BY S.P. SULLIVAN | NJ ADVANCE MEDIA

New Jersey has more places under the federal Superfund program, which prioritizes cleanups of dangerous contaminated sites, than any other state.

Many have histories more colorful than an oil slick: A massive chemical fire at a mob-controlled waste storage facility. Agent Orange in the Passaic River. Local wildlife turned green. And the only site ever to be put on the Superfund list twice.

While many of those sites have been cleaned up, they require longterm treatment and monitoring. With the EPA's budget on the chopping block under President Donald Trump's administration, advocates worry things will backslide for the Superfund, which has already been near-broke for decades.

"Just think about it: We've got over a hundred Superfund sites in this state. We've got 21 counties," former Gov. Jim Florio, who wrote the Superfund law when he was in Congress in the early 1980s, said recently. "Nobody lives very far from these sites."

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Map by Erin Petenko | NJ Advance Media

According to federal data, New Jersey has 115 active Superfund sites as well as 35 additional sites that have been removed from the program.

Superfunds are also far from the only hazardous sites in the state. The state Department of Environmental Protection lists more than 10,000 active sites with confirmed contamination.

Here's a look at Superfunds across the state, organized by county (Mercer is the only county without a Superfund site).

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ATLANTIC COUNTY

D’Imperio Property

The 15-acre site, located along the Black Horse Pike in Hamilton Township, is a former illegal dumping ground contaminated with volatile organic compounds. Its status is listed as "under control.

Emmell's Septic Landfill

Located in Galloway Township, the 38-acre site was a dumping ground of septic wastes and sewage sludge between 1967 and 1979. Hazardous materials were found buried in oil drums all over the property. The EPA says there is currently no risk of human exposure after controls were put in place.

FAA Technical Center

Located eight miles north of Atlantic City, this site saw contamination from "FAA and National Guard activities" that tainted soil, sediment and groundwater in the area. The EPA oversaw "short-term" cleanups to contain threats to human health, but long-term cleanup planning is "ongoing."

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Garden State Cleaners

A former dry cleaning facility in Buena Borough contaminated the surrounding soil and groundwater with volatile organic compounds, but the EPA says a major cleanup at the site in the mid-1990s removed the contaminated soil, and a groundwater treatment system for has been in place since 1999.

Price Landfill No. 1

This 26-acre area in Egg Harbor Township was a sand and gravel pit that became a landfill in the late 1960s, and saw more than nine million gallons of chemical waste dumped over more than a decade. The EPA says groundwater treatment and monitoring are "ongoing" but human hazards are "under control."

South Jersey Clothing Company

This site in Buena Borough once housed a clothing company that made military uniforms. The manufacturing process included discharging water that was tainted with trichloroethylene (TCE), a common toxic chemical associated with dry cleaning. A fire in the 1970s may also have released nearly 300 gallons of TCE into the ground.

The EPA says the contaminated soil is cleaned up but groundwater treatment and monitoring are "ongoing."

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(S.P. Sullivan | NJ Advance Media for NJ.com)

BERGEN COUNTY

Garfield Groundwater Contamination

The former E.C. Electroplating company's activity at this Garfield site spilled and leaked cancer-causing chromium into the ground, creating a plume of groundwater contamination at least a half a mile wide. One of New Jersey's orphan sites, the EPA hasn't identified a funding source for a cleanup, and says there's "insufficient data" to measure the risk it poses to the surrounding community.

The city's mayor appeared in front of a U.S. Senate hearing to plead for federal dollars for the site in 2014, but the cleanup still lacks funds.

Curcio Scrap Metal, Inc.

This active scrap metal yard in Saddle Brook saw a spill of oil containing PCBs in the 1980s and a major cleanup project in the 90s. Because of the nature of the work done there, it was also contaminated with heavy metals and volatile organic compounds, according to the EPA. Soil cleanup was completed long ago but groundwater cleanup is ongoing.

Fair Lawn Well Field

This site includes three municipal drinking water wells in the Bergen County borough. Volatile organic compounds were detected in the water in the late 1970s and traced to a nearby industrial park. Monitoring is ongoing, but the EPA says it has "insufficient data" to determine the site's threat to human health.

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(EPA)

Maywood Chemical Co.

The Maywood Chemical Works processed radioactive thorium ore from 1916 to 1955. The work generated chemical and radioactive waste.

The site is being cleaned up by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and the company deemed responsible for the contamination. Cleanup of radioactive soil is "underway" and the rest of the plan is "in development," according to EPA.

Quanta Resources Corporation

This site saw nearly a century of coal tar, paving and roofing material production along what was once an industrial wasteland along the Hudson River. Now surrounded by booming waterfront development, the EPA is overseeing cleanup of PCBs and other contaminants, but says it has "insufficient data" to determine the site's threat to human health.

Berry’s Creek Study Area

A small chunk of the Meadowlands in Bergen County is home to three distinct Superfund sites along Berry's Creek, a six-mile tributary of the Hackensack River. The area includes the Scientific Chemical site in Carlstadt, Universal Oil Products site in East Rutherford and the Ventron/Velsicol site, which spans Wood-Ridge and Carlstadt.

All three sites are laden with PCBs and Berry's Creek is considered among the most mercury-laden locations in the country. Only the Scientific Chemical site is listed as “under control.”

