- Rats: A residential Jersey City neighborhood that is also home to industrial warehouses has been inundated with rats for months, an invasion some residents blame on the massive cleanup on the nearby Garfield Avenue chromium site.

- Port Authority Scraps Bus Depot Plans: Commuters will continue to face a long line of empty buses snarling traffic at the Lincoln Tunnel after the Port Authority scrapped plans to build a new bus garage in Manhattan. Port Authority officials say they can’t afford the $800 million project because recent toll increases were lower than proposed.

- 2013 Council Election: While Jersey City’s politicos are focused on November’s special election to fill two vacancies on the City Council, city teen Demetrius Terry is concentrating on the May 2013 city election.

- Car Accident: Five Jersey City females were injured, two of them seriously, when the 21-year-old driver of the SUV they were in lost control of the vehicle yesterday morning and slammed into a utility pole.

- Failed Meat Cleaver Attack: A naked, meat cleaver-wielding man was arrested Friday morning after he streaked by a police officer while chasing another man.

Today’s Best Bet:

Statue of Liberty historian Barry Moreno will give a talk on the legendary landmark at NJCU today, followed by a reception featuring the student illustrations of Ellis Island created by NJCU students last semester (3 pm).

In Statewide News:

- Christie & the White House: Gov. Christie’s political advisers are working to determine whether they could move fast enough to set up effective political operations in Iowa and New Hampshire in the wake of a relentless courtship aimed at persuading him to plunge into the race for the Republican presidential nomination. As he continues to mull a run for the White House, the Ledger looks to his past races for clues into his thinking, while Politicker wonders who the state GOP would run in the 2013 election.

- ARC Tunnel Bill Settled: New Jersey and the federal government have agreed to settle their tab for money spent on the canceled ARC commuter rail tunnel between Secaucus and New York for $95 million — about a third of the $271 million bill Gov. Christie was originally sent.

- Charter Schools: When the Christie administration last week announced it approved just four new charter schools out of nearly 60 applicants (one of which is in Jersey City), it came with a message of quality over quantity from Gov. Chris Christie’s top education officials. But there were clearly a few factors in play, from the politics of the upcoming legislative election to the changing rules in the department itself.

- Solar Power: New Jersey has passed California as the No.1 producer of solar energy in commercial markets, according to a recent solar trade report. But unless New Jersey changes the way the industry is financed, the system will crash and the state will never be able to maintain its lead, said Lyle Rawlings, founder and president of the Mid-Atlantic Solar Energy Industries Association.

The chromium site on Garfield Avenue in 2009, before the cleanup began.

When workers cleaning up the massive chromium-contaminated site along Garfield Avenue arrived at work this morning, they noticed that potentially contaminated groundwater had been “pushed up” at the corner of Halladay Street and Carteret Avenue, according to site administrator Mike McCabe.

The “small amount” of pooled water “looked like it might be contaminated,” McCabe tells JCI. Crews pulled samples of the water to send out for testing, and then “vacuumed it up [and] took other precautionary measures” to make sure the potentially dangerous water wouldn’t become airborne when it dries (hexavalent chromium is considered most carcinogenic when it is airborne and inhaled).

JCPD cars blocked off the site, and the JCFD hazardous materials truck was sent over, creating a bit of a scene in the formerly industrial and largely vacant swath of land right by the Garfield Avenue light rail station. But McCabe assures us that, because of the steps taken this morning, the incident is “definitely not a threat to the nearby residential community.”

The test results are expected within “a couple of days.” If the tests come back positive for hexavalent chromium, the cleanup crew will have to do additional sampling to make sure today’s initial cleanup rid the area of the dangerous toxin. If that round of sampling also tests positive for hexavalent chromium, McCabe says they will do additional cleaning at the site.

But he says the cleanup crew, which had dealt with similar rain-induced leakages when cleaning up the Honeywell site on the city’s west side, went ahead and did a preemptive cleanup to ensure the highest level of safety on site and in the area.

“We didn’t wait for these test results,” McCabe says. “We thoroughly addressed the problem.”

Joe Morris, director of the chromium cleanup project for the Interfaith Community Organization, which has fought for more stringent cleanup standards at the site, says it’s good that there was a quick response, but the danger posed by a leak like this only illustrates why the site should be cleaned to the maximum possible extent.

“It’s a good example of why it’s important to get all of the source material out of there and remediate the groundwater,” he says.

