANDING... OR RENEWING PERMITS IN LOW-INCOME NEIGHBORHOODS.

COMPANIES ALSO HAVE TO HOLD PUBLIC HEARINGS AND PROVIDE A STATEMENT ON HOW THE PROJECT'S GOING TO IMPACT RESIDENTS BEFORE THEY GET APPROVED.

THIS IS ALL WELL AND GOOD NOW... BUT THINGS LIKE IMPACT STATEMENTS AND APPROVAL FROM THE DEP JUST WEREN'T TOP OF MIND WHEN THE DIAMOND ALKALI PLANT CLOSED IN 1969.

IT WAS THE MORNING OF JUNE 3... THEN-GOVERNOR TOM KEAN DECLARED A STATE OF EMERGENCY.

Gov. Tom Kean -- R, Governor of New Jersey 1982-1990. Speaking in 1983.

We've asked the EPA to immediately begin cleaning the street in question. The dirt may be contaminated with dioxin. We expect that cleanup, which will consist of large-scale vacuuming with special equipment, will begin today, and all the homes so far sampled in the entire area have come back showing now dioxin contamination. It appears the contaminated dirt is not finding its way into residences

Jordan Gass-Poore' -- Host

THE ORDER STOPPED TRAIN TRAFFIC... EXPANDED AN EXISTING BAN AGAINST EATING CRAB AND FISH FROM THE PASSAIC... AND SHUT DOWN THE NEWARK FARMERS' MARKET... WHERE MANY RESIDENTS BOUGHT THEIR FOOD.

GOVERNOR KEAN OFFERED TEMPORARY HOUSING AT THE NEWARK YMCA FOR PEOPLE WHO LIVED WITHIN 300 YARDS OF THE DIAMOND ALKALI SITE.

FOR EVERYONE IN THE CITY... HE ADVISED THEM TO STAY INDOORS DURING THE CLEANUP.

THE NEXT DAY... RESIDENTS SAW PEOPLE IN "MOON SUITS" WITH HEADGEAR AND RESPIRATORS DIGGING AROUND THEIR FRONT YARDS.

Bob Schapiro -- New Jersey Nightly News, 1983

Federal environmental officials went door-to-door in Newark's Ironbound neighborhood today. They wanted the contents of people's vacuum cleaner bags. To find out if traces of deadly dioxin may have drifted a block or two from the original site at 80 Lister Avenue.

PHOTOS FROM THE TIME SHOW EPA WORKERS VACUUMING UP DIRT TO TEST IT FOR DIOXIN.

MARIA LOPEZ NUNEZ WITH THE ICC REMEMBERS HEARING THESE STORIES FROM RESIDENTS WHO LIVED IN THE NEIGHBORHOOD AT THE TIME OF THE "INVASION."

Maria Lopez-Nuñez -- Deputy Director of Organizing and Advocacy, Ironbound Community Corporation

You hear, especially from folks that have lived here their whole lives, that they were sitting there in their T-shirts because this was happening in the summer there in tank tops and shorts sitting on the porch being like, "Why do you need a Hazmat suit?" You know, like that contrast of the government workers looking like they were on the moon, but they were just in the Ironbound.

Jordan Gass-Poore' -- Host

DIOXIN HAD MOVED FROM THE DIAMOND ALKALI PLANT AND SPREAD THROUGHOUT THE NEIGHBORHOOD... MUCH FURTHER THAN WHAT GOVERNMENT OFFICIALS ORIGINALLY TOLD THEM.

RESIDENTS FELT LIKE THEY NEEDED TO TAKE MATTERS INTO THEIR OWN HANDS. SO... THEY FORMED THE IRONBOUND HEALTH ADVISORY COMMISSION.

THE ORGANIZATION DEMANDED HEALTH CHECKS FOR RESIDENTS... MORE TESTING FOR DIOXIN AND OTHER TOXIC CHEMICALS... AND COMMUNITY INVOLVEMENT IN DECISION MAKING.

THERE WERE GOOD REASONS FOR RESIDENTS TO NOT TRUST THE GOVERNMENT.

OFFICIALS WITH THE STATE OF NEW JERSEY HAD RECEIVED A FEDERAL REPORT THAT THERE WAS LIKELY DIOXIN AT THE DIAMOND ALKALI SITE... THREE YEARS BEFORE ANY TESTS WERE CONDUCTED.

SOME HOMEOWNERS THOUGHT THE WHOLE THING WAS JUST A RUSE BY THE GOVERNMENT TO TAKE AWAY THEIR HOMES IN ORDER TO MAKE WAY FOR NEW BUSINESS.

TO MAKE MATTERS WORSE... FOR NEARLY 20 YEARS... DIAMOND ALKALI DUMPED AN ESTIMATED 700,000 GALLONS OF DIOXIN INTO THE PASSAIC RIVER.

THE TRICKY THING ABOUT DIOXIN IS THAT IT CAN ATTACH ITSELF TO PARTICLES... LIKE DUST... AND SPREAD EASILY. IT'S ALSO DIFFICULT TO DISSOLVE IN WATER.

AT THE TIME... THE EPA CLAIMED THEY DIDN'T KNOW HOW DANGEROUS DIOXIN REALLY WAS.

RITA M. LAVELLE... FORMER HEAD OF THE SUPERFUND PROGRAM... TOLD REPORTERS IN 1983

"IT GETS ME THAT SOME SCIENTISTS ARE SAYING DIOXIN IS THE MOST DEADLY CHEMICAL KNOWN TO MAN. THAT'S NOT TRUE. IT DEPENDS ON THE CONCENTRATION. IN THE RIGHT CONCENTRATION, TABLE SALT IS JUST AS DEADLY."

