Published in the Ocean County Observer
By MATT PORIO
Staff Writer
Toms River- When Bruce Anderson’s son, Michael, was 10 year’s old, he was diagnosed with a rare form of leukemia. After a long painful battle with the illness, Michael is now 23, in remission and attending college.
But with his son’s cancer still motivating him, Bruce Anderson stood at the Oakridge Parkway entrance to the former Ciba-Geigy Specialty Corp. Superfund site yesterday, holding a sign that read,”38,000 More Drums Need To Be Removed.”
The Dover Township resident, his wife Melanie, and resident Carol A. Benson were out yesterday—the third time in the last month— in an effort to make Ciba Geigy remove the 30,000 plus drums of waste buried in a lined landfill at the site. The United States Environmental Protection Agency is overseeing the removal of more than 40,000 drums from a separate Superfund site on the property.
“If I can just prevent one other child from having to go through what my child has been through, this has all been worth it,” Anderson said.
For Anderson, that means getting Ciba-Geigy to remove the contested drums.
And getting the public involved is key to that effort, said Anderson, as countless cars drove by honking and waving in approval.
“The public can put a lot of pressure on government officials,” said Anderson, the president and executive director of the group Toxic Environment Affects Children’s Health. “We’re trying to keep the pressure on. Hopefully, the company and state will listen to us.”
For its part, Dover Township has been pushing for the removal of the drums. The township sued Ciba last year to force the removal of the drums from the landfill that is not a Superfund site. The same lawsuit also seeks damages, because, the township claims, ground water from Ciba-Geigy’s operations has decreased property values at Winding River Park, which is adjacent to the site.
In June, Superior Court judge dismissed part of the lawsuit, saying it should be up to a federal judge to determine if the drums from the contested landfill should be removed from the Route 37 site, township officials said.
Additionally, in May, Judge Edward Oles granted a request from the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection to remove it as co-plaintiff in the case.
While Ciba-Geigy maintains the contested landfill is safe and not leaking, the township asserts the opposite in its lawsuit.
Mayor Paul C. Brush has been reticent in giving any details, but has said several times he is optimistic about discussions with the state Department of Environmental Protection about forcing the drums’ removal.
Benson and Melanie Anderson, however, didn’t understand why Ciba-Geigy doesn’t just remediate the contested landfill now.
“Why wait another five or ten years?” Benson asked. “It’s so simple. Just take them out now.”
“The landfill is going to leak,” said Melanie Anderson, who will be protesting again today from 10a.m. to 2 p.m.
Published in the Ocean County Observer 10/2/04
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