To date, nearly 70,000 tons of chromium contaminated waste, including some of the most heavily contaminated material at the site, have been excavated and hauled away.

“These latest blood results are very good news given the considerable level of cleanup activity at the site,” site administrator Mike McCabe says in a statement. “The second-round results confirm that the exposure-prevention measures being taken at the cleanup site are working.”

The blood study is part of an effort to make sure local residents aren’t exposed to toxic chemicals during the massive, multi-year cleanup. The ongoing study of nearly 40 residents is being conducted by the Environmental and Health Sciences Institute at Rutgers University, which takes and analyzes blood samples approximately every six months.

The cleanup agreement, which is estimated to cost PPG up to $600 million and remove an estimated 700,000 tons of chromium waste from the area around the company’s former chromium plant, stems from a citizens’ lawsuit filed in 2009 by the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC), Interfaith Community Organization (ICO) and GRACO Community Organization (GRACO). PPG had twice previously tried to have the advocates’ suit tossed from court, to no avail.

The groups have long claimed that the city’s 2009 settlement with PPG and the state Department of Environmental Protection is not stringent enough.

“What could have been a Swiss cheese approach to the cleanup is now a comprehensive removal of the contamination — no holes to be found,” says NRDC senior attorney Nancy Marks. “This Jersey City community should never have been stuck living on top of someone else’s toxic waste in the first place. They’re finally receiving the justice they deserve and will be soon free from this poisonous legacy.”

Specifically, the new federal settlement calls for chromium levels to be reduced to 5 parts per million (ppm), a much stricter standard than New Jersey’s current standard of 20 ppm, which was guiding the existing cleanup plan.

In addition, PPG will fund a community-hired expert to monitor the cleanup process and test residential properties near the site upon request and clean up any contaminated properties to the 5 ppm level. And the advocates also note that the federal deadlines brought by this settlement add an extra layer of protection, since the state DEP has in the past failed to act on cleanup plans at the site.

However, the Healy administration, which brokered the 2009 settlement between Jersey City, PPG and the state, is choosing to frame this week’s federal settlement in quite a different light, in an attempt to reiterate its repeated claim that the current cleanup plan is stringent enough.

“We are pleased that the NRDC and GRACO are endorsing our settlement with PPG and the DEP that requires PPG to dig up and remove the chromium waste at Garfield Avenue at PPG’s expense,” Mayor Jerramiah Healy says in a statement. “We have no problem with another layer of review of PPG’s cleanup, as long as it does not delay our goal of finishing the cleanup by 2014.”

Like Healy, the state Department of Environmental Protection is downplaying the federal settlement, with a spokesperson telling the New York Times this week that “it doesn’t get much better” than the cleanup plan already in place.

The federal settlement was submitted to the court this week and will become final when signed by a judge. It does not prevent a class-action lawsuit against PPG from going forward.

The chromium plant located on Garfield Avenue began operation in 1924, refining raw chromium ore into paint pigment and other items 24 hours a day. PPG purchased the facility in 1954 and ran it until its closing in the fall of 1963. Until the past few years, it had sat largely untouched, a toxic hazard for the Jersey City residents who happened to live or work near it.

Nearly three million tons of chromium ore processing residue (COPR) was produced at Hudson County’s three plants (one was located in Kearny), according to the DEP. Much of this COPR was given away to developers to use as fill material during construction in the 1950s and ’60s.

The COPR produced by the sites includes chromium of the trivalent and hexavalent kind. Hexavalent chromium is known to cause lung cancer in humans, and has been linked to other types of cancer, including nasal, stomach and blood, in a number of studies. Trivalent chromium is more common, and while many consider it “safe,” many scientists say it can — and does — convert to hexavalent chromium in nature. One study by the state DEP found that the rate of lung cancer incidence near chromium sites was 7 to 17 percent higher than in other areas of Jersey City.

“This is a victory for public health, for environmental justice, and for the rebirth of an area that’s been a wasteland for a half century,” says Rev. Willard Ashley, pastor of Abundant Joy Community Church and co-chairperson of the Interfaith Community Organization. “This is a victory that will mean more jobs and less cancer in Jersey City.”

PPG’s Federal Settlement for Chromium Cleanup in Jersey City

The lawsuit, filed in May of last year, alleges that both Honeywell and PPG Industries dumped and failed to clean up carcinogenic hexavalent chromium at more than 100 sites in Jersey City. It also seeks compensation for property owners whose properties may be devalued as the result of toxic pollution.