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(Michael Mancuso | NJ Advance Media)

BURLINGTON COUNTY

McGuire Air Force Base

This active military facility is also a federal Superfund site. "Past activities at MAFB in support of operational missions created a number of waste sources of potential environmental concern," according to the EPA. "Site investigations and long-term cleanup are ongoing."

Cinnaminson Groundwater Contamination

Covering 400 acres in the Cinnaminson and Delran in Burlington County, this former mining and landfill site is contaminated with arsenic and volatile organic compound. Cleanup is "ongoing," according to the EPA, but the site "does not pose an immediate threat to human health or the environment."

Cosden Chemical Coatings Corp.

This former paint factory in Beverly was in operation from 1945 until 1989 and was contaminated with volatile organic compounds and PCBs. Controls were put in place a decade ago and the site is not believed to pose a threat of human exposure, according to the EPA.

Ellis Property

Originally a dairy farm in Evesham and Medford townships, the site also contained "drum storage and reconditioning operations." The EPA says more than 300 barrels and drums containing unspecified liquids spilled into the ground at the property, leaving behind trichloroethylene and other contaminants. Cleanup began in the early 1980s and controls are currently in place.

Ewan Property

This 43-acre site in Shamong Township was a waste disposal property in the mid-1970s and was laden with a smorgasbord of pollutants including acetone, toluene, xylene, trichloroethylene, semi-volatile compounds and heavy metals such as arsenic, chromium and aluminum.

The site was listed as a Superfund site in the mid-80s due to groundwater contamination threatening nearby drinking water supplies. It is currently listed as "under control."

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(EPA)

Lang Property

This 40-acre site in Pemberton Township was for many years an illegal dumping ground littered with abandoned vehicles, tires and more than 1,200 drums of unidentified chemical waste. After property owners discovered the drums in the 1970s, they dumped their contents into unlined pits around the site, according to the EPA. Long term monitoring is "ongoing."

Kauffman and Minteer, Inc.

Located in Jobstown, this former industrial transportation facility was polluted over two decades by tainted wastewater containing hazardous substances. In 1984, a dike containing a lagoon of wastewater broke, sending the harmful substances into nearby wetlands, including the Wenonah-Mount Laurel aquifer, a source of drinking water for the region.

The EPA put a long-term cleanup plan in place, which is "ongoing." The agency says the site doesn't pose a threat of human exposure.

Landfill and Development Company

A sprawling 200-acre landfill that collected everything from demolition debris and municipal garbage to commercial solid waste, the site also used to treat sewage sludge until the mid-80s.

"Long-term groundwater extraction and monitoring is ongoing," according to the EPA. "Under current conditions at the site, potential or actual human exposures are under control."

Roebling Steel Company

Located along the Delaware River in Florence Township, this sprawling 200-acre campus was the site of steel and wire manufacture and other industrial activities for decades. That legacy of industrial production left behind a litany of pollutants, from contaminated dust and debris to sludge lagoons and an abandoned landfill.

"Following initial actions to protect human health and the environment, EPA is addressing the site's long-term cleanup in stages," according to the EPA. "Under current conditions at the site, groundwater migration is under control."

Woodland Township dumps

Two dumps in Woodland Township located about two miles apart are listed separately on the federal Superfund list. The Route 72 site is an inactive industrial dump containing chemical contaminants, which was found by the EPA to be emitting gamma radiation. The Route 532 site is an inactive chemical waste dump that saw rampant illegal dumping. Controls are in place at both sites and the EPA says they don't pose an immediate threat to human health.

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CAMDEN COUNTY

GEMS Landfill

This town-owned landfill in Gloucester Township operated from 1969 until it was shut down by the state in 1980. It was placed on the National Priorities List in 1983 and a major cleanup was done in 2004, according to the EPA, which says "long-term cleanup operation and maintenance" is "ongoing."

Lightman Drum Company

Located in Berlin, this 15-acre site used to be an industrial waste hauling and drum reclamation business. Drums containing hazardous chemicals were dumped in a pit on the site, contaminating soil and groundwater. The EPA says it oversaw short-term remediation and a long-term cleanup is "ongoing."

Martin Aaron, Inc.

Another drum reclamation site, this parcel is located in a densely populated section of the city of Camden. According to the state Department of Environmental Protection, authorities discovered “hundreds of improperly stored drums of hazardous wastes” in the late 80s. The owner of the property later went bankrupt.

According to the EPA, "actions to remove immediate hazards to human health and the environment have concluded, and activities are now focused on the long-term remediation of the site."

Puchack Well Field

This city-owned site contains six wells where contamination, including chromium and volatile organic compounds, was first detected in the 1970s.

"All of the groundwater wells have been shut down and residents have been connected to a municipal water supply, reducing the public's potential exposure to contamination," the EPA says. "Sampling indicates that currently operating municipal wells are not being affected by the chromium groundwater plume."

Swope Oil & Chemical Company

This small Pennsauken site was once home to a chemical reclamation facility in the 60s and 70s. It processed solvents, oil, paints and other chemical compounds, which tainted the soil and groundwater.

"Site cleanup and monitoring are ongoing," the EPA says. Human exposure is believed to be under control.

King of Prussia

According to the EPA, two companies treated industrial waste and disposed of hazardous liquids at this site in the early 1970s, treating approximately 15 million gallons of wastewater before it was abandoned in 1975. It was fenced off in the late 80s "to protect public health and prevent further illegal dumping of waste on the site" and the EPA oversaw an initial cleanup and long-term plans. "Groundwater treatment is ongoing," the EPA says.

