Chromium Cleanup Meeting Tonight
By Jon Whiten • Nov 23rd, 2009 • Category: Blog
Residents will get a chance tonight to come out and hear what court-appointed site administrator Mike McCabe has planned for the cleanup of a handful of chromium-contaminated sites in Jersey City — most notably the large property at 880-900 Garfield Avenue, where PPG Industries processed chromite ore until 1963.
The meeting is the first of the newly-formed “Chromium Cleanup Partnership,” which is made up of McCabe, PPG, the city and the state Department of Environmental Protection (DEP). A second has been scheduled for Dec. 14, but a time and place hasn’t yet been nailed down.
As you may remember, the DEP and the city entered into a controversial settlement agreement in February with PPG to clean up chromium-contaminated sites around the city; the involved parties, after hearing public comment, went back and revised the settlement, and despite some lingering concerns and lawsuits, the revised settlement was approved by the City Council in June.
The main items on tonight’s agenda:
- The draft master schedule for the cleanup of all 20 sites that PPG is responsible for
- A program in which homeowners near PPG cleanup sites can request inspection and testing if they suspect chromium waste is present on their residential property.
Attendees will have an opportunity to address and ask questions of representatives from PPG, the DEP and the city. No RSVP is required; the meeting begins at 7 pm in the City Council chambers at City Hall (280 Grove St.).
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Jon Whiten is the founding editor of the Jersey City Independent; he now works for a public-policy nonprofit in Trenton.
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