Who Has the Power to Make the Decision is the Issue

I just read a Bergen Record story about the ongoing fiasco with the Dupont site and just can’t believe that local officials and the media can misunderstand a fundamental issue so badly and for so long. see: Pompton Lakes residents share concerns over Dupont cleanup plan

The fundamental issue is perfectly illustrated  in the quote by Pompton Lakes Councilman Mike Simone:

“I just don’t want people feeling that because DuPont said something that it is the end of the world. The EPA and DEP (NJ Department of Environmental Protection) are working to try and find the right technology. It’s not easy. Our ground water and the structure of the ground is difficult to work with,” said Simone.

“This is not something that DuPont gets to choose all by themselves and just because a representative of DuPont said there is nothing they can do, does not mean that,” he added.

Let me correct the dear Councilman’s understanding.

I think I’ve written and said this hundreds of times, so I’ll say it again now and I’ll do it in boldface – maybe people will read it.

Dear Councilman Mike: Dupont does “get to choose all by themselves”!

Under the NJ DEP cleanup program and RCRA, Dupont selects the remedial objectives, Dupont develops and lists the cleanup alternatives, and Dupont selects the cleanup alternative.

The cleanup alternative that Dupont selects includes the choice of the cleanup technology.

This decision – made by Dupont – balances their costs of cleanup with risks to public health and the environment.

Which do you think Dupont cares most about? Their cleanup costs, or your health?

Dupont is allowed to do all this WITHOUT ANY community involvement.

For example, years ago, Dupont defined the limited and partial cleanup objective for the Acid Brook Delta.

Dupont decided that the cleanup should be limited to the “near shore” portion of the Lake. That basic decision drove the cleanup plan.

EPA and DEP approved that Dupont decision on the cleanup objective years ago. And they did it with NO PUBLIC INPUT.

That Dupont decision basically defined the scope and cost of the Pompton Lake cleanup plan.

The recent public “after the fact” hearings on the Dupont plan were a sham,  because the basic decisions about the cleanup had already been made and approved.

The same pattern and legal power to select cleanup alternatives and technologies without public input has occurred at the site for 30 years – under the 1988 DEP ACO, the DEP regulations, and the 1992 EPA RCRA permit and program oversight.

Under Superfund, the question of who decides and how they decide is completely different.

Under Superfund, those are EPA decisions, not Dupont’s.

And EPA makes those decisions ONLY after proposing cleanup alternatives for the community to comment on and express their preference for the preferred plan!

After the public hearing EPA – not Dupont – selects the cleanup alternative based on the community’s preferences.

That’s why residents are fighting to make the Dupont site a National Priority under Superfund.

How can people get this fundamental issue so wrong for so long?

[Update: let me make a car and a house analogy, since Ed Meakem just posted a comment with a clip about the local review of the Dupont dredging plan.

How would you feel if you could comment on the color of a car someone else selected for you (but you had to pay for it?)

The Dupont dredge plan is like the color of the car – but is the car a Mercedez or a Kia?

How would you feel if you were told you could select the wallpaper in the dining room, but the design of the house, the number of bedrooms, etc were already made by the architect?(but again, you were picking up the tab).

This is what Dupont has done – and now the public is being told they can decide the traffic routes from the trucks leaving the cleanup site. But that’s all! Not the scope and extent of the cleanup itself.