OxyChem cleanup of Passaic River in NJ

A dispute over cleanup of New Jersey’s polluted Passaic River could be nearing a breakthrough after a chemical giant proposed to sweeten its $441 million cleanup offer, which comes with some strings attached.

The latest offer by Occidental Chemical Corp., outlined in a June 27 letter to the Environmental Protection Agency, would keep its original January 2021 offer on the table to pay nearly a half a billion dollars, which is the entire tab for the design and remedial action along the upper nine miles of the Passaic River.

But the new offer for a “staged process” to coordinate the cleanup in tandem with another section of the river comes with the same demand OxyChem made with its initial pitch: that it retain the right to pursue contributions from other companies that it contends also polluted the river.

https://news.bloomberglaw.com/environment-and-energy/oxychem…

Jaak

Patterson, NJ on the Passaic River is one of the oldest manufacturing sites in the US. If you visit Passaic Falls in Patterson you will find that it was identified as a suitable site in the days of Thomas Jefferson. It was arranged to allow a whole series of plants to operate using water wheels. And convenient to population centers like NYC.

Once it was known for textile weaving, especially silk. Its also the original site of Colt firearms.

See: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Falls_(Passaic_River)

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