WolfeNotes.com

[Update 5/14/12: Watch Fox News coverage: “NJ community devastated by contaminated water”.

It is shocking that the spokesman for Dupont, one of the largest chemical companies in the world, can’t get his chemical names right “PEC and TEC”  and can’t seem to speak for a State Department of Health study that found elevated rates of certain cancers that are associated with the specific chemicals in the groundwater that Dupont put there! And it is not surprising that Dupont can’t commit to a date for cleanup of the Lake because the US Fish and Wildlife Service found serious flaws in Dupont’s ecological assessment of bio-accumulative mercury in sediments and EPA is unable to approve the Dupont cleanup plan (and that photo at time 4:10-4:12 came from this December 2011 Wolfenotes post! – end update.]

I got a call from my friends Lisa Riggiola and Ed Meakem asking to come up to Pompton Lakes to join residents doing interviews with Fox news. No fan of Fox news and highly skeptical of their angle, still, I wandered back to the scene of the crime yesterday (I’m told Fox will broadcast the story Sunday night at 10 pm on the Geraldo Rivera show. Something tells me that they will give me the “government lied” soundbite). The whole thing brought a song to mind – Paul Simon “Still Crazy  after all these years” (I like the Willie Nelson version – so listen and then read on!)

The Fox crew seemed legitimately concerned and interested in the story. Their reporter interviewed several residents at the Lake, in homes in the vapor plume, and at the Dupont facility. He seemed over-whelmed by the outpouring of numerous disasters and human tragedies that resulted from Dupont corporate greed and abuse and government indifference, incompetence, and timidity.

The Fox reporter asked that I go with him on the Dupont site tour, to help him with questions of the Dupont spokesman. I agreed to do that, but, repeating a pattern, when we arrived for the tour/interview, the Dupont rep. would not let me on the site! When Fox reporter asked why, the Dupont guy said  “we didn’t know Wolfe was coming”.

The Fox crew filmed along Barbara Drive and the (former) soccer field.

This brought back memories – The photo above is what “Dupont Field” looked like on July 9, 2008, when I wrote this in my Star Ledger NJ Voices column:

This soccer field is named Dupont Field. It is completely surrounded by groundwater monitoring wells and a “pump and treat” system. I was told that the highly polluted groundwater is pumped out of the ground, treated, and then recharged back into the ground ON the soccer field. So kids play on a hazardous wast treatment unit! Only in NJ! 

Kids unknowingly played on that “field” for years while Dupont, DEP and EPA looked the other way. But my criticism and disclosure forced Dupont to close the field, which now shamefully looks like this (below).  The only grass that was mowed was the narrow path to the groundwater monitoring wells – another insult to the residents of Pompton Lakes:

But an abandoned soccer field is the least of the problems Dupont created at Pompton Lakes. How would you like this view from the front porch of your home:

But while the view is bad, the toxic gases seeping into the homes is far worse for people who live in the 450 homes above “the plume”.  Take a look at the stack running up the side of the building. That’s a “vapor mitigation system”.

Residents were poisoned in their homes by Dupont pollution – something known as “vapor intrusion”. Dupont, DEP, and EPA knew about the vapor problem for over a decade but didn’t inform homeowners, who unknowingly were needlessly exposed to cancer causing chemical gases (hit this link for a chronology of who knew what when).

Outrageously, the residents were not told about the vapor intrusion problem until  after residents executed a legal settlement with Dupont that waived their ability to sue Dupont [read US District Court decision]. In the summer of 2008, just after the ink was dry on that litigation settlement agreement , DEP and EPA suddenly claimed to have discovered the vapor problem.

But, this is not the first time that DEP withheld scientific information from the public to shield Dupont – the same  thing happened during litigation on PFOA contamination of groundwater from Dupont’s Chambersworks facility in South Jersey. DEP did not release site remediation information until a lawsuit there was settled.

EPA also issued false certifications to Congress that groundwater and human health exposure at the site were “under control”.

These kinds of potential frauds and conspiracies warrant investigation.

After the Fox interview (and lunch with Lisa and Helen), I took a hike on the historic Cannonball Trail, which runs along the edge of the Dupont property. I couldn’t resist taking advantage of an opening in the fence to ramble the Dupont site.