LAVELLE WAS LATER FOUND TO HAVE MISUSED SUPERFUND DOLLARS DURING HER TIME WITH THE EPA.

SCIENTISTS KNEW THE CHEMICAL WAS AN INDUSTRIAL BY-PRODUCT. BUT THE ONLY EVIDENCE THEY HAD OF DIOXIN'S HARMFUL EFFECTS WAS CAUSING THE SKIN CONDITION CHLORACNE... WHICH RESEMBLES SEVERE ACNE.

LATER IT WAS DISCOVERED THAT A RARE FORM OF CANCER CALLED SOFT-TISSUE SARCOMAS IS LINKED TO DIOXIN EXPOSURE.

SOFT-TISSUE SARCOMAS ARE AN AGGRESSIVE FORM OF CANCER THAT DEVELOPS IN THE BODY'S CONNECTIVE TISSUES.

EIGHT CASES OF CANCER WERE REPORTED BY DIAMOND ALKALI WORKERS. NONE WERE IDENTIFIED AS SOFT-TISSUE SARCOMAS.

Michael Gordon -- Environmental Lawyer

They had literally every conceivable environmental threat going on in the Ironbound community at the time. And lo and behold, the next thing that happened was the discovery of the highest levels of dioxin ever found anywhere in the world in the Ironbound on the plant site. So, there was literally pandemonium.

Jordan Gass-Poore' -- Host

THAT'S ATTORNEY MICHAEL GORDON. HE SPENT MUCH OF THE 1980S TRYING TO FIND PROOF THAT DIAMOND ALKALI KNEW DIOXIN WAS A PROBLEM AND DIDN'T DO ANYTHING ABOUT IT.

IT WASN'T EASY. BUT ONE DAY IN 1986 GORDON FOUND INTERNAL MEMOS BETWEEN A DIAMOND ALKALI EMPLOYEE AND OFFICIALS AT A CHEMICAL COMPANY IN GERMANY.

Michael Gordon -- Environmental Lawyer

They sent around their experience to all of the manufacturers of Agent Orange in America at the time, which was Diamond Alkali, Dow, Monsanto, a number of, Hercules, and they described what they had to do from an outbreak of illness amongst their workers to prevent the formation of dioxin which greatly reduced the threat of illness to the workers. And they described controlling the temperature and the pressure when you made this product.

Jordan Gass-Poore' -- Host

THE DOCUMENTS PROVED THAT DIAMOND ALKALI KNEW FOR YEARS THAT DIOXIN POSED A HEALTH RISK TO ITS WORKERS... BUT DIDN'T DO ANYTHING ABOUT IT FOR ECONOMIC REASONS.

Michael Gordon -- Environmental Layer

And they did not convert to that process, because they had a small, older plant. And the government was literally buying everything they could produce for a period of time for use in Vietnam. And they did not want to delay production, shut down, reconfigure or rebuild the plant. So, they chose not to incorporate those measures. And that's why they produced some of the highest levels of dioxin found in the Agent Orange product.

Jordan Gass-Poore' -- Host

GORDON FINALLY HAD A CASE AGAINST THE COMPANY.

IN 1986... FORMER WORKERS SUED THE COMPANY FOR DAMAGES. THEY ALSO SUED THE STATE'S DEPARTMENT OF ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION IN THE HOPE THAT THEY'D BE FORCED TO CLEAN UP THE SITE.

AFTER THE SEVENTH WEEK OF THE TRIAL... DIAMOND ALKALI AGREED TO A $1 MILLION DOLLAR SETTLEMENT.

ABOUT A YEAR AFTER DIOXIN WAS DISCOVERED IN THE IRONBOUND... THE DIAMOND ALKALI SITE WAS ADDED TO THE SUPERFUND LIST IN 1984.

OVER THE YEARS... THE BUILDINGS ON THE PROPERTY WERE DEMOLISHED... AND SOME OF THE TOXIC WASTE WAS BURIED THERE UNDERGROUND.

THE PROPERTY ITSELF WAS CAPPED WITH CONCRETE AND GRAVEL.

BUT... A 17-MILE STRETCH OF THE PASSAIC RIVER REMAINS SO POLLUTED THAT EVEN TRYING TO CLEAN IT UP MAY PROVE TO BE DISASTROUS.

A THICK LAYER OF DIOXIN FROM THE FACTORY IS BURIED TWELVE FEET IN THE RIVER. LOCALS CALL THIS STICKY SLUDGE "BLACK MAYONNAISE."

TRYING TO GET DOWN TO THIS LAYER OF DIOXIN COULD CAUSE THE CHEMICAL TO SPREAD UP AND DOWN THE RIVER.

THERE'S A LOT OF TALK ABOUT WHETHER OR NOT THIS SEDIMENT SHOULD BE REMOVED... AND IF IT IS REMOVED... IF IT CAN BE DONE SAFELY.

RIGHT NOW... CLEANUP PLANS CALL FOR DREDGING SOME OF THE CONTAMINATED SEDIMENTS FROM THE RIVER. THAT MUCK WOULD THEN BE TREATED AT A FACILITY THAT HASN'T BEEN BUILT YET IN THE IRONBOUND.

THE REMAINING SEDIMENT WOULD BE CAPPED WITH A THICK LAYER OF SAND. CAPPING IS A COMMON WAY OF CLEANING UP SUPERFUND SITES. THE IDEA IS TO PREVENT ANOTHER STORM FROM KICKING UP THE CONTAMINATED SEDIMENT.

THIS PLAN HAS MIXED REVIEWS.

WHILE THE EPA SAYS THE CAP'S DESIGN TAKES CLIMATE CHANGE AND EXTREME WEATHER EVENTS INTO ACCOUNT... OTHERS ARE CONCERNED THAT THE MODELS USED ARE OUTDATED.