“This is an important victory for the citizens of Jersey City. They are now one giant step closer to telling their story to a jury,” says Howard Janet, of Janet, Jenner & Suggs, LLC, one of the attorneys representing residents. “It’s a story of large companies putting profits over people in the worst way. It’s a story of two companies that dumped massive quantities of toxic waste in the middle of a city, let it remain there for decades, delayed cleanups and put so many lives at risk.”

Honeywell and PPG have been in the hotseat in recent years over historic chromium disposal practices. Both companies produced chromium for industrial use during the first half of the 20th century, and a by-product known as chrome ore processing residue (COPR) — a substance that can remain in soil, water and air for decades — has been implicated as a potential cause of lung cancer in those who suffer long-term exposure, such as residents of areas near COPR sites.

“These companies spread more than a million tons of toxic waste across a densely populated city and allowed it to remain there for years,” says Ester Berezofsky, of Williams Cuker & Berezofsky, LLC, who is also representing the Jersey City residents. “We’re looking forward to presenting this case to a jury.”

The groups scheduled this week’s meeting after more than 15 inches of snowfall hit the Jersey City region 24 hours before the first meeting was conducted in January.

The cleanup plan at the chromium site shifted to full excavation in November. Prior to that, there had not been a firm decision on whether to pursue a full excavation or instead implement targeted excavation and treatment, a process that was roundly criticized as insufficient by environmental groups and some area residents.

“After months of first-hand experience at the site, it became even more clear that we should go straight to the cleanup approach most favored by the community and Jersey City: Simply stated, dig it all out and haul it away,” the court-appointed site administrator Mike McCabe said at the time. “I am very pleased that PPG has selected this approach and that DEP has approved it. This has the best chance of meeting our shared goal of a complete remediation by the Fall of 2014, and I look forward to discussing the details of this agreement with the community.”

THE DETAILS

Chromium Cleanup Partnership Public Meeting; Thursday, March 3 from 6:30 to 8:30 pm; Mary McLeod Bethune Life Center, 140 Martin Luther King Jr. Drive.

Representatives from PPG, the state Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) and the city — operating as the joint entity known as the Chromium Cleanup Partnership — will brief residents on the progress of the cleanup so far and discuss measures being taken to protect public health during the cleanup effort.

This will be the first public meeting held by the partnership since the cleanup plan shifted to full excavation two months ago. Prior to that, there had not been a firm decision on whether to pursue a full excavation or instead implement targeted excavation and treatment, a process that was roundly criticized as insufficient by environmental groups and some area residents.

“After months of first-hand experience at the site, it became even more clear that we should go straight to the cleanup approach most favored by the community and Jersey City: Simply stated, dig it all out and haul it away,” the court-appointed site administrator Mike McCabe said at the time.”I am very pleased that PPG has selected this approach and that DEP has approved it. This has the best chance of meeting our shared goal of a complete remediation by the Fall of 2014, and I look forward to discussing the details of this agreement with the community.”

THE DETAILS

Chromium Cleanup Partnership Public Meeting; Thursday, January 27 from 6:30 to 8:30 pm; Mary McLeod Bethune Life Center, 140 Martin Luther King Jr. Drive.

The next class begins in early February, and open houses for those interested begin this weekend. The free class is aimed at helping low- and moderate-income Jersey City residents obtain a skill — commercial painting — they can parlay into a decent-paying career. PPG offers a training certificate and job placement assistance at the completion of the course.

Since Ward F is where most of PPG’s chromium contamination sits, the company prefers Ward F residents for the course but anyone from Jersey City with a high school diploma or GED is allowed to apply.

Candidates will be interviewed on January 24 and 25, and the class runs for 16 Saturdays beginning February 5.

Anyone interested in applying should attend an open house: Saturday, January 15 from 10 am to 2 pm; Tuesday, January 15 from 10 am to 2 pm; and Thursday, January 20 from 4 to 8 pm. All open houses are at the Garfield Avenue Renewal Company, 334 Martin Luther King Drive, Jersey City. For more information, call 201-938-0909 or email info (at) pittsburghpaintschool.com.

PPG Industries has now agreed to excavate and remove an estimated 708,000 tons of chromium waste and contaminated soil from Garfield Avenue, the state Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) and Jersey City announced today.