I could not find the two “open burning areas”, where as late as the 1990’s, a DEP issued and EPA rubber stamped RCRA permit allowed Dupont to openly burn huge amounts of hazardous waste, with no air emission controls. This hazardous waste contained high concentrations of mercury, which volatilized when the waste was combusted. The resulting air emissions deposited locally, and poisoned soil, water, and fish and wildlife of the entire region with bio-accumulative mercury.  I could find no estimates of the total waste or mercury loading from these outrageous DEP approved “open burning” practices.

But I did manage to find the infamous “shooting pond”, technically known as a RCRA regulated hazardous waste surface impoundment.

For decades, Dupont detonated countless explosives in the pond, according to Dupont, more than 2.5 million per year. This contributed to severe toxic contamination with high levels of lead, mercury, selenium and a host of organic chemicals in surrounding impacted groundwater, soils, and surface water (the pond drains to a stream).

While this is ancient history, the tiny toxic shooting pond is actually a perfect microcosm of the Dupont disaster.

So let me give you just two examples of egregious falsehoods represented by Dupont – and regulatory failures by DEP  and EPA.

Way back in 1987, DEP proposed to terminate a NJPDES groundwater pollution permit for the shooting pond. This finally would have stopped this outrageously polluting practice. But Dupont strenuously opposed that DEP action. Of course, they invoked the Big Lie about killing Jobs.

According to a July 17, 1987 letter from Mr. Bernard J. Reilly, Dupont’s “Senior Counsel” opposing DEP’s draft permit termination:

Impact on Employment of a Shutdown of the Shooting Pond

If the DEP does not stay the final denial… the remaining permitted storage space will be consumed by approximately the end of November 1987. With no storage capacity and no alternative for destruction, the plant would be required to stop production and layoff in excess of 250 employees (emphasis mine).

Dupont did not just threaten plant closure. The also lied about the environmental conditions at the shooting pond:

“As NJDEP is aware, the stream flowing through the Shooting Pond area is intermittent. Despite the fact that the stream flow stops during dry weather, we have never observed evidence of migration of water from the pond to the stream” (emphasis mine)

I was there today, and I observed and photographed “evidence of migration of water from the pond to the stream“. The shooting pond was discharging a significant water flow to the stream. The stream did not appear to be intermittent. I understand that we are more than 4 inches below average rainfall for this time of year. Take a look:

Amazingly, DEP caved in to this blackmail and lying and agreed to Dupont’s request to stay the permit denial. The shooting pond continued to operate and pollute for over 2 more years, a deadline imposed by Congress in 1984 legislation known as HSWA.

How many more Dupont lies and threats – and DEP and EPA regulatory collapses – were there over the last 25 years?

Below are some additional photos of interesting stuff at the site. I was particularly bothered by the “hazardous road warning” – a warning Dupont provided to their employees but that residents never got.

The signs instructing employees on what valves to turn also do not inspire confidence – this is how an EXPLOSIVES PLANT was run?

And what the heck are these? Readers who know, please tell us! 

“Dupont Field of Schemes” – Multi- Billion Dollar Corporation Can’t Cut the Grass

 

Martin Admits to Outsourcing Drinking Water Standards 

Says He’s “Parked” the Long Overdue Water Supply Master Plan

Reveals Failure to Upgrade C1 Waters – Signals Pending Rollbacks

Perhaps invoking “The Jersey Comeback” – another slogan – multiple times in his testimony was the last straw.

Or maybe it was the diversion of over $680 million in Clean Energy Funds.

Or using the “Barnegat Bay blitz” volunteer litter cleanup event as cover for the Governor’s vetoes of the Barnegat Bay storm water and Clean Water Act’s TMDL bills – legislation that would have put real teeth and funding in Bay cleanup efforts.

Or the gall of calling renewable energy “critical to the future of NJ” and touting a “strong commitment” to renewable energy, while Governor Christie’s Energy Master Plan:1) reduces NJ’s renewable goals from 30% to 22.5%; 2) imposes a “cost test” and policy to “eliminate subsides” that have undermined the solar marketplace; and 3) promotes cheap natural gas and sweetheart deals for gas pipelines that have destroyed the economics of renewables, while the Christie BPU drags its feet on ORECs, which has slowed offshore wind investments;.