THERE'S ALSO THE WORRY THAT ONCE CLEANUP BEGINS... THE CONSTRUCTION COULD CAUSE DIOXIN-LACED DUST TO SPREAD FURTHER.

MARIA LOPEZ-NUNEZ WORRIES ABOUT WHAT COULD HAPPEN TO THE IRONBOUND IF THE DIAMOND ALKALI SITE IS IMPACTED BY RISING SEA LEVELS AND MORE HURRICANES.

Maria Lopez-Nuñez -- Deputy Director of Organizing and Advocacy, Ironbound Community Corporation

Anybody who lives here can tell you it's getting rainier and rainier. So, I actually think the geography of the Ironbound is gonna change, like, the way it looks. The space that the river occupies is gonna change. And I'm not sure... I worry, right? When I look on a map, I worry about where the Diamond Alkali site is, and that increased rain, that river depth, that river boundary. I worry the river will take the Diamond Alkali site with it and what that will mean, you know, will the cap hold?

REGARDLESS OF THE CLEANUP METHOD... SOMEONE'S GOING TO HAVE TO PAY FOR IT.

THE PRICE TAG RIGHT NOW IS $1.8 BILLION... THE MOST EXPENSIVE CLEANUP IN THE HISTORY OF THE SUPERFUND PROGRAM.

DIAMOND ALKALI IS LARGELY RESPONSIBLE FOR THE RIVER'S POLLUTION. BUT OTHER COMPANIES POLLUTED THE RIVER TOO.

THAT'S ONE OF THE REASONS WHY IT'S TAKEN SO LONG TO CLEAN UP THE SITE... NO ONE THINKS THEY'RE RESPONSIBLE FOR THE POLLUTION AND WANTS TO PAY.

FORMER NEW JERSEY GOVERNOR JIM FLORIO SPEARHEADED THE SUPERFUND LAW WHILE HE WAS IN CONGRESS IN 1980.

Gov. Jim Florio -- D, NJ 1st Congressional District 1975-1990, Governor 1990-1994

One of the principles we built into the law was that the polluters should pay, and it would be the mantra. And we've changed things. And my grandchildren, to this day, they're adults now, but they mention, "Pop Pop was in charge of getting the dolphins back."

Jordan Gass-Poore' -- Host

FLORIO... NOW AN ENVIRONMENTAL LAWYER... HAS SUPPORTED EFFORTS TO REINSTATE A TAX ON THE OIL AND CHEMICAL INDUSTRIES. THIS TAX EXPIRED IN 1995.

MONEY FROM THE TAX WOULD GO INTO THE SUPER...FUND TO HELP PAY FOR THE CLEANUP OF "ORPHAN" SITES. THESE ARE TOXIC PLACES WHERE THE POLLUTER IS UNKNOWN OR UNABLE TO PONY UP THE FUNDS TO CLEAN UP THE MESS.

IN THE PAST FEW YEARS... SENATOR CORY BOOKER... FORMER MAYOR OF NEWARK... AND REPRESENTATIVE FRANK PALLONE HAVE PUSHED TO REINSTATE THE TAX ON OIL COMPANIES.

Sen. Cory Booker -- D, New Jersey

Well, you have these polluting companies, chemical companies, oil companies that we know, are offsetting a lot of their costs onto society. And it's about putting a very small tax on those companies that then is directed towards Superfund cleanup. And what we've seen since the Superfund tax was eliminated the number of Superfund sites in America has actually gone up, not down. And so it yields enough money to really start focusing and getting some of this cleanup done on these orphan sites where we can't hold someone accountable.

Jordan Gass-Poore' -- Host

BUT SO FAR... THE BILL HAS STALLED IN CONGRESS.

REPRESENTATIVE PALLONE SAYS THERE'S ONE WAY TO GET THE POLLUTERS TO PAY.

Rep. Frank Pallone -- D, NJ 6th Congressional District

The majority of the cleanup is done by the polluter or paid for by the polluter under direction of the EPA. And so, you just have to constantly push and embarrass them and, you know, sometimes bring people to public hearings where they criticize the proposed plans that they have for cleanup because they're not adequate. So that's the kind of thing that I do.

Jordan Gass-Poore' -- Host

LAST YEAR... PRESIDENT BIDEN'S INFRASTRUCTURE PACKAGE INCLUDED THE REINSTATEMENT OF THE SUPERFUND TAX ON SOME CHEMICAL COMPANIES... BUT NOT OIL AND GAS.

I'M A HUGE HORROR FAN... SO WHEN I THINK OF SUPERFUND SITES... I THINK OF THAT MONSTER FROM THE MOVIE JEEPERS CREEPERS.

OKAY... BEAR WITH ME HERE. SO IN THE MOVIE JEEPERS CREEPERS...

SOME OF THE TOWNSPEOPLE WHERE THE MOVIE TAKES PLACE KNOW ABOUT THE MONSTER.

THEY KNOW IT COMES OUT EVERY 23rd SPRING FOR 23 DAYS, YOU KNOW, TO EAT PEOPLE.

BUT THE FEW PEOPLE WHO HAVE TRIED TO GET RID OF IT HAVEN'T BEEN SUCCESSFUL... SO THEY JUST LIVE WITH THIS KNOWLEDGE THAT EVENTUALLY THE MONSTER WILL COME BACK AND WREAK HAVOC.

IT'S THIS IDEA OF THE MONSTER LURKING IN THE BACKYARD THAT I'M DRAWN TO... AND SUPERFUND SITES ARE THOSE MONSTERS.