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(EPA)

Sherwin-Williams sites

A chain of sites once connected to the Sherwin-Williams paint company are either active Superfunds or are under consideration. The sites, located in Gibbsboro and Vorhees, include two former dumping grounds and a paint, varnish and lacquer manufacturing facility.

They include the Sherwin-Williams/Hilliards Creek site, the United States Avenue burn site and the proposed Route 561 dump site.

Welsbach & General Gas Mantle

Two former incandescent gas mantle manufacturing facilities in Camden and Gloucester caused "extensive radiological soil contamination" on this sprawling Superfund listing spanning six distinct areas in the two cities. According to the EPA, the production process involved the use of thorium and radium, which give off gamma radiation. The sites are no longer considered an immediate threat to human health, but cleanups are "ongoing."

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CAPE MAY COUNTY

Williams Property

Located in Middle Township, this 5.6-acre tract saw about 150 drums of liquid chemical wastes and sludge dumped there in the late 70s, tainting soil and groundwater with hazardous chemicals. Groundwater treatment and monitoring are ongoing, according to the EPA.

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(Stephanie Maksin | For NJ Advance Media)

CUMBERLAND COUNTY

Kil-Tone Superfund

The former Kil-Tone Company produced arsenic-based pesticides from the late 1910s into the late 1930s, leaving behind elevated concentrations of arsenic and lead. A new entry to the Superfund program, the site was listed in April 2016. The EPA says there is "insufficient data" to assess the threat of human exposure.

Iceland Coin Laundry

The former Iceland Coin Laundry and Dry Cleaning facility in Vineland was in business from the 1950s into the 70s, during which time coin-operated dry cleaning units drained wastewater containing tetrachloroethene into cesspools on the property. The facility wasn't hooked up to a sanitary sewer system until 1986, according to the EPA. The contamination affected nearby drinking water supplies, but is now believed to be "under control."

Vineland Chemical

This area of mixed industrial and residential areas and farmland was once home to the Vineland Chemical Company, which produced arsenical herbicides and fungicides, contaminating the land and groundwater with arsenic.

"After immediate actions to protect human health and the environment, the site's long-term cleanup is ongoing," the EPA says.





Nascolite Corporation

Located in Millville and Vineland, this site was home to a facility that produced plexiglass from the 1950s into the 80s.

"Operators stored waste residues from the distillation of scrap acrylic in buried tanks on site," the EPA says. "Liquid wastes leaked from the underground tanks into the surrounding soils and groundwater." The site is not believed to pose a threat of human exposure.

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Vineland Chemical

This area of mixed industrial and residential areas and farmland was once home to the Vineland Chemical Company, which produced arsenical herbicides and fungicides, contaminating the land and groundwater with arsenic.

"After immediate actions to protect human health and the environment, the site's long-term cleanup is ongoing," the EPA says.





Nascolite Corporation

Located in Millville and Vineland, this site was home to a facility that produced plexiglass from the 1950s into the 80s.

"Operators stored waste residues from the distillation of scrap acrylic in buried tanks on site," the EPA says. "Liquid wastes leaked from the underground tanks into the surrounding soils and groundwater." The site is not believed to pose a threat of human exposure.

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ESSEX COUNTY

Newark Bay Study Area

One of New Jersey's most notorious Superfunds, the Passaic River and Newark Bay watershed has a long industrial legacy and a series of contaminated sites.

The Diamond Alkali Superfund site is a former Newark manufacturing facility where the Vietnam War-era chemical Agent Orange was once produced. The EPA is moving forward with a massive, billion-dollar plan to pull thousands of cubic yards of contaminated muck from the river.

Pierson's Creek site

Pierson's Creek is New Jersey's newest Superfund site after it was listed in 2014.

The creek, contaminated with mercury and other harmful pollutants, sits next to a plant operated by the Troy Chemical Corp. since the 1950s. According to the EPA, the company allegedly dumped untreated wastewater into the creek between 1956 and 1965, leaving the sediment laden with high levels of mercury. The company maintains other industries along the creek contributed to the pollution.

No cleanup plan has been put in place and the agency says there’s “insufficient data” to gauge the threat to human health.

White Chemical Corporation

This Newark facility saw the production of acid chlorides and flame retardant compounds throughout the 1980s. The company was cited by the state DEP for violations and shut down in 1990. The EPA oversaw contaminated soil removal and is "nearing completion" on a groundwater plan.

Riverside Industrial Park

A seven-acre site used for a range of industries including paint manufacturing, a packaging company and a chemical warehouse since the early 20th century, the area was added to the Superfund list in 2013 after an oil spill into the Passaic River revealed the full extent of the contamination.

"Cleanup activities to date include immediate actions to stop the river discharge, secure the source and eliminate the immediate threats," the EPA says. "Additional investigations and planning for the site's long-term cleanup are ongoing."

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U.S. Radium Corp.

The U.S. Radium Corp. operated a now-notorious factory in Orange that poisoned workers by using to the radioactive material to produce glow-in-the-dark watch faces and other products from 1917 to 1926.

The female workers at the plant and similar facilities around the country became known as the "Radium Girls" and their plight led to better employee protection laws. The plant was shut down and demolished, but contaminated materials from the site were used in the construction of hundreds of homes in the area.

The EPA declared a decades-long, $218 million cleanup of the site finished in 2009. The Star-Ledger reported at the time that the site could soon be delisted, but the agency now says groundwater monitoring is "ongoing."