Or the portrayal of the Governor’s voluntary Barnegat Bay plan as a “model” and alternative to enforcing the Clean Water Act.

Or the utter hypocrisy of Martin’s emphasis on the “moral responsibility” to disproportionately and overburdened urban communities, while doing jack shit on cumulative impact standards and environmental justice.

Or the unilateral RGGI exit – or the waiver  rule – or the Highlands fiascoes.

Whatever. Take your pick. But Martin’s bullshit finally did not work.

Because today, DEP Commissioner Bob Martin finally faced some tough legislative oversight questions during the Senate Budget Committee hearing on Governor Christie FY’13 proposed DEP budget.

The Democratic Senator who grew a spine was Linda Greenstein (D-Mercer). Greenstein is a moderate who is Vice-Chair of the Environment Committee and does her homework.

Her specific and critical questions, presented in a friendly demeanor – with pointed followup questions – seemed to bollox Commissioner Martin (listen here). It was a continuous head exploding joy to watch. Here are the highlights:

1. Greenstein started by asking about the impacts of diversion of $30 million in cleanup funds on the brownfields program. She got no response.

2. She the nailed Martin on the impacts on workers, firefighters, and communities of deep cuts to DEP’s pollution prevention and Right to Know programs, noting that DEP had just 2 inspectors for 8,000 facilities!

In response, Martin spun, but under tough followup questions, was forced to admit that he was unfamiliar with the facts (and no one among his 8 member million dollar management team entourage could help him with the facts – it was embarrassing).

3. Criticizing the Governor’s RGGI withdrawal, Greenstein noted that the Governor’s rationale for that withdrawal was that RGGI was not effective in reducing greenhouse gas emissions. So she pressed Martin by asking:

what are we doing as an alternative to more effectively reduce GHG emissions?

Crickets – Martin could not point to anything he was doing on GHG emission reductions.

Greenstein also directly challenged Martin’s slogan that RGGI was “just another tax”.

4. In a very smooth issue transition, Greenstein noted that RGGI revenues funded forest stewardship programs. She asked:

What plans do we have to implement forest stewardship?

Martin:

Nothing specific on that.

Imagine that – the DEP budget zeroes the RGGI money and increases the Forest Resource Management budget by $2.2 million, yet Comisssioner Martin had no clue on what those funds would be used for!

5. Waiver rule. Greenstein immediately cut to the chase:

What gives DEP the idea that there is legislative authority to do this and that it will not implicate equal protection issues?

Martin thanked the Senator for asking the question, because he said that there was a lot of “misinformation out there” – and immediately after saying that Martin released this whopper of a flat out lie:

DEP already has the ability to provide over 100 variances and waivers – those laws were set up by the legislature.

Wow. Who knew that DEP had 100 waivers already!? I’m speechless. I wanna see the list of 100! Demand the list of 100 waivers!

6. Christie withdrawal from EPA Ozone standards lawsuit. Greenstein said:

It makes us look like we’re behind all these other states that joined the lawsuit.

Martin replied that plant-by-plant individual Clean Air Act Section 126 lawsuits are our approach.

7. Greenstein then reminded Martin the the Drinking Water Quality Institute (DWQI) was created by the Legislature to develop recommendations to DEP on  science based drinking water standards.

She noted that the DWQI is a nationally respected body that – historically – was active and met frequently. In 2009 – 2010, Grenstein correctly noted, as we’ve repeatedly written here – that the DWQI recommended numerous revisions to existing standards to reflect current science and to develop new standards for unregulated  pollutants.

She then asked Martin why the Drinking Water Quality Institute had not met in over 18 months and why DEP had not implemented their scientific recommendations to lower scores of drinking water standards to reflect current science.  Greenstein specifically asked about Martin’s views on the DWQI. Here is Martin’s reply:

We’ve since set up a broader group, called the Science Advisory Group (sic). We’ve chosen to put that group in place to deal with issues, including water related issues. 

HELLO!

Martin just admitted what I have written here multiple times – including Martin’s outrageous attacks on DWQI scientists.

Contrary to the statute, Martin has killed the DWQI and outsourced the science and the development of drinking water standards – and all all other environmental standards – to his industry influenced Science Advisory Board.