THEY MAY NOT HAVE WINGS... IN THE CASE OF THE JEEPERS CREEPERS MONSTER... BUT THEY HAVE THE POTENTIAL TO BE EVEN MORE DANGEROUS WHEN IMPACTED BY CLIMATE CHANGE.

David Robinson -- New Jersey State Climatologist

We've seen sea levels rise and the rise is accelerating, the pace of the increase is accelerating. And areas that are very close to sea level are getting inundated with a frequency we've not seen previously.

Jordan Gass-Poore' -- Host

QUOTES LIKE THAT FROM DAVE ROBINSON... NEW JERSEY'S STATE CLIMATOLOGIST... REALLY UNDERSCORE THE NEED TO CLEAN UP SUPERFUND SITES LIKE DIAMOND ALKALI... NOW.

David Robinson -- New Jersey State Climatologist

I think we have to look to what the future may hold for all of these threats. And they're a little bit grim. So, we better be prepared and be able to adapt and accommodate these changes when it comes to Superfund sites or everyday life.

Jordan Gass-Poore' -- Host

IT'S HARD FOR ME TO STAY OPTIMISTIC WHEN THE CLEANUP OF THE DIAMOND ALKALI SITE IS STILL YEARS AWAY.

AND NO ONE KNOWS IF IT'LL EVER BE SAFE TO SWIM OR FISH IN THE PASSAIC.

BUT I CAN'T HELP REMEMBERING SOMETHING ANA TOLD ME DURING OUR TIME AT THE PARK.

Ana Baptista -- Co-Chair, Passaic River Superfund Community Advisory Group

You can almost imagine a river with, teeming with oysters and clams, and it wasn't even tidal back then in the 1600s, we turned it tidal. We messed with it so much. But one day, we won't get back there, but we'll get back to something, something so that at least people can enjoy the river to some extent more than they are now even.

Jordan Gass-Poore' -- Host

HAZARD IS A SPACE NOT JUST FOR LEARNING ABOUT SUPERFUND SITES... BUT FOR ENGAGING OUR COMMUNITIES IN CONVERSATION AROUND THE CLEANUP OF THESE TOXIC PLACES.

DO YOU HAVE QUESTIONS ABOUT SUPERFUND SITES IN NEW JERSEY? DO YOU LIVE NEAR ONE? IF SO... I WANT TO HEAR FROM YOU. SEND ME A TWEET USING HASHTAG HAZARD NJ.

OR LEAVE ME A VOICE MEMO AT... HAZARD@MYNJPBS.ORG

WE MAY PLAY YOUR COMMENTS IN A FUTURE EPISODE.

Credits

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

Executive Producer – Jamie Kraft

Executive in Charge of Production – Joe Lee

Associate Producer – Michael Sol Warren

Production Assistant – Chris Pandza

Production Manager – Chloe Motisi

Additional research by Betsy Laikin

Sound Designer & Engineer – Mark Bush

Audio Recording Engineer – Frank Brown

Music composed by Nick Pennington

Artwork by Matthew Fleming

Animated trailer created by Everest Strayer

The Hazard Podcast - On Thin Ice

Growing up in Bridgewater, New Jersey, Peggy Fussell has fond memories of ice skating on a local pond. That is, until she discovered that the pond was a toxic waste site.

Decades after chemical producer American Cyanamid ceased its Bridgewater operations, and was declared a Superfund site, its toxic legacy is precariously contained in local waste ponds. As climate change fuels more intense storms in the region, these ponds risk flooding and spilling over into the nearby community.

With a cleanup that has dragged on for decades and has no clear end in sight, what will it take to avoid catastrophe?

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

--BENZENE

--TOLUENE

--XYLENE

--NAPHTHALENE

--HYDROGEN SULFIDE

--SULFUR DIOXIDE

--MERCAPTANS

--CARBON DISULFIDE

THIS WITCHES BREW OF CHEMICALS WERE MIXED TOGETHER BY AMERICAN CYANAMID IN BRIDGEWATER, NEW JERSEY.

THE COMPANY'S CAULDRON OF CHOICE WAS TWO LARGE HUMAN-MADE PONDS NEAR THE RARITAN RIVER.

SHROUDED BY TREES AND AWAY FROM ONLOOKERS... THESE PONDS SAT STILL BY THE RIVER'S EDGE FOR DECADES.

UNTIL RECENT FLOODING SHOWED US WHAT COULD HAPPEN IF SITES LIKE AMERICAN CYANAMID AREN'T CLEANED UP.

EVERY TIME WE GET A MAJOR STORM WE RUN THE RISK OF TOXINS SEEPING INTO OUR WATERWAYS.

AND CLIMATE CHANGE IS MAKING THINGS WORSE.

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 GREW UP HEARING STORIES ABOUT THREE-EYED FISH IN THE RIVER AND WONDERING WHY THE TAP WATER I WAS DRINKING WAS ORANGE.

I WAS THAT KID WHO STOOD UP IN FRONT OF CLASS AND ASKED PEOPLE TO SIGN MY PETITION TO SAVE THE RAINFOREST.

IT'S GOTTEN SLIGHTLY EASIER OVER THE YEARS TO GET PEOPLE TO CARE ABOUT THE ENVIRONMENT... ESPECIALLY WHEN I'M TALKING ABOUT HAZARDOUS SUPERFUND SITES.

THOSE ARE THE MOST TOXIC SITES IN THE COUNTRY... AND NEW JERSEY IS HOME TO 114 OF THEM. THAT'S THE MOST OUT OF ANY STATE.

AMERICAN CYANAMID IS A TRIPLE THREAT: IT'S LOCATED IN A FLOODPLAIN... REGULARLY FLOODS... AND IS VULNERABLE TO HURRICANES.