Orange Valley Regional Ground Water Contamination

The Orange Valley Regional Ground Water site, which includes two public-supply wells, provided drinking water to 10,000 people, according to the EPA. It was listed on the NPL in 2012 after testing found groundwater contaminated with common industrial chemicals linked to liver problems and various cancers.

“Site investigations are ongoing,” the agency says. “A treatment system is already in place for the Orange Water Department to remove site-related contaminants and provide the community with safe drinking water.”

Caldwell Trucking Company

Located in Fairfield, this site saw widespread saw residential, commercial and industrial septic pollution. "Immediate actions to protect human health and the environment and soil cleanup have been completed," the EPA says. "Long-term groundwater cleanup is ongoing."

Unimatic Manufacturing Corporation Site

Unimatic operated a metals molding facility at this Fairfield site from 1955 until 2001, discharging wastewater through leaky pipes that allowed PCBs to seep into the ground. The facility was so contaminated that state and federal health officials convinced another company that had been operating on the to move its employees elsewhere in 2013.

In 2016, the EPA announced plans to demolish a building and remove contaminated soil from the site. Currently, its human exposure risk is unknown.

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(Star-Ledger file photo)

GLOUCESTER COUNTY

Lipari Landfill

The Lipari Landfill was once ranked the most toxic dump in America — so polluted that federal officials gathered at the Pitman site in 1983 to announce the new federal program that came to be known as Superfund.

According to the EPA, from the 1950s into the 70s, the landfill accepted three million gallons of liquid wastes and 12,000 cubic yards of solid wastes, including paints, thinners, solvents and other industrial byproducts. Those pollutants seeped into surrounding marshland and bodies of water, prompting officials to close nearby Alcyon Lake.

Decades later, the contamination is contained, but the cleanup is ongoing.

Hercules, Inc. (Gibbstown Plant)

Once the site of a hydroperoxide/dicumyl peroxide manufacturing facility that operated until 2010, waste materials from the plant were disposed in unlined pits, tainting the soil and groundwater with heavy metals and volatile organic compounds.

Contamination around the plant's solid waste disposal area has been remediated, the EPA says, but a remedial investigation and feasibility study for the rest of the site is still "underway"

Matlack, Inc.

Listed in 2013, this site includes a former truck, trailer and tanker-washing facility where contaminants and cleaning solutions were stored in an unlined lagoon, tainting soil and groundwater with volatile organic compounds and PCBs. “Site investigations and planning for the site’s cleanup are ongoing,” the EPA says.

Matteo & Sons Inc.

This site consists of an active scrap metal recycling facility, junkyard and inactive landfill in West Deptford, where soil and groundwater contamination led to its addition to the Superfund list in 2006.

In 2016, the EPA announced it was expanding the footprint of the site after buried battery casings and contaminated soil were discovered in residential areas around the original site, raising serious lead contamination concerns.

"Site investigations and planning for the site’s cleanup are ongoing," the agency says.

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(Matt Gray | For NJ.com)

Shieldalloy Metallurgical Corp.

This Newfield location was once home to a specialty plant where chromium alloy and other materials were produced. Wastewater disposal led to groundwater contamination and the soil was contaminated with heavy metals, according to the EPA. "After initial actions to protect human health and the environment, site investigations and cleanup are ongoing," the EPA says, but the agency has "insufficient data" to assess the threat to human health.

Bridgeport Rental & Oil Services, Inc

This 30-acre property in Logan Township was home to a waste oil storage and recovery facility from 1960 into the early 80s. It included a "tank farm" and waste lagoon believed to have held 2.5 million gallons of oil tainted with PCBs, 80,000 cubic yards of sludge and 70 million gallons of contaminated wastewater, according to the EPA, which says the long-term cleanup is "ongoing."

Chemical Leaman Tank Lines

Consisting of an industrial tanker terminal and 40-plus acres of wetlands, this site was once a facility used to wash tanker trucks. Until the mid-70s, wastewater from the facility was stored in lagoons and ultimately released into nearby swamps and waterways, polluting the area with carbon tetrachloride and volatile organic compounds. The contamination is believed to be "under control," according to the EPA.

Franklin Burn site

This Franklin Township site is actually made up of seven separate subsites where the EPA says copper wire was burned to remove insulation so the copper could be sold for scrap, leaving behind contaminated ash and debris piles.

“Following response actions to protect human health and the environment, EPA determined that residual contamination levels do not pose an unacceptable risk,” the EPA says. “Further cleanup is not required.”

Helen Kramer Landfill

This landfill shut down in 1981, but not before operations there contaminated groundwater with harmful chemicals. Following cleanup, long-term operation and maintenance activities for the site's remedy are ongoing," the EPA says.

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(Lauren Casselberry/The Jersey Journal)

HUDSON COUNTY

PJP Landfill

The PJP Landfill was on fire for decades. Literally. In 1985, the Jersey Journal reported local and state authorities were trying in vain to tamp down the smoldering fires that had burned through the abandoned dump for years.

The site has since been capped and in 2012, Jersey City officials moved to have the area pulled from the Superfund list so they could build a park atop once was the smoldering dump. That still hasn't happened.

Diamond Head Oil Refinery

This Kearny site was once a waste oil reprocessing facility that discharged its own waste product into the Meadowlands during its operations from the late 1940s into the late 70s, creating what the EPA called an "oil lake."

The agency says it’s in the “remedial investigation/feasibility study” phase of cleanup.

