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The revised settlement between Jersey City, the state of New Jersey and PPG Industries regarding the cleanup of hexavalent chromium along Garfield Avenue was finalized this week, and the Jersey City Independent has obtained a copy.

The settlement, which was originally announced in February, underwent a public hearing process, where residents and environmental advocates raised a number of concerns. Jersey City corporation counsel Bill Matsikoudis says that many of the issues that arose during the public comment period are addressed in the revised settlement.

So what’s new in the settlement?

* If PPG fails to comply with the cleanup schedule to be laid out by potential site administrator W. Michael McCabe, it is now subject to stipulated financial penalties, as laid out in the 1990 ACO.

* The schedule that the site administrator comes up with will be judicially enforceable.

* The site administrator will create a telephone hotline that any resident within 200 feet of a PPG site can call if the resident suspects chromium contamination on her property. This will lead to an inspection of the site and possibly testing to determine if chromium is present. If it is, PPG will undertake remedial measures as dictated by the site administrator.

* The site administrator is now also tasked with reviewing all the previous and current medical studies regarding chromium exposure in Hudson County, and, if he deems it necessary, recommending a new medical monitoring study for residents near the Garfield Avenue site.

* The amount that PPG will be forced to pay into the city’s Environmental Trust Fund is increased from $1 million to $1.15 million.

* PPG will be forced to “make all reasonable efforts” to make sure that all contractors and subcontractors working on the remediation give 20 percent of its job opportunities to Jersey City residents.

* All PPG sites, not just the Garfield Avenue site, will now fall under the “5-year goal for completion.”

“This is by far the best way to go,” Matsikoudis says. But the Natural Resources Defense Council’s (NRDC) Nancy Marks, who is the lead attorney in a federal citizens’ lawsuit brought by the NRDC and the Interfaith Community Organization (ICO) against PPG, says not so fast.

“The real problem [with the revised settlement] is all tied in with the cleanup standards, or lack thereof,” she says. Marks says that, as it stands now, the settlement would use the excavation standard of 20 parts per million (ppm) down to 20 feet, as set by former Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) commissioner Lisa Jackson.

While Matsikoudis has consistently pointed out that the Jackson standard is the most stringent in the nation, some of the DEP’s own scientists recently recommended the standard be more stringent (to 1 ppm). If the DEP adopts the new standards, PPG would have to clean up to that level, but Marks and others aren’t convinced the department will enact those recommendations due to political pressure. She says that could potentially mean that residents’ health would continue to be in jeopardy.

“We don’t have any confidence that they’re going to eliminate the endangerment,” Marks says, adding that the NRDC and ICO will continue pursuing their litigation.

There will be a public hearing on the revised settlement on Monday, June 15, at 7 pm at City Hall in the City Council chambers. The City Council is slated to vote at Wednesday’s meeting on an resolution authorizing the settlement.