SO... IT'S NOT HARD TO SEE WHY MARK SCHMIDT IS CONCERNED. HE'S THE EPA PROJECT MANAGER FOR THE SUPERFUND SITE.

Mark Schmidt -- EPA Remedial Project Manager

Could these impoundments erode? Could all the infrastructure, you know, we have a groundwater treatment facility, electrical infrastructure, could all that be washed away?

Jordan Gass-Poore' -- Host

I RECENTLY VISITED AMERICAN CYANAMID.

IT WAS SO... INNOCUOUS. AND PEACEFUL. THE SILENCE WAS OCCASIONALLY PIERCED BY A HORN AND THE RATTLE OF AN NJ TRANSIT TRAIN... DELIVERING COMMUTERS TO THEIR HOMES NEARBY.

MY NERVES DIDN'T KICK IN UNTIL I GOT HOME THAT EVENING AND NOTICED SOME LIGHT BROWN DUST ON MY BOOTS. I NOW CALL THESE SHOES MY "SUPER BOOTS."

BACK ON THE SITE... WITH MY "SUPER BOOTS" AND SHOTGUN MIC... I SAW WHITE SIGNS ON SUPPORT POLES THAT SHOWED HOW HIGH THE FLOODWATERS GOT DURING:

--TROPICAL STORM DORIA IN 1971... NEARLY 38 FEET.

--HURRICANE FLOYD IN 1999... SLIGHTLY OVER 42 FEET.

--HURRICANE IRENE IN 2011... RIGHT AROUND 42 FEET.

--AND TROPICAL STORM IDA... A RECORD 43 FEET.

AMID THE DOOM AND GLOOM... A FEW THINGS STOOD OUT TO ME:

THERE WAS A WOODPECKER ON AN ELECTRICAL POLE...

...AND DUCKS IN THE PONDS.

THESE SIGNS OF LIFE ARE ENCOURAGING... AND GIVE ME HOPE THAT ONE DAY THE SITE WILL BE A LOVELY... WHOLE FOODS.

THE NEXT TIME IT FLOODS... WILL HAZARDOUS WASTE LEAK OUT OF THE AMERICAN CYANAMID SITE AND SNEAK INTO THE RARITAN RIVER?

OR COULD IT SEEP INTO THE BRUNSWICK AQUIFER... NEW JERSEY'S SECOND LARGEST SOURCE OF DRINKING WATER?

THE U.S. GOVERNMENT ACCOUNTABILITY OFFICE... OR THE GAO... MADE SEVERAL RECOMMENDATIONS IN 2019 TO MAKE SURE THIS DOESN'T HAPPEN.

Alfredo Gomez -- GAO Director, Natural Resources and Environment team

So, what we learned was that people wanted more direction. They wanted sort of forward-looking climate information, so they can make better decisions about risk responses, about risk assessments.

Jordan Gass-Poore' -- Host

ALFREDO GOMEZ IS A DIRECTOR WITH THE GAO'S NATURAL RESOURCES AND ENVIRONMENT TEAM.

HIS TEAM FOUND THAT MORE THAN 60% OF THE COUNTRY'S SUPERFUND SITES ARE IN PLACES VULNERABLE TO CLIMATE CHANGE.

Alfredo Gomez -- GAO Director, Natural Resources and Environment team

Now, interestingly, in New Jersey, that percentage was a lot higher, it was 88% of the Superfund sites are located in places that may be affected by one or more of these climate change effects.

Jordan Gass-Poore' -- Host

THE REPORT DIDN'T LOOK INTO HOW CLIMATE CHANGE MAY IMPACT CLEANUP EFFORTS.

AS LONG AS THE POLLUTION REMAINS, HURRICANES AND FLOODING ARE A MAJOR THREAT TO SITES LIKE AMERICAN CYANAMID... AND TO OUR HEALTH.

IF THIS SITE ISN'T SECURED BEFORE ANOTHER HURRICANE OR FLOOD... IT COULD SPREAD CHEMICALS THROUGH THE RIVER AND WIND. IF CHEMICALS GET IN THE GROUNDWATER... IT CAN BE DIFFICULT TO TRACK.

Mark Schmidt -- EPA Remedial Project Manager

So, based on what has happened, we're concerned with the flooding events. We've been fortunate that nothing has happened. But, you know, what's the future gonna look like?

Jordan Gass-Poore' -- Host

ALRIGHT... I JUST SPENT THE PAST FEW MINUTES THROWING AROUND A LOT OF TERMS I RECENTLY LEARNED HOW TO PRONOUNCE CORRECTLY... AND SERVED UP A HEARTY HELPING OF ACRONYM SOUP.

SO... I'M GOING TO TAKE A STEP BACK AND BREAK DOWN THE BASICS.

SUPERFUND... EMPHASIS ON FUND... NOT FUN... WAS A PROGRAM CREATED BY THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT IN 1980 TO HELP PAY FOR THE CLEANUP OF HAZARDOUS WASTE SITES.

AT THE TIME... THE ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY... OR EPA... THOUGHT THERE WERE RELATIVELY FEW TOXIC SITES IN THE COUNTRY.

BUT OFFICIALS SOON DISCOVERED THOUSANDS OF CONTAMINATED SITES. SO, THEY CREATED A NATIONAL PRIORITIES LIST TO FIGURE OUT WHICH PLACES NEEDED TO BE CLEANED UP FIRST.

IT DIDN'T TAKE LONG FOR THE AMERICAN CYANAMID SITE TO BE INCLUDED ON THIS LIST.

