Cleanup plans in place for contaminated Bridgewater site

<p>There are plans now in place to clean up the contaminated Superfund site behind the TD Bank Ballpark in Bridgewater.</p>

News 12 Staff

May 24, 2018, 12:22 AM

Updated 2,176 days ago

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There are plans now in place to clean up the contaminated Superfund site behind the TD Bank Ballpark in Bridgewater.
Environmental activist Ross Stander says that he’s waited 25 years for this day. He says that he pushed lawmakers for years to clean up the American Cyanamid Superfund site after harmful chemicals seeped into the soil.
“The worst of the worst in terms of what we have to deal with,” says Environmental Protection Agency regional administrator Pete Lopez.
Lopez says that this cleanup will be particularly difficult because the chemical mix is highly acidic and corrosive.
“You have different chemicals mixing together,” he says.
Chemicals like benzene have been contaminating the area for nearly 100 years. Officials say that the site’s location near the Raritan River, and the fact that it is on a flood plain, is a cause for concern.
“People can be a little more secure knowing that every time it rains or there's a major hurricane they don't have to worry about things,” says Jim Crane with the Crisis Environmental Group.
The plan calls for the toxins to be removed and destroyed later this year. The project will be paid for by Pfizer, which now owns the property.
The EPA says that the cleanup will take more than three years to complete.


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