NEWARK — In one of the largest Superfund cleanups ever proposed, federal officials yesterday called for a bank-to-bank dredging of the Passaic River that would remove more than 4 million cubic yards of toxic sediment from the river bottom — enough to fill up MetLife Stadium twice.

The $1.7 billion cleanup, under study for 25 years, would target the lower eight miles of the highly polluted waterway, from Belleville to Newark, which remains heavily contaminated with high concentrations of dioxin, PCBs and other contaminants left behind by more than a century of industrial activity.

Officials said those responsible for polluting the river would pay the cost of cleanup. But likely court challenges could further delay and complicate the project, they said, with at least 100 companies potentially liable under the federal Superfund law.

Judith Enck, regional administrator of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency who made the cleanup announcement at a riverfront park in Newark, said the Passaic has been plagued by pollution for far too long.

"We’ve studied this for years. The river communities have suffered for long enough," she said.

The EPA said the sediment removal — one of the largest volumes ever to be dredged under the Superfund program — would be accompanied by a capping of the river bottom. The contaminated sediment would be pressed, dried, then shipped out of state for disposal.

The project is similar to the ongoing effort in the Hudson River intended to remove PCBs, or polychlorinated biphenyls, discharged by two now-shuttered General Electric plants over a 30-year period.

New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection Commissioner Bob Martin called the EPA proposal for the Passaic the most "workable and realistic remedy" for a river he said was misused for decades and used as a dumping ground for industrial toxins and pollutants.

"We’d like to start the cleanup process as soon as possible," Martin said. "This river is going to be cleaned up."

The Passaic, stretching 90 miles through 45 municipalities in seven counties, has a long history of abuse, with fish and shellfish in the lower part of the river highly contaminated with mercury and cancer-causing chemicals that can be found deep in the bottom sediment. Catching crabs is prohibited, and those who fish are advised not to eat what they catch.

According to the EPA, much of the dioxin in the river was generated from the Diamond Alkali Co. plant in Newark, which produced Agent Orange and other deadly pesticides during the 1960s, leaving behind a toxic legacy in the sediment.

The empty tract where the plant was located is now entombed in concrete to prevent leaching of contaminants in the river, but the sediment of the riverbed remains full of dioxin, according to environmental studies. The site was added to the federal Superfund list in 1984.

U.S. Sen. Cory Booker

(D-N.J.), the former mayor of Newark who attended yesterday's EPA announcement with Sen. Robert Menendez (D-N.J.) and other members of the state's congressional delegation, just upriver from the Diamond Alkali plant, called it "New Jersey's biggest crime scene."

Federal officials said about 100 other companies are also potentially responsible for generating and releasing pollutants into the Passaic. Rep. Bill Pascrell (D-9th Dist.) raised concerns that legal battles could delay any cleanup "by another 10 years."

The state had been in court for a decade, seeking damages against many of the companies blamed for the river contamination, before reaching a partial settlement with some only last year.

Debbie Mans, the NY/NJ Baykeeper, said those responsible for the pollution are to blame for the continuing delay.

"They have been paying lobbyists and lawyers instead of paying for the cleanup," she said.

But an industry group representing some of the companies affected by the proposed cleanup order labeled the EPA plan "a massive, impractical and disruptive bank-to-bank remedy."

Jonathan Jaffe, a spokesman for the Lower Passaic River Study Area Cooperating Parties Group, which represents 67 companies, said the EPA plan will take decades to implement, potentially disrupting economic growth and limiting recreational activity on the river for a generation. He said, "EPA’s recovery prediction show that the proposed bank-to-bank dredge may not even be protective of human health."

Jaffe said the three companies that inherited Diamond Alkali’s liability — Occidental Chemical Corp., Maxus Energy Corp. and Tierra Solutions Inc. — were largely at fault for the pollution in the river and "have unnecessarily delayed any meaningful action on the river for decades."

A spokesman for the successor companies had no comment.

There has already been some dredging in the river in the past two years. In 2012, the EPA ordered dredging in the Passaic near the Diamond Alkali facility, where 40,000 cubic yards of contaminated sediment were removed. Last year, another 16,000 cubic yards of contaminated sediment from a half-mile stretch of the river in Lyndhurst was also removed after high levels of contamination were detected.

A group of some of the companies affected by the proposed cleanup order, meanwhile, today called the EPA plan “a massive, impractical, and disruptive bank-to-bank remedy.”

Jonathan Jaffe, a spokesman for the Lower Passaic River Study Area Cooperating Parties Group, which represents 67 companies, said the EPA plan will take decades to implement in one of the most congested regions in the country, potentially disrupting economic growth and limiting recreational activity on the river for a generation, and may not even be protective of human health.

He said Tierra Solutions and other successor companies to Diamond Alkali were responsible for what is driving the clean-up of contamination, but “have unnecessarily delayed any meaningful action on the river for decades.”

A spokesman for the Tierra had no immediate comment.

The EPA will hold public meetings on the proposal in May and June in Newark, Kearny and Belleville. The first one will be May 7 at the Portuguese Sports Club in Newark, with locations and dates for the other two still to be determined.

RELATED COVERAGE

• N.J. judge approves $165 million settlements in Passaic River pollution case

• $20M removal of 'highly contaminated mud' from Passaic River underway in Lyndhurst

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