SOME OF THE CHEMICALS THE COMPANY MADE ARE NOW KNOWN CARCINOGENS. THIS LINK WAS MADE BACK IN 1978... WHEN MORE THAN 1,000 WORKERS AT THE BRIDGEWATER PLANT WENT ON STRIKE.

Rebecca Sobel -- New Jersey Nightly News, 1978

More than 300 -- 1,300 workers at American Cyanamid's Bridgewater plant walked out on strike today, protesting low wages and poor safety conditions. Local 111 of the International Chemical Workers Union claims the company has ignored complaints of high rates of bladder cancer and lung disease among workers. Cyanamid wouldn't comment on that charge, but a spokesman says the company can't grant the 75-cent-an-hour pay hike because, said the Union, it exceeds President Carter's wage and price guidelines.

Jordan Gass-Poore' -- Host

IN SEPTEMBER 1983... AMERICAN CYANAMID WAS ONE OF THE FIRST PLACES TO BE DESIGNATED A SUPERFUND SITE.

THAT'S NO REAL SURPRISE.

FOR NEARLY A CENTURY... NUMEROUS COMPANIES USED THIS 575-ACRE SITE FOR CHEMICAL AND PHARMACEUTICAL MANUFACTURING.

THE TOXIC WASTE FROM THIS PRODUCTION WAS STORED IN HUMAN-MADE PONDS CALLED IMPOUNDMENTS. EVENTUALLY... THE PONDS LEECHED CHEMICALS IN THE SOIL AND GROUNDWATER.

THERE ARE 27 OF THESE PONDS AT AMERICAN CYANAMID... AND THE EPA SAYS 16 OF THESE BAD BOYS HAVE CONTRIBUTED TO THE POLLUTION ON THE PROPERTY.

BUT THE GRANDDADDY OF THEM ALL ARE IMPOUNDMENTS 1 AND 2. THE EPA GAVE THE PONDS NUMBERS TO KEEP TRACK OF THEM ALL.

THESE TWO PONDS ARE CONSIDERED BY THE EPA TO HAVE THE HIGHEST CONCENTRATIONS OF HAZARDOUS MATERIALS.

THEY CONTAIN ACID TAR SLUDGE. THAT'S A BYPRODUCT OF THE SITE'S DAYS AS AN OIL REFINERY.

JUST GOES TO SHOW... SOMETIMES THE PAST STICKS WITH YOU.

AMERICAN CYANAMID IS ONE OF THE MORE COMPLEX SUPERFUND SITES IN TERMS OF CLEANUP.

AND MARK SAYS THE PONDS ARE PART OF THE PROBLEM.

Mark Schmidt -- EPA Remedial Project Manager

Each of these impoundments had different waste. Back in the, you know, early days, the '40s and the '50s, there wasn't a lot of thought about what would happen if you put waste into these impoundments.

Jordan Gass-Poore' -- Host

EVEN WHILE CHEMICAL WASTE WAS BEING DUMPED NEXT TO THE RARITAN RIVER... SOMEONE UNDERSTOOD THAT THE SITE WAS ON A FLOODPLAIN AND TOOK ACTION.

IN THE 1930S... PONDS WERE CREATED ON THE SITE TO TRAP CHEMICAL WASTEWATER AND PREVENT THE TOXIC SOUP FROM POURING INTO THE RIVER.

DECADES LATER IN 2011... HEAVY RAINS FROM HURRICANE IRENE FLOODED PART OF THE SITE.

IMPOUNDMENTS 1 AND 2 WERE HIT HARD. THE TEMPORARY CAPS THAT HAD BEEN INSTALLED ON THESE SPOTS WERE DAMAGED.

CAPPING IS ONE WAY OF CLEANING UP A SUPERFUND SITE. THEY'RE SUPPOSED TO KEEP CHEMICALS IN PLACE TO PREVENT THEM FROM SPREADING. BUT IN THIS CASE... IT DIDN'T WORK.

THE CAPS COULDN'T WITHSTAND THE FLOODING AND SOME OF THAT ACID TAR SLUDGE WAS EXPOSED.

TO PREVENT THIS FROM HAPPENING IN THE FUTURE... THE EPA NOW REQUIRES THAT ALL FUTURE CAPS BE DESIGNED TO WITHSTAND THE EFFECTS OF MORE FREQUENT FLOODING

THEN LAST SUMMER... HURRICANE IDA HAMMERED DOWN ON THE SITE... AND FLOOD LEVELS SET A NEW RECORD.

LUCKILY... EPA TESTS AFTER BOTH FLOODS SHOWED NO SIGNIFICANT RELEASE OF TOXINS IN THE RARITAN RIVER.

FOR NOW.

AT ITS PEAK... THE AMERICAN CYANAMID COMPLEX SPREAD OVER 600 ACRES ACROSS BRIDGEWATER AND BOUND BROOK.

THE COMPANY WAS ONCE ONE OF SOMERSET COUNTY'S LARGEST EMPLOYERS. THEY HIRED MORE THAN 5,000 PEOPLE WHO PRODUCED DYES... PIGMENTS... AND OTHER CHEMICALS BY THE TRAINLOAD.

PEGGY FUSSELL'S GRANDMOTHER WORKED FOR AMERICAN CYANAMID AS A TELEPHONE SWITCHBOARD OPERATOR.

FOR HOURS A DAY... HER GRANDMOTHER... ANNE FUSSELL... WOULD WATCH FOR CALLS THAT APPEARED AS LIGHTS ON A BOARD.

AT THE END OF HER SHIFT... SHE WOULD WALK THE FEW MINUTES TO HER HOME.

Peggy Fussell

She was what was called a hard luck story because she was a single mom, three kids. And so the corporation, the company, subsidized her housing. So we lived on a street that was for people who had fallen on hard times.

