Less Than A Slap On The Wrist And A Gross Insult To The Camden Community
DEP Must Revoke Permits, Pursue Criminal Enforcement, And Shut Down Scrap Metal Recycler For Repeat And Knowing Major Violations
NJ Spotlight did a followup story today for the terrible initial coverage of the Camden scrap metal fire last week. I blasted that coverage, see:
I concluded that note with this recommendation:
Such chronic gross disregard for the community and the environment are more than adequate grounds for major DEP enforcement action, including revocation of permits.
Someone must make DEP Commissioner LaTourette walk the talk on environmental justice.
Today’s Spotlight story was written by a WHYY reporter. It moved in the direction I suggested, but not nearly far enough. The story included some of the DEP history and exposed some major DEP enforcement problems, see:
In 2021, the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection charged EMR a penalty of $9,500 for two fires that occurred in 2020 and 2021 at the company’s Kaighn Avenue facility, where it stores large piles of auto-shredding waste known as “fluff.” The agency later settled the matter with EMR, accepting a lower penalty of $7,600.
The DEP has legal authority to issue enforcement fines of $50,000 per day for willful, knowing, and repeat major violations.
A $7,600 fine is not even a slap on the wrist and a gross insult to the Camden community.
DEP’s lax enforcement contrast with Camden County and OSHA enforcement: (WHYY)
The Camden County Health Department Hazmat division fined EMR close to $90,000.
In 2022, two more fires broke out at EMR facilities in Camden. That year, OSHA proposed a fine of over $1 million for the company’s My Auto Store, claiming the company “willfully failed” to prevent fires.
And once again, the media coverage significantly downplays the health risks of the “recycling” operations and smoke from the fire.
This is done by referring to highly toxic “auto shredder residue” (ASR) processed by EMR scrap recycler as the innocuous material “fluff”. Fluff is what they put in your pillow!
ASR is contaminated with toxic heavy metals and PCB’s. Combustion of PCB’s creates dioxins and furans, some of the most toxic chemicals known. (Washington Department of Ecology):
ASR contains bits of rubber, foam, plastic, and cloth contaminated with lead, cadmium, mercury, chrome, polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) and poly-brominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs) phthalates, and other toxic constituents of concern.
Amazingly, despite providing a link to a DEP document that exposed the sham, the story failed to report on another example of massive loopholes in NJ’s environmental justice law.
In hopes of generating additional followup coverage on the public health risks and DEP regulatory and enforcement issues, I sent the WHYY reporter this note:
Hi Sophia – Just read your story and thought you might want to look further into the DEP regulatory and health issues raised by repeat fires.
1.The “fluff” innocuously referred to in your story is contaminated by toxic chemicals, including PCB’s, lead, etc. Combustion of these chemicals creates significant health risks. Suggest you Google EPA “auto shredder residue” (ASR). See also EPA lax regulation:
2. Your story link to the Kaighn Avenue facility exposes major loopholes in NJ’s “environmental justice” law. Did you read that document? The DEP Commissioner has managed to dupe the public, press, and EJ activists via a toothless “Administrative Order” he issued to obscure that fact. This alone is a huge story.
3. Thanks for reporting the DEP’s totally lame and unacceptable $7,600 enforcement fine.
- DEP has authority to levy $50,000 A DAY enforcement fines for violations.
- DEP has criminal enforcement authority for knowing repeat violations. Has DEP made referral to the AG for criminal enforcement?
- DEP has enforcement authority to revoke permits and shut the facility down under these circumstances (e.g repeat major violations).
That paltry fine plus failure to take real enforcement action is totally unacceptable.
FYI, I spent 14 years at DEP in solid and hazardous waste management regulatory programs, including as a policy advisor to former Commissioner Campbell; 7 years as Policy Director of the NJ Sierra Club Chapter; and 10 years as Director or NJ PEER (Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility:
https://peer.org/
Here was my initial take on this fire – please do a followup along these lines:
- Major Fire At Camden Scrap Metal “Recycling” Facility Again Exposes Lax DEP Oversight
https://bwolfe.substack.com/p/major-fire-at-camden-scrap-metal
Bill Wolfe
PS – I used to be a regular expert source for NJ Spotlight’s environmental coverage. That ended when I began to criticize their coverage.