Standard Chlorine Chemical Company and the Hackensack River

This 42-acre site sitting between the Belleville Turnpike and Hackensack River in Kearny saw production of a host of household and industrial products, including moth balls, drain cleaners and lead acid batteries, according to the EPA.

The toxic runoff found its way into the Hackensack River, where fish consumption warnings advise against eating any fish or shellfish. The river itself is also under consideration for Superfund status.

Syncon Resins

This South Kearny facility made products used in pigments, paints and varnishes, and wastewater tinged with toxic xylene and toluene caused "extensive contamination of the groundwater, soil, buildings, vessels and tanks," according to EPA.

“The site’s groundwater treatment system is currently operating,” the agency says. “Current human exposures at the site are under control.”

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(Stephen Flood | Express-Times)

HUNTERDON COUNTY

Curtis Specialty Papers

A former paper mill along the Delaware River in the Borough of Milford and Alexandria Township, the facility reported several spills on the property and received citations for unpermitted discharges and other infractions before it was shut down in 2003. A former landfill used by the mill was also a Superfund site, but was delisted in 2015.

The Curtis site includes fenced-off dilapidated buildings and other structures where, in 2016, a woman fell to her death from a catwalk while exploring the property with friends.

DeRewal Chemical Company

This site was used by the DeRewal Chemical Company to store chemicals in the early 1970s. A series of spills, including a tanker of chromium solution, contaminated soil and groundwater. The cleanup is listed as "ongoing."





Myers Property

This site includes land owned by Arkema Inc. as well as two acres owned by the state of New Jersey, according to the EPA. It was once home to a pesticide production facility. The EPA is overseeing treatment and monitoring of groundwater.

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EPA

MIDDLESEX COUNTY

Raritan Bay Slag

The Laurence Harbor seawall was built up using lead slag in the late 1960s and 70s, contaminating the beach of the Raritan Bay in Old Bridge and Sayreville, according to the EPA. The agency approved a $79 million cleanup plan in 2013, but the company deemed responsible for the contamination argued the state should kick in for the cleanup because state regulators had approved the seawall construction.



New Jersey's Supreme Court ruled in favor of the state in March.





Atlantic Resources Corporation and Horseshoe Road

These two separate but related sites were among those named by federal officials during a 2014 hearing in Washington on the dire state of the Superfund program.

An EPA official told Sen. Cory Booker and other lawmakers the agency had spent $46.5 million cleaning up the sites, located near each other in Sayreville, and the agency would need another $34 million to finish the job.

Chemsol, Inc.

Located in Piscataway, this former solvent recovery and waste reprocessing facility saw “numerous accidents, fires and explosions” in the 1950s and 60s, polluting the surrounding air, soil and groundwater.

"Following several short-term cleanups to protect human health and the environment, the site's long-term cleanup is ongoing," the EPA says.

Cornell Dubilier Electronics, Inc.

Cornell Dubilier Electronics, Inc. produced electronic components at this 26-acre South Plainfield site from 1936 to 1962, according to the EPA. On-site disposal activities led to “widespread contamination” of PCBs, metals and volatile organic compounds that continues to this day.

The EPA lists its human exposure risk as "not under control."

CPS/Madison Industries

Comprised of two manufacturing facilities across 35 acres in Middlesex, this site saw decades of industrial activity in which the EPA says operators “improperly handled and disposed of hazardous substances, including discharges into the public sewer system, resulting in soil and groundwater contamination.”

But the agency says there is still "insufficient data" to assess the risk posed by the site.

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(Star-Ledger file photo)

Chemical Insecticide Corporation

Another of New Jersey’s most notorious Superfund sites, this small Edison site saw the production of bug and weed killers in the 1950s into the 70s.

Located in a residential neighborhood, it became a posterchild for orphan Superfunds when the Edison Wetlands Association, an environmental advocacy group, raised the alarm about the "green rabbits" located at the site. Robert Spiegel, the group's director, even testified before the U.S. Senate about finding the animals, who "had developed an abnormal greenish yellow undercoat" from prolonged exposure to a pesticide dumped around the site.

Former Gov. Christie Whitman, during her tenure as head of the EPA, held a press conference at the site (pictured above) to reaffirm the agency's commitment to a cleanup. Members of the environmental group staged a protest nearby.

After decades of stalled cleanups, the site was converted into a dog park, which opened last year. It remains listed as a Superfund, according to the EPA, although its exposure status is listed as "under control."





Evor-Phillips Leasing Company

This site was operated by a series of waste treatment and disposal businesses, which included incinerators that burned film and printed circuit boards and containment vessels for acid waste. Those contaminants found their way into the groundwater, forcing nearby residents to stop using private wells, according to the EPA.

Fried Industries, Inc.

The company produced floor finishing products, detergents and other products for a quarter century at this Milltown location, contaminating nearby wetlands. The EPA says it is now "under control."

Global Landfill

This former solid waste landfill was littered with buried drums “containing paint, paint thinner and various solvents,” according to the EPA.

"Groundwater underneath the site has been contaminated by pollutants leaching from the landfill," the EPA says of the site. "Under current conditions at the site, potential or actual human exposures are under control. The site's long-term cleanup is ongoing."

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(Star-Ledger file photo)

Kin-Buc Landfill

Located across 220 sprawling acres in Edison, this site was once a state-approved landfill for industrial and municipal wastes, which began operating in the 1940s. One of the earliest entries onto the National Priorities List, the EPA claims that "all remedial actions at the site have been completed, and operations and maintenance is ongoing."

