EPA’s Passaic River Preferred Cleanup Plan Gains Overwhelming Community Support

THE PASSAIC RIVER CLEANUP PUBLIC COMMENT PERIOD CLOSED AUGUST 20, 2014. THANK YOU TO ALL THOSE WHO MADE THEIR VOICE HEARD AND SUPPORTED EPA'S PREFERRED CLEANUP PLAN. 

Friends, Supporters and Allies of the Passaic River!

Half a century has passed since workers were ordered to dump dioxin and other harmful, cancer causing contaminants into the Passaic River in Newark, NJ. This began a long history of polluters avoiding responsibility and accountability for the murder of the river, and their efforts continue to this day.

In an effort to remediate the contaminated river, on April 11th, the Environmental Protection Agency released its Focused Feasibility Study (FFS) cleanup plan for the lower eight miles of the Passaic River.

The EPA’s preferred cleanup method consists of bank to bank dredging of 4.3 million cubic yards of the lower 8.3 miles of the River, with a two foot cap.

With the release of this cleanup plan, it is time we fight off lawyers and lobbyists for the polluters that are hell bent on stopping the full clean-up that OUR communities deserve and demand!

We, the undersigned, are calling on our local and federal elected officials and the Environmental Protection Agency to support the following:

- Support the EPA’s Focused Feasibility Study (FFS) and proposed COMPLETE bank to bank Passaic River cleanup with off-site disposal. This cleanup and disposal method will be beneficial in long term effectiveness, will reduce toxicity, ecological impacts, and risk to human health

- Commit to local hiring and community benefits through projects like the Super Job Training Initiative that puts local residents to work directly on the clean up

-Restore the river after the clean-up is completed.

Use the public comment period to make your voices heard and restore our River!!

Submit comments to [email protected] through August 20, 2014

Click here to sign your name to the petition!