PPG and the DEP had previously left up in the air whether they would pursue a full excavation or instead implement targeted excavation and treatment, a process that was roundly criticized as insufficient by environmental groups and some area residents.

The new plan for the site is outlined in a progress report filed Tuesday by court-appointed site administrator W. Michael McCabe with Hudson County judge Thomas Olivieri.

“After months of first-hand experience at the site, it became even more clear that we should go straight to the cleanup approach most favored by the community and Jersey City: Simply stated, dig it all out and haul it away,” McCabe says in a statement. “I am very pleased that PPG has selected this approach and that DEP has approved it. This has the best chance of meeting our shared goal of a complete remediation by the Fall of 2014, and I look forward to discussing the details of this agreement with the community.”

The site had sat untouched for years despite a 1990 order to begin cleanup until Jersey City, the DEP and PPG entered into a settlement agreement in February 2009. Since then, interim remediation and capping has been put in place to remove the most toxic chromium and protect the area from being further exposed to contamination.

The full excavation phase is expected to begin in the fall of 2011, according to McCabe’s report.

The new plan calls for PPG to excavate and remove all chromate waste to a minimum depth of 20 feet, or until excavation reaches a natural barrier of clay-like material called a “meadow mat.” The company’s preliminary studies indicate that most of the contamination is above the meadow mat.

In addition, PPG will construct an on-site plant to treat contaminated water generated at the site, and will monitor dust and take suppression action with a goal of having no visible dust leaving the site at any time.

“We are pleased that the settlement agreement and cooperation of the DEP, site administrator McCabe and Judge Oliveri has led PPG directly to an excavation course of action,” Jersey City corporation counsel William Matsikoudis says. “[This] will lead to the thorough and expeditious remediation that the community deserves.”

His comments were echoed by DEP officials.

“This plan is a major step forward for people who live near the Garfield Avenue site who have had to live with these wastes buried in their midst for far too long,” DEP acting commissioner Bob Martin says in a statement. “The DEP has been working very hard toward a remediation plan that is mindful of residents’ concerns about this site.”

However, as we’ve reported, it was at least in part the DEP’s failure to enforce the initial order that allowed the site to languish for decades untouched.

The lack of action by state regulators was what spurred the environmental group Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) and local group the Interfaith Community Organization (ICO) to file a federal lawsuit in January 2009 to push for a stringent cleanup of the site. (They were later joined in the suit by the neighborhood group GRACO.)

Specifically, the groups have been pressing PPG to excavate and remove all of the chromium-contaminated industrial waste to a safe standard, identify and permanently remediate all the chromium-contaminated soil and groundwater in the area, to test all residential properties in the area and remediate them as needed, and to have a plan that could be enforced by a federal court.

“The PPG work plan announced today by New Jersey DEP would, if implemented, go a long way towards achieving our first goal,” ICO says in a statement. “We will continue to pursue all of these goals in order to protect the health of people in Jersey City.”

The groups have maintained since the beginning that if the cleanup plan were to address their concerns, they would see no need to continue with their own suit.

The new plan seems to be a step in that direction.

“We believe it is clear that our litigation is having a positive effect,” ICO says in its statement.

“This Thanksgiving, residents of Jersey City are grateful for the work of ICO, GRACO and especially the legal staff of the Natural Resources Defense Council for finally getting PPG Industries to begin taking its cleanup responsibilities seriously,” says Rev. Willard Ashley, co-chairperson of ICO and pastor of Abundant Joy Community Church.

This fall’s class begins next month, and open houses for those interested begin this weekend. The free class is aimed at helping low- and moderate-income Jersey City residents obtain a skill — commercial painting — they can parlay into a decent-paying career. PPG offers a training certificate and job placement assistance at the completion of the course.

Since Ward F is where most of PPG’s chromium contamination sits, the company prefers Ward F residents for the course but anyone from Jersey City with a high school diploma or GED is allowed to apply.

Candidates will be interviewed on September 7-9, and the class runs for 16 Saturdays beginning September 18.

Anyone interested in applying should attend an open house: Saturday, August 28 from 10 am to 2 pm; Tuesday, August 31 from 4 to 8 pm; and Thursday, September 2 from 10 am to 2 pm. All open houses are at the Garfield Avenue Renewal Company, 334 Martin Luther King Drive, Jersey City. For more information, call 201-938-0909 or email info (at) pittsburghpaintschool.com.