“The nightmare continues. It’s been an open wound in Toms River for 60 years. And all NJ DEP has done is pour salt into that wound,” said Mayor Maurice “Mo” Hill. Referring to the settlement announced this week by the state Department of Environmental Protection with the BASF chemical company to compensate for damage to natural resources from chemical leaks by the company’s predecessor, Ciby-Geigy, Hill said residents want a better deal.
For decades, people in Toms River have demanded justice over the dumping of 47,000 barrels of industrial waste into an unlined pit that leaching a plume of carcinogens into the groundwater. People have endured pollution, cancer clusters and litigation for years, the mayor said.
Hill spoke Thursday night at a meeting of the grassroots group Save Barnegat Bay, which rejects the DEP’s settlement agreement, complaining that DEP cut a deal without community input. “It’s just another slap in the face to all of you, all of us. I’m just sick and tired of the arrogance and the dismissive attitude from the department that’s supposed to be protecting us,” said Save Barnegat Bay’s board chairman Ed Vienckowski.
The settlement agreed by DEP and BASF — which acquired the site in 2009 — requires the company to pay $500,000 in natural resource damages; preserve 1000 acres in perpetuity; and build and maintain nine public access projects — including a nature center and boardwalk — for 20 years. It is also required to continue to clean up the plume of toxic groundwater that contaminated public wells.
Hill called the deal “woefully inadequate. It obviously is a sweetheart deal for the largest chemical company in the world. And once again, Toms River and the Ocean County residents get the shaft.”
“I can understand their dissatisfaction with elements of this settlement,” DEP Commissioner Shawn LaTourette said. He said they came to this agreement after doing what he called “the calculus of litigation risk.”
Save Barnegat Bay has hired a legal team specializing in natural resource cases. They say the settlement doesn’t compensate for injury to the underground aquifer and other environmental damages. Attorney Albert Tesley said, “They’re trying to convince this community that what they’re doing is a good thing. We’re clearly not buying into that story.”
Save Barnegat Bay says the issue likely is headed for a court battle.
