(NewsNation) — A former employee of the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection says state government ignored a 2010 study of toxic materials that should have led to action at the closed landfill in Keyport.
The comments from former NJDEP planner and policy analyst Bill Wolfe surfaced online recently as the agency prepared to meet Tuesday with Keyport residents who blame contaminants from the landfill for an uptick in cancer cases.
The department, which has done recent testing in the area, has said toxic chemicals are contained within the landfill. Independent testing has suggested otherwise.
Now comes Wolfe’s information, posted on Substack, that a 2010 investigation of the Aeromarine Landfill site found actionable levels of cancer-causing toxins such as benzene. Wolfe said the findings should have triggered remediation. Kevin Garrahan, a 38-year veteran of the EPA, agrees.
“Benzene was about 60 times above the NJDEP screening level and vinyl chloride was about 50 times the screening level,” he said. “That should have triggered immediate action, yet very little was done for 16 years, creating the possibility that the community was needlessly exposed to the dangerous levels of those human carcinogens during that extended period.”
During a fiery public forum Tuesday between locals and the NJDEP, resident Nicole Henn demanded to know why the state didn’t swarm the landfill 16 years ago.
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