Martin just admitted a total disregard for and direct violation of State law.

The NJ Safe Drinking Water Act tasked the DWQI with developing drinking water standards, not the SAB.

The SAB was created by DEP Commissioner’s Adminsitrative Order and has NO LEGISLATIVE authorization whatsoever!

What will the legislature do to remedy this egregious violation of law?

8. Greenstein wanted to know the status of the State Water Supply Master Plan.

Greenstein –

During the campaign, the Governor made a number of public statements about the delays in updating the Water Supply Master Plan. What is your thinking – is it going to be implemented? When will we see this plan?

Martin:

When the Governor developed the State Strategic Plan, we parked the WSMP.

Repeat: PARKED.

NJ has a historic structural drought condition and we are again entering a drought. And DEP is again unpreprared to manage it.

As we have warned, the current plan is based on 16 year old data and its update is many years overdue.

And the DEP Commissioner admits that he “parked” the Water Supply Master Plan!

Yikes!

I had to leave the hearing shortly after that.

If that ridiculous admission of negligence and incompetence can pass without any notice, then it’s time for me to go before my head explodes.

(and I didn’t even write about the Category One waters rollback now underway – Martin was pressed by Greenstein and he openly confirmed that he not only failed to increase C1 designations, but that he was in the process of rolling back EXISTING C1 designations!)

So, listen to the tape yourself for the rest of the hearing.

 

EPA will hold a public meeting to discuss progress on the cleanups of the Crown Vantage (Alexandria Township) and Curtis Paper (Milford) Superfund sites, located on the Delaware River.

The meeting will be held on Monday May 14, 2012 at 7 pm at the Milford Fire House.

Hit this link for EPA’s agenda for the meeting.

Lots of work has gone on for years, and the Crown Vantage Landfill Superfund site is in the final phase of design and remedial action. I wrote about some of the issues there in this July 2011 post.  I recommended a permanent cleanup –  additional removal of buried drums – and some natural resource and sampling work. Unfortunately, EPA responded in writing to but basically ignored my recommendations in the final ROD.

The Curtis Specialty  Papers Superfund site is not nearly as far along in the cleanup process.

I rambled around the site and wrote about some problems there back in this  February 1, 2012 post: Does this site look ready for redevelopment?

I’ll review the most recent documents and try to attend the meeting and raise some of those issues.

Probably the most important immediate concern is to remove any contamination and stabilize the erosion of the stream bank (see above photo). Apparently, sediments are contaminated and moving off site into the Delaware River.

Folks are urged to attend!

[Update: 5/15/12 – just came across this right on story from the gothamist – consistent with my experience, it includes some scary videos of NYC cops chanting “move, move, move”: Police and Protesters Clash by Wall Street After Euphoric May Day –   end update]

I went to New York for May Day. I was there to support labor (and OWS  and  OWS ) and  participate in what appears to be the building of bridges by labor to the Occupy Movement. (I’ve  previously urged various other occupations).

But how does a festive and wonderful peaceful protest (above) turn into a near police riot? (below):

I wanted to put a little time and distance between the event and writing about it, both so I could cool down and reflect on some of the coverage of the event.

Well, it’s been a week and I’ve moved on to other work, took a deep breath, and read Chris Hedges’ piece, “The People’s Bishop”, which again ratified my take on things.

So, now I will write about what I saw and felt that day.

I guess some will call this narrowly and negatively focused sour grapes from one of the people that the NYC cops manhandled down in Vietnam Veteran’s Park (a little after 10 pm, which apparently the cops decided was closing time). I got abused by while exercising what I naively believed were constitutionally protected rights.

But I found this snarky observation relevant:

So Obama was running both as the peace candidate and the tough guy who ordered Navy Seals to shoot an old man in bed. And he just happened to position himself that way in a televised speech on the same day that Ray Kelly wanted us to be suspicious of brown people with bombs in their butts. And that just happened to be the day that protest season began with Occupy Wall Street putting untold thousands of people who hate corporate capitalism into the streets.

I know. It’s just a coincidence. Or conspiracy theory. The .01% who rule the United States would never stoop to such stunts to knock Occupy Wall Street off the front page and surround it with mentions of terrorism. It was somebody else who beat up all those protestors in parks around the United States last fall.