Jordan Gass-Poore' -- Host

ONE OF HER CHILDREN WAS PEGGY'S DAD... WHO ENDED UP WORKING ODD JOBS AT AMERICAN CYANAMID... AND LIVING RIGHT NEXT TO HIS MOM.

Peggy Fussell

The reason I grew up there was because my dad grew up there. And then when my mother was pregnant with me, he was visiting his mother and found out that someone was moving out. And he said, "I am looking for housing now. Can I live in this house until I find something better, until the baby's born?" That baby was me.

Jordan Gass-Poore' -- Host

ON THE SURFACE... THE TWO-BEDROOM... ONE BATH BUNGALOW ON MIDLAND AVENUE SEEMED LIKE AN IDYLLIC PLACE TO GROW UP.

Peggy Fussell

One of the perks of living there was that we had a backyard and then behind the yard were fields and woods, and lots of places to play. I felt like I grew up in the country, even though I was in pretty much suburban New Jersey.

Jordan Gass-Poore'

PHOTOS OF PEGGY AS A CHILD SHOW HER STANDING IN HER BACKYARD.

IN ANOTHER ONE... SHE'S WEARING SUNGLASSES AND TAKING HER DOLLS FOR A STROLL DOWN THE BLOCK.

THE SEASONS CHANGE... SHE'S TALLER... WITH LONGER HAIR... BUT THE ONE CONSTANT IN THIS SCRAPBOOK IS THE AMERICAN CYANAMID FACTORY... LOOMING LARGE OVER PEGGY'S CHILDHOOD.

IN THE WINTER... PEGGY SAYS SHE WOULD ICE SKATE ON THIS BEAUTIFUL FLAT POND NEAR HER HOUSE.

OTHER PONDS HAD LEAVES AND OTHER VEGETATION IN ITS WATERS... BUT NOT THIS ONE.

Peggy Fussell

The ponds were just murky. You know, they didn't look like they would make you sick or anything, they just looked like murky ponds.

Jordan Gass-Poore' -- Host

THOSE PONDS STORED HAZARDOUS WASTE FOR AMERICAN CYANAMID.

PEGGY SAYS HER SKATING DAYS ENDED EARLY WHEN HER PARENTS REALIZED WHAT WAS GOING ON.

EVEN SO... IT WAS HARD TO ESCAPE THE COMPANY'S TRAPS FROM THE PAST.

Peggy Fussell

There was an orchard. When I was very young there were cows and a dairy at the end of the street. And when you think about what it means to drink milk from cows that are eating grass that's on the grounds of a chemical factories. And we had a well. We had well-water.

Jordan Gass-Poore' -- Host

NOW, AT 60 YEARS OLD ... PEGGY WONDERS IF THE WELL-WATER SHE DRANK AS A KID MAY HAVE BEEN CONTAMINATED BY AMERICAN CYANAMID.

Peggy Fussell

I don't think those conversations were had. I know that they weren't had in my house.

Jordan Gass-Poore' -- Host

WHAT THE FAMILY DID TALK ABOUT WAS HER AUNT'S WORK AT AMERICAN CYANAMID. MARY-LOUISE VEGA WAS A RESEARCH SCIENTIST AT THE PLANT.

HER CLAIM TO FAME WAS INVENTING A TYPE OF GLOW STICK USED BY THE MILITARY CALLED CYALUME.

Peggy Fussell

The joke was, you know, at some point we're all gonna glow.

Jordan Gass-Poore' -- Host

AMERICAN CYANAMID OFFICIALLY TURNED OFF THE LIGHTS IN 1999 WHEN THEY STOPPED MANUFACTURING IN BRIDGEWATER.

THEN... POOF.

BUILDINGS WERE DEMOLISHED THE FOLLOWING YEAR... AND TODAY IT'S HARD TO IMAGINE A SPRAWLING FACTORY ON THE SITE.

WHERE PEGGY'S GRANDMOTHER AND AUNT WORKED... CYANAMID'S OFFICES AND LABS... IS NOW A SHOPPING CENTER AND A STADIUM FOR THE MINOR LEAGUE SOMERSET PATRIOTS.

PEGGY'S CHILDHOOD HOME IS NOW A STARBUCKS.

JENNY KETROW... A FORMER BRIDGEWATER RESIDENT... SAYS HER DAD AND GRANDFATHER USED TO WORK ON THE AMERICAN CYANAMID SITE.

Jenny Ketrow

Sometimes my mom still talks about it, my dad would come home with, like, pink dye or red dye soaked into his undergarments, and she would do the laundry separate from our laundry. And, you know, especially, like, a couple of jobs, he had jackhammering out dye in a vat that was, you know, like, sending humans in there to do that?

Jordan Gass-Poore' -- Host

THE FAMILY HAD A COMPLICATED RELATIONSHIP WITH AMERICAN CYANAMID. ON ONE HAND... IT WAS A SOURCE OF PRIDE TO HAVE RELATIVES WORK THERE. ON THE OTHER HAND... BY THE TIME JENNY WAS BORN IN 1984... IT WAS ALREADY LISTED AS A SUPERFUND SITE.

Jenny Ketrow

You also feared it because "Wow, I could die at this job. You know, I'm basically risking my life for my family and for my livelihood. But, you know, I can put a roof over my head and feed everybody and have a sense of pride, like, I can afford the nicer things."

Jordan Gass-Poore' -- Host

SHE SAYS ONE OF HER DAD'S JOBS WAS TO ROW A BOAT OUT ONTO THE PONDS. THERE... HE WOULD STIR THE WATER TO KEEP THE CHEMICALS FROM POOLING TOGETHER.

