New Jersey: Beautiful Garden State or Toxic Wasteland?
According to the United States Environmental Protection Agency, New Jersey has 114 active Superfund sites, 16 more than California, a much larger state, and the most in the entire country. If you don’t know what a Superfund site is, according to the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection, it is “thousands of uncontrolled or abandoned contaminated sites.” “In response to growing concern over health and environmental risks posed by these contaminated sites, Congress established the Superfund program in 1980 to clean up these sites.”
I think what is most shocking (especially seen in this photo) is how close to home these Superfund sites really are. When we imagine contamination and toxic waste we think of far off places, not our own backyards. People live in this area, they work in this area. Toxic waste is being released not only into our water but into our air on a daily basis. These types of toxic releases can cause diseases like cancer and asthma. “The consequences of the pollution have been dire, damaging sources of drinking water and affecting people’s health. In some cases, the damage was inflicted decades before evidence of the contamination was discovered,” (New Jersey 101.5).
According to Asbury Park Press, the most polluted Superfund sight in New Jersey history is the Lipari Landfill, in Gloucester County. “During 13 years of operation, some 3 million gallons of liquid chemical/industrial wastes and 12,000 cubic yards of solid chemical/industrial wastes were dumped at Lipari,” (Russ Zimmer). This site cleanup has continued for 38 years with more than 300 million dollars spent in the cleanup effort (E&E news). Once the landfill was closed down, what remained was “lead, arsenic and mercury and known or suspected carcinogens like methylene chloride, chloroform, benzene and BCEE, the scientific name of bis(2-chloroethyl) ether,” (E&E news). The results of this toxic waste were increased cases of Leukemia in adults and decreased infant birth weights.
Aside from the nationally recognized Superfund sites “the state of New Jersey has its own list of known contaminated sites identifying more than 14,100 properties that likely includes the landfill, junkyard, corner gas station or former dry cleaners in your town,” (New Jersey 101.5). Not only is the list of Superfund sites growing but it seems as though there is no end in sight.
So the question remains, who is at fault for this? According to Pete Lopez, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Regional Administrator, “It’s New Jersey’s legacy from the Industrial Revolution, when factories located in tightly packed New Jersey and generated toxic waste in a time of few if any environmental regulations,” (New Jersey 101.5). At this point in time, New Jersey is paying for the environmental crimes of its past and if we continue on the same path, the next generations of people will pay for the environmental crimes that we continue to commit today.
