Secaucus Public Meeting Nov. 12 On Hackensack River Superfund Status

SECAUCUS, NJ — Remember in 2022 when the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) declared the Lower Hackensack River a Superfund site?

No remediation work has been done on the river since then, but the EPA will host a "Community Superfund Workshop" November 12 in Secaucus.

The community forum will be held at High Tech High School (Hudson County School of Technology Frank J. Gargiulo Campus, 1 High Tech Way) from 6 - 8:30 p.m. Nov. 12. Please register using this Eventbrite link: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/l... (link is now working correctly)

An EPA spokesman told Patch:

"This series of workshops are designed to engage the community in the Superfund clean-up process and to introduce the community to the site team. The Regional Administrator plans on attending ... Learn about the Superfund clean-up process, share your concerns and expectations with the EPA, and learn how to get involved, stay informed and reduce your potential risk of exposure."

What does being a Superfund site even mean?

If something is declared a Superfund site, it means a large amount of federal tax dollars will be directed to do a clean-up. In the case of the Hackensack, the clean-up is specifically of the river's mud, which has high amounts of chromium and other heavy metals due to years of industry along the river's banks.

Mud and sediment in the Hackensack River tests high for arsenic, lead, chromium, mercury and polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), according to the NJ Dept. of Environmental Protection. Important to note is that it is not the Hackensack River water that tests high for heavy metals: The chromium is mostly concentrated in the mud and on the riverbanks.

There were some concerns the Hackensack River could be closed to the public while a clean-up is done. So far, that has not happened. Since the 2022 Superfund designation, the river has remained open for use by boaters, kayakers, fishermen and the public.

It is the Lower Hackensack, a 19-mile segment of the river that starts at the Oradell Reservoir and empties into Newark Bay, that will officially become a Superfund site.

It remains unknown when the clean-up will begin or how long it will take. It could take decades. For comparison, a 17-mile stretch of the Passaic River has been a Superfund site for the past 20 years, and federal clean-up on that river is still not completed. So far, about $2 billion has been spent to clean the Passaic River.

For the latest on the Superfund status of the Lower Hackensack River, here is the EPA's Lower Hackensack Site profile page.

The latest news is that on Oct. 3, the EPA entered into a settlement agreement with Beazer East, Inc., Honeywell International Inc., Morton International, LLC, Occidental Chemical Corporation and PSE&G to investigate contamination in a stretch of the river located between river miles 2 and 5.5, near Kearny and Jersey City. Here is the settlement agreement.

Patch will be there Nov. 12!