Like the author of that piece, I too spent all day in Union Square, later marching with about 25,000 people down Broadway to Wall Street.

Like the author, I too think it was no accident that the media downplayed the May Day protests and again distorted their meaning with respect to labor history and the current pro-labor anti-corporate Occupy Movement, while focusing on and exaggerating isolated incidents of violence (all while ignoring police violence, that I again experienced first hand).

I was at the tail end of the Broadway parade, so shortly after I arrived in the Wall Street district, the cops were moving in to crush any attempts to “occupy” public space of any kind.

I guess the problems start with zealous cops.

I was harassed along the end of the route, by aggressive cops on scooters, who ran into me and hit me several times as I marched in the parade (and refused to yield to them).

I guess it’s not far from being assaulted by scooters in the street to being physically manhandled by cops in the park. Can cops arbitrarily and unilaterally decided when to issue a curfew on peaceful protest? I thought, not in the USA!

Shortly after the police announced closure of the park, they moved in with force.

I was taking photos of their tactics and was soon myself physically removed from the park by 3 different police officers. The first grabbed me by the collar and violently tried to throw me to the ground. A few moments later, another cop, after shoving me several times, was quickly joined by 5 more cops. He physically grabbed me by the arm and dragged me  out of the park and threw me on the sidewalk. Moments later, as I was shooting photos of protesters being dragged into police vans, I was picked up by the belt of my pants and carried away by a short and violent cop (beware of short men with badges on steroids!).

Police were randomly grabbing people out of the crowd, violently throwing them to the ground, and arresting them:

After being roughed up and handcuffed, protesters were taken to several waiting police vans, who had converged on the site, redolent of some banana republic street repression operation:

As the handcuffed protester were dragged into waiting vans by police, they shouted their names out. As the protesters started chanting and repeating their names, the police quickly slammed the van doors shut, to prevent fellow protesters from supporting them and shaming police violence and repression.

When I complained about my own violent mistreatment and the violent abuse of protesters to at least 6 white shirted police supervisors, all of them revealed an ignorant and arrogant hostility to fundamental constitutional rights of speech, association, and peaceful redress of grievances.

They all told me the same story – that I had disobeyed a lawful police order – and that anything a policeman ordered was lawful and that there was no right to disobey a policeman’s order.

Like I said, NYC cops are out of control.

I really find it difficult to accept that police are this violent in crushing non-violent peaceful and lawful protest. It is intolerable to me and should be seen as unacceptable by the American people as a fundamental assault on our values and Constitution, which not only protects, but promotes the right to dissent.

So, an otherwise great day was ruined by violent, disrespectful, and/or arrogant and ignorant police.

Well, on the bright side, at least the “Dodgers” were in town for a Double Header!

“A Death Sentence for Killer Trees” 

This is Tree #163.

The DEP Bull’s Island consultant’s report describes it as an “amazing tree” – a Sycamore “over mature” but in “good health”. Over 145 feet tall. Based on the health of the tree, its risk of falling, and then hitting something to cause damage, the consultant recommended that it NOT be cut.

DEP plans to clearcut it anyway:

• Based on the consultant report and a technical review by DEP forestry experts, we are proceeding with removing all vegetative material in the upper river section of Bull’s Island
• Once the area is cleared, the Department will proceed with replanting the area with appropriate floodplain vegetation that matures at smaller heights and does not pose a public safety risk.
• Field foresters from the northern region have made a preliminary visit to the site to assess the value of the wood and the site conditions. They are actively identifying all merchantable trees in the upper river campsite area and creating an inventory in preparation of the bid.

~~~ memorandum from DEP Assistant Commissioner Natural and Historic Resoruces Amy Cradic to DEP Commissioner Bob Martin: February 8, 2012

I did a field investigation at Bull’s Island this morning with Emile DeVito (PhD) of  NJ Conservation Foundation. We looked at each tree assessed and came up with some serious questions, both about the methodology and findings of that Report and DEP’s plans to clearcut the Island based on that report.

Emile documented numerous rare birds in those trees.

Too disgusted to write right now – but Much More to follow, I can assure you: (I am 5’10” and my waist has blown up to almost 35″ – so that should give you some indication of the girth):