Jones Industrial Services Landfill (JIS)

Once an active landfull in South Brunswick from the 1950s into the 80s, this site was capped in the mid-80s. But groundwater in the area was left contaminated with metals, pesticides and volatile organic compounds, according to the EPA. A long-term remedy was completed in 2009.

“Ongoing activities include long-term operation and maintenance of the site’s groundwater treatment system, monitored natural attenuation and implementation of institutional controls,” the agency says.

Middlesex Sampling Plant

Opened in the 1940s, this site was part of the U.S.'s early nuclear energy infrastructure and was used to store and test nuclear materials including uranium, thorium, and beryllium.

It came under the control of the federal Department of Energy in 1980 and has seen a series of cleanups since then. Its status is listed as "under control."

Woodbrook Road Dump

Sitting near the Dismal Swamp, a protected wetland, the Woodbrook Road Dump collected household wastes until it was shut down by the state in the 1950s. In 1999, “partially buried, leaking capacitors” were found on the property and an EPA investigation later found the soil in the area was tainted with PCBs.

The EPA announced a $24 million cleanup plan in 2013. That plan is listed as being in the "remedial design phase."

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(EPA)

MONMOUTH COUNTY

Imperial Oil

From 1969 into the 2000s, the Imperial Oil Company ran an oil blending facility at this Marlboro Township site, leaving soil and groundwater tainted with hazardous chemicals. In 2012, EPA officials announced they had spent $50 million 25 years to remove 4,600 gallons of oil and 180,000 cubic yards of tainted soil. The site is now listed as being "under control" but monitoring is ongoing.

Bog Creek Farm

This former Howell farm included a dumping ground for organic solvents and paint products that made their way into a pond, bog and trench on the property.

"To date, cleanup has included the removal of disposal pit wastes and disposal and incineration of contaminated soils and sediment," the EPA says. "Groundwater treatment is ongoing."

Burnt Fly Bog

Once among the 10 worst Superfunds in the state, Burnt Fly Bog consists of a huge 1,700 acres at the edge of the pine barrens. Recycled waste oil operations and the presence of a former landfill tainted soil, sediment and surface water on the property. In 1986, a state environmental official told The New York Times they'd encountered "every conceivable pitfall" while trying to clean up the site.

After getting the direct human exposure risk "under control," the EPA says a contractor is "reviewing historical documents and preparing a work plan" for a final phase to remove PCBs and other harmful pollutants. "The entire process should run for about two years," the agency said in 2016.

Lone Pine Landfill

Another of New Jersey’s most notorious sites, this 45-acre former landfill once contained “at least 17,000 drums and several million gallons of bulk liquid chemical wastes” of unknown origin, according to the EPA.

Three men, including two officials from a waste treatment firm, received prison sentences for a scheme to illegally dump on the property in 1983. That same year, a story in the New York Times declared the site "a peril to aquifers." But in 1994, the EPA held a press conference at the site to unveil the new water treatment facility built to clean groundwater that had been tainted by harmful chemicals. However, to this day the EPA continues "operation and maintenance activities" at the site.

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(S.P. Sullivan | NJ Advance Media)

Naval Weapons Station Earle

The U.S. Navy has stored and maintained munitions at this facility since the 1940s, and the federal government has identified 27 "areas of concern" around the site, according to the EPA.

Unrelated to the EPA's activity, the environmental group NY/NJ Baykeeper maintains an experimental oyster bed on the base, where they are studying the ability of the shellfish to clean up contaminated waterways.

Waldick Aerospace Devices

This two-acre site was once home to a manufacturing and plating facility for the aerospace industry. In the early 1980s, state investigators found wastewater and used machine oil was being discharged directly onto the ground, tainting the soil and groundwater with heavy metals, acids and volatile organic compounds.

The Wall Herald Corp. agreed in 2010 to pay $20 million for the cleanup. The EPA has its long-term remedy in place but monitoring at the site is "ongoing."

Monitor Devices

From 1977 to 1981, Monitor Devices/Intercircuits Inc. built circuit boards at this cite, generating wastewater laden with copper, lead, solvents and acids. The wastewater was dumped around the property and other containers of waste were improperly stored, contaminating the groundwater in the area, according to the EPA.

White Swan Cleaners/Sun Cleaners

To dry cleaning businesses operated over three decades at this Wall Township site where inspectors found wastewater and used machine oil was being discharged directly onto the ground in 1982, according to the EPA.

An EPA official called the presence of volatile organic compounds linked to liver damage and cancer an "astonishing toxic legacy" that would cost nearly $20 million to fix. The human exposure status is listed as "under control" but the agency has had to install air ventilation systems at 35 buildings within the contamination plume and its longterm cleanup is "ongoing."

Zschiegner Refining Company

This site is a former metals refining facility where activities contaminated soil, sediments and groundwater as well as a building on the property.

"Cleanup of the site was completed in 2008, and post-construction groundwater and wetland restoration monitoring is ongoing," the EPA says.

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(Robert Sciarrino | NJ Advance Media)

MORRIS COUNTY

Combe Fill South Landfill

The Combe Fill South Landfill was a municipal landfill in Chester and Washington townships that operated from the 1940s into the 80s.

"Procedures at the landfill during its operation violated many of the New Jersey solid waste administrative codes, leading to groundwater contamination with volatile organic compounds," the EPA says.