Jenny Ketrow

I remember him saying, like, he would have to go sometimes with a scientist or, like, a lab technician and go take samples. So, they had a metal rowboat. I don't think they really had anything other than maybe, like, a jumpsuit to wear, but not like a safety jumpsuit, more like a denim jumpsuit, the typical work wear that the guys wore.

Jordan Gass-Poore' -- Host

JENNY REMEMBERS BEING TOLD THE STORY ABOUT AN EMPLOYEE WHO ALMOST FELL INTO THE POND BECAUSE THE BOTTOM OF THEIR BOAT HAD ROTTED OUT.

SHE BELIEVES THIS HAPPENED BECAUSE THE POND WATER WAS SO TOXIC IT DISSOLVED THE BOAT'S METAL.

Jenny Ketrow

And at one point I guess something reacted with the chemicals and one of the boats started to have rot to it. One of the safety procedures was, like, check the bottom of the boat, make sure it's sound, make sure it's safe before we put it in. And then my father put it in, and then the new guy was just about to jump in. But the boat kind of sank and deteriorated. And my father grabbed the new guy and just threw him back onto the platform. I'm pretty sure that was my father's last day on that detail because I think he told his supervisor, like, "Look, you know, I have a family. I'm not doing this. Like, this is not, no."

Jordan Gass-Poore' -- Host

HER HOPE IS THAT THESE PONDS WILL BE CLEANED UP SOON.

Jenny Ketrow

Just turn it back into nature. And maybe that'll help with some of the flooding that's coming through because that area it still floods. Pretty much anytime we have a nor'easter hurricane, remnants of tropical storms, it floods. So let nature have it back.

Jordan Gass-Poore' Host

ALL OF THIS LAND... KNOWN AS THE HILL PROPERTY... WAS REMOVED FROM THE SUPERFUND LIST IN 1998.

THE REMAINING 435 ACRES OF THE SITE WERE BOUGHT BY PFIZER IN 2009.

THAT COMPANY'S NOW RESPONSIBLE FOR CLEANING IT UP.

Mark Schmidt -- EPA Remedial Project Manager

You know, we learned a lot through Irene. Ida, we learned even more, so there's still quite a bit of resiliency work that's going to go into the next phase of work.

Jordan Gass-Poore' -- Host

SECURING THE AMERICAN CYANAMID SITE MEANS A FEWS THINGS.

AFTER HURRICANE IDA DEVASTATED THE NORTHEAST IN 2021...

SOME FACILITIES WERE RELOCATED TO AREAS NOT WITHIN A FLOODPLAIN... OTHER PARTS WERE MOVED TO HIGHER GROUND... AND AN ON-SITE WEATHER STATION WAS PUT ON THE PROPERTY.

THE TOXIC ACID TAR IN IMPOUNDMENTS 1 AND 2 HAVE BEEN REMOVED AND ARE BEING TREATED OFFSITE BECAUSE THEY'RE AT RISK OF BEING FLOODED.

CLEANUP AT AMERICAN CYANAMID HAS DRAGGED ON FOR DECADES.

SINCE BEING DESIGNATED A SUPERFUND SITE NEARLY 40 YEARS AGO... ONLY ABOUT 80 ACRES HAVE BEEN CLEANED UP.

IT'S EXPECTED TO TAKE FIVE-TO-TEN MORE YEARS FOR CLEANUP TO BE COMPLETE.

HAZARD IS A SPACE NOT JUST FOR LEARNING ABOUT SUPERFUND SITES... BUT FOR ENGAGING OUR COMMUNITIES IN CONVERSATION AROUND THE CLEANUP OF THESE TOXIC PLACES.

DO YOU HAVE QUESTIONS ABOUT SUPERFUND SITES IN NEW JERSEY? DO YOU LIVE NEAR ONE? IF SO... I WANT TO HEAR FROM YOU. SEND ME A TWEET USING #HAZARDNJ.

OR LEAVE ME A VOICE MEMO AT... HAZARD@MYNJPBS.ORG.

WE MAY PLAY YOUR COMMENTS IN A FUTURE EPISODE.

HAZARD NJ IS AN NJ SPOTLIGHT NEWS PRODUCTION.

Credits

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

Executive Producer – Jamie Kraft

Executive in Charge of Production – Joe Lee

Associate Producer – Michael Sol Warren

Production Assistant – Chris Pandza

Production Manager – Chloe Motisi

Additional research by Betsy Laikin

Sound Designer & Engineer – Mark Bush

Audio Recording Engineer – Frank Brown

Music composed by Nick Pennington

Artwork by Matthew Fleming

Animated trailer created by Everest Strayer

The Hazard Podcast, coming soon!

They’re the most polluted places in the country, and no state has more than New Jersey.

There are 114 toxic Superfund sites scattered across the Garden State, and that number is growing. As cleanup efforts drag on for those sites, in some cases for nearly 40 years, climate change is reshaping the ways in which their pollution may threaten people living nearby.

Hazard NJ is a new podcast that digs through the muck of each contaminated site to give a clearer picture of what the threat is and what it will take to clean it up before it’s too late. Hosted by journalist Jordan Gass-Poore’ and produced by NJ Spotlight News, Hazard NJ is a limited series with the first episode coming on May 18.

Don’t miss a thing: Subscribe to Hazard NJ on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music and more.

This episode is sponsored by:

Peril and Promise is a public media initiative from The WNET Group, reporting on the human stories of climate change and its solutions. You can learn more at pbs.org/perilandpromise. Major funding for Peril and Promise is provided by Dr. P. Roy Vagelos and Diana T. Vagelos with additional funding from The Marc Haas Foundation, Sue and Edgar Wachenheim III, and the Cheryl and Philip Milstein Family.

Read the episode script below or open in a new window: