OLD BRIDGE — The Environmental Protection Agency has approved a plan to clean up the lead at the Raritan Bay Slag Superfund site, officials announced today.

The estimated $79 million plan will clean up the enormous amounts of lead found along the southern shoreline of the Raritan Bay in 2007 by the state Department of Environmental Protection, the EPA said.

The plan will remove a public hazard, because lead can cause serious health problems, especially in children, said Judith Enck, the EPA’s regional administrator for New Jersey.

“The cleanup plan announced today is a major step that brings us closer to a restoration that will make it possible for everyone to enjoy the beach safely,” Enck said. “No one should have to worry about being exposed to toxic substances when they visit a public beach.”

Much of the lead contamination found in 2007 was concentrated in the area around Old Bridge Waterfront Park, the EPA said.

The Superfund cleanup will focus on three sectors along the Raritan Bay shore, officials said. The first will be along the Laurence Harbor seawall adjacent to the Old Bridge Waterfront Park. The second is the western jetty in Sayreville – an area extending from the Cheesequake Creek Inlet to Raritan Bay. The third sector is 50 acres of the nearby Margaret’s Creek, the EPA said.

The cleanup plan was proposed last year. But Hurricane Sandy caused further problems by washing the lead contamination around the area, the EPA said. The federal agency has already been cleaning up and sampling along the shoreline since hundreds of tons of potentially-contaminated debris and sand were deposited onto areas of the Old Bridge Waterfront Park. Fencing and warning signs have already been repositioned based on their findings, the EPA added.

Lead, a toxic metal, can be especially dangerous to children because they absorb more of it than adults. Its effects can include I.Q. deficiencies, reading and learning disabilities, and behavioral problems, the EPA said.

Officials have said the lead slag was brought from the former National Lead Industries plant in Sayreville and dumped on what was property owned by a trucking company off Route 35. National Lead Industries has been identified as being potentially liable for the cost of the cleanup, the EPA said.

William Murray, a spokesman for NL Industries, said the EPA's plan is more costly and disruptive than other proposed plans. The company's liability, he said, is offset by the fact that Army Corps of Engineers and local agencies signed off on the plan, he said.

"At worst, an NL Industries facility 'might' have been one of the places where the developer obtained the material it used to construct the seawall," Murray said.

"The $79 million clean up should be paid for by National Lead, the major source of the pollution," said Jeff Tittel, the director of the New Jersey Sierra Club. "The EPA should go after National Lead and require them to pay for the clean up, not taxpayers."

The New York/New Jersey Baykeeper, which was part of the Raritan Bay Slag Community Advisory Group, said today that they support the plan.

“EPA’s recommended plan best protects the health of local residence and the many people who fish, boat and recreate along this stretch of Raritan Bay,” said Greg Remaud, the Baykeeper’s deputy director.

Rep. Frank Pallone (D-6th Dist.) lauded the EPA's quick action after Sandy.

"I commend EPA for their hard work on this site despite the potential for serious setbacks due to damage done by Hurricane Sandy," Pallone said.

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