A federal judge approved a $100 million settlement with hundreds of companies, towns and other entities deemed responsible for the contamination in 2009. New Jersey Hills reported in 2015 that a carcinogenic chemical had been detected in a household well near the site.

Dover Municipal Well #4

This town well was shut down in the 1980s after chlorinated volatile organic compounds were detected in the water. The source was traced to a dry cleaner, which was later demolished. The EPA says the site doesn't pose a threat as long as the well isn't used as a source of drinking water.

Dayco Corp./L.E. Carpenter Company

A former vinyl wall covering manufacturing facility that operated in Wharton and dumped wastes into unlined lagoons, this site is contaminated with volatile organic compounds, some of which have found their way to the nearby Rockaway River. The EPA says the initial cleanup is done but "long-term cleanup activities are ongoing."

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(Robert Sciarrino | NJ Advance Media)

Picatinny Arsenal

This active U.S. Army weapons research and development facility has a history of explosives manufacturing going back to the mid-1800s.

"As part of the site's cleanup, contaminated soils have been removed or capped, groundwater remedies are in place, and land use controls have been put in place, limiting the potential for exposure to hazardous wastes," the EPA says of the site. "Cleanup activities and monitoring are ongoing."

Radiation Technology

Located in Rockaway, this site saw a number of uses since the 1970s, including the rocket testing and development and radiation sterilization. The EPA claims the company "improperly stored and disposed of waste drums containing solvents and other organic chemicals on site," tainting soil and groundwater.

In 2013, the agency removed 75 drums and containers of hazardous waste from the site and the following year demolished dozens of buildings on the property, which is located near the arsenal.

Rockaway well sites

The sister communities of Rockaway Township and Rockaway Borough each contain a separate Superfund site involving municipal wells. Both sites are roughly two square miles, with contamination tied to industrial activity in the town. The EPA lists both sites as being "under control."

Rolling Knolls Landfill

For three decades, this site was used as an unlined landfill, tainting soil, groundwater and surface water with metals, PCBs, pesticides and other pollutants. According to news reports, there were unsuccessful efforts to convert the site into a solar farm in 2009 and 2010.

Site investigations are "ongoing," according to the EPA, and the threat posed by the site is unknown.

Sharkey Landfill

Located in the townships of Parsippany-Troy Hills and East Hanover, this 90-acre landfill accepted municipal wastes as well as commercial, industrial and hazardous waste materials, contaminating soil and groundwater with hazardous chemicals, according to the EPA.

“After site investigations, the site’s long-term remedy was put in place,” the agency says. “Operation and maintenance activities at the site are ongoing.”

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OCEAN COUNTY

Ciba-Geigy and Reich Farm

These two Superfund sites in Toms River were the subject of the Pulitzer Prize-winning book "Toms River: A Story of Science and Salvation" by journalist Dan Fagin.

The former paint and pigment factory and the small farm that became an industrial dumping ground attracted public scrutiny amid a spike in childhood cancers in Toms River that residents tried for years to connect to contamination of the town’s drinking water.

Treatment systems at the Ciba-Geigy site now process 1.2 million gallons of groundwater a day, according to the EPA. Last year, Dow Chemical asked the EPA if it could cease testing at the Reich Farm site, but the agency declined, according to the Asbury Park Press.

Goose Farm

Located in Plumsted Township, this site was owned by a manufacturer of rocket fuel propellant and other industrial products that were dumped into a put dug into the sand, according to the EPA.

“Soil cleanup has been completed. Long-term groundwater treatment is ongoing,” the agency says. “Under current conditions at the site, potential or actual human exposures are under control.”

Naval Air Engineering Center

An active Navy site in Lakehurst, the federal government has identified 44 potentially contaminated areas on the property.

"The areas included landfills, open pits, unlined lagoons and drainage ditches. Construction of the site's long-term remedies has been completed," the EPA says. "Groundwater treatment and monitoring are ongoing."

Brick Township Landfill

For 30 years, this landfill took in sewage, septic tank waste, solids and bulk liquids. In the 1970s, chemical wastes were also dumped on the site. By 2013, the site had been cleared and an impermeable cap was placed over the landfill, according to the EPA. The following year, the town installed solar panels on the site, and the agency continues to monitor groundwater.

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Naval Air Engineering Center

An active Navy site in Lakehurst, the federal government has identified 44 potentially contaminated areas on the property.

"The areas included landfills, open pits, unlined lagoons and drainage ditches. Construction of the site's long-term remedies has been completed," the EPA says. "Groundwater treatment and monitoring are ongoing."

Brick Township Landfill

For 30 years, this landfill took in sewage, septic tank waste, solids and bulk liquids. In the 1970s, chemical wastes were also dumped on the site. By 2013, the site had been cleared and an impermeable cap was placed over the landfill, according to the EPA. The following year, the town installed solar panels on the site, and the agency continues to monitor groundwater.

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(Myles Ma | NJ Advance Media)

PASSAIC COUNTY

Ringwood mines

This site in Ringwood is the only ever to be deleted from the National Priorities List only to be relisted. The Ford Motor Company dumped toxic paint sludge and other wastes from its Mahwah factory into abandoned mines in the Ramapo Mountains, endangering nearby communities, including members of the Ramapough Lenape Indian Tribe.

