Raritan Bay Slag Superfund Site May Be Remediated in 2012

There's a chance that Old Bridge will get its Laurence Harbor Waterfront Park back sometime next summer, that is if discussions at the Raritan Bay Slag Community Advisory Group continue to make progress, according to The Suburban. N L Industries made a proposal to begin cleanup work by next April. Maybe the stars are properly aligned and something will actually happen? I hope so. It's been over two years since those nasty signs went up warning of the presence of lead at the park.

Environmental Protection Online published an article on 10 November 2009 to announce that the EPA had added the Raritan Bay Slag site to its Superfund National Priorities List. Below is part of that article:

For Raritan Bay Slag, the contaminant of concern is lead. In September 1972, a local government official advised the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection (NJDEP) that lead-bearing waste material was being disposed of along the Laurence Harbor beachfront on Raritan Bay. NL Industries, Inc. acknowledged that metallic slag waste from blast furnace and blast furnace rubble were disposed of at their property in Old Bridge Township. Old Bridge officials worked with NJDEP to notify the public in writing about health concerns for the lead waste material and restricted access by means of signage and some fencing. However, due to physical constraints, it was not practical to completely fence off contaminated areas.

Analytical results from sampling in 2007 found lead at concentrations as high as 142,000 parts per million at the jetty and seawall. Lead–contaminated slag, associated with the western jetty of the Cheesequake Creek Inlet and the Laurence Harbor Seawall, was observed to be in direct contact with the Raritan Bay. The Raritan Bay is a fishery and a sensitive environment (as identified under the National Estuary Program and a state-designated water body for the maintenance of aquatic life). 

In September 2008, EPA collected surface and subsurface soil, surface water, and sediment samples in the area of the seawall and the jetty. Waste (i.e., slag) samples were also collected from the slag that forms portions of the seawall and jetty. Analytical data from this investigation is pending.