After an investigation from The Record newspaper in 2005, the EPA re-listed the site, but Ford and the borough, both responsible parties in the cleanup, have resisted efforts to remove all of the contamination from the mines and a connected landfill site, preferring to cap it in place. The EPA says the threat to human health posed by the site is still "not under control."

The controversy was also subject of the 2010 HBO documentary "Mann vs. Ford."

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SALEM COUNTY

NL Industries

This site was home to a lead smelting facility and was later used to recycle lead from spent car batteries. An on-site landfill was tainted with lead slag and other harmful contaminants.

"Access restrictions and cleanup activities to date have significantly reduced the threat of exposure to hazardous materials at the site," the EPA says of the site. "Design of the site's groundwater remedy is ongoing."

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(EPA)

SOMERSET COUNTY

Higgins Farm

This site includes two holding tanks filled with contaminated water and a barn contained with excavated drums of tainted soil on a cattle farm in Franklin Township.

"Following immediate actions to protect human health and the environment, EPA put the site's long-term remedy in place," the agency says. "Residences are now connected to the public water supply."

Higgins Waste Disposal

According to the EPA, a waste disposal company operated an unpermitted landfill, a waste transfer station and a compactor on this 38-acre property in Franklin Township from the 1950s into the 80s.

Around that time, area residents raised concerns to local and state officials over “medicinal tasting tap water” and testing turned up “various volatile organic compounds” in private wells.

Brook Industrial Park

A small parcel of warehouses and industrial facility along the banks of the Raritan River, the EPA says this site was polluted by "various tenants" who had been cited "for poor housekeeping and waste disposal practices" that tainted soil and groundwater. The agency said the contamination threatened the Raritan and nearby public wells, which provide water to nearly 300,000 people. The agency maintains that the site is now "under control," however.

Rocky Hill Municipal Well and Montgomery Township Housing Development

These two separate Superfund sites involve drinking water wells that were shut down in the late 1970s. According to the EPA, volatile organic compounds including trichloroethylene were detected in two wells at the Rocky Hill site in 1978. Concerned contaminated groundwater may have spread, state officials tested wells at a housing development in Montgomery and found similar contamination.

The EPA says longterm groundwater treatment and monitoring programs are ongoing at both sites.

American Cyanamid

Nearly a century of chemical and pharmaceutical manufacturing operations tainted soil and groundwater with volatile organic compounds and metals, leading to this Bridgewater site becoming one of the first Superfunds when the program launched.

Decades later, the EPA reached an agreement with a Pfizer subsidiary in 2015 for a $194 million cleanup. The agency says there is "insufficient data" to gauge the current human health risk.

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(EPA)

SUSSEX COUNTY

A.O. Polymer Corporation

A manufacturing facility operated on this site from the early 1960s into the 90s, producing resins, plastics, paper coatings and other products. "Poor waste handling practices led to the contamination of soil and groundwater at the site with volatile organic compounds," the EPA says.

After an initial cleanup, controls were put in place, but the contaminated groundwater posed a threat to the Allentown aquifer, a source of drinking water for 5,000 people, according to the agency, forcing local residents and businesses onto the public water supply.

Metaltec/Aerosystems

This site saw the production of products including ballpoint pen parts, paint spraying equipment and lipstick cases, the byproducts of which seeped into soil and groundwater until it closed down in 1980.

"Sources of contamination at the site have been cleaned up," the EPA says. "Long-term groundwater treatment is ongoing."

Mansfield Trail Dump

In 2005, state and county health officials sampled drinking water wells in Byram Township and detected an industrial solvent, prompting them to install water filtration and treatment devices and systems to intercept chemical vapors seeping into the basements of several homes.

They later traced the source to a wooded section near the Mansfield bike path, where "sludge of an unknown origin" had been dumped in trenches. The EPA is still studying the problem and has "insufficient data" to gauge the threat to human health, but the agency has warned residents that exposure to the contaminants found at the site "can have serious health impacts, damage the liver, impair the nervous system or increase the risk of cancer."

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UNION COUNTY

Chemical Control Corporation

In April 1980, thousands of drums of chemical waste erupted into a blazing inferno that sent the barrels, containing harmful substances of unknown origin, a hundred feet in the air. The Elizabeth fire produced a plume of toxic smoke sailing over New Jersey and New York.

A Congressional inquiry was opened into the mafia's influence over the Chemical Control facility, which contained as many as 50,000 drums of every imaginable hazardous waste. A group of former operators of the site were later found guilty of fraud and conspiracy charges for misreporting how much waste was stored on the site.

Major cleanups were performed in the 1980s and 90s, and the EPA, which continues to monitor the site, says it is "considering removing the site" from the Superfund list.

LCP Chemicals, Inc.

Once a chemical manufacturing facility that produced chlorine, this Linden site is contaminated with mercury and other contaminants. In 2014, the EPA finalized a $36.5 million plan to clean up the site that would require demolishing contaminated building, treating tainted soil and groundwater and capping the site.

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WARREN COUNTY

Pohatcong Valley Ground Water Contamination

This massive site stretches 10 miles long and approximately 1.5 miles wide along Route 57 from Washington to Greenwich Township, where groundwater was tainted with industrial solvents from a plastic packaging facility, according to the EPA.

In 2015, the agency announced a $92 million settlement with Pechiney Plastic Packaging, Inc. to clean up the site. While the EPA says it doesn't post an immediate threat to human health, that cleanup is still "ongoing."

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(Star-Ledger file photo)

MORE NEW JERSEY SUPERFUND COVERAGE

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