Toxic Decades: New Jersey’s Passaic River Chokes While Polluters Dodge Billion-Dollar Cleanup

While the Passaic River once flowed clean through New Jersey’s industrial heart, decades of toxic dumping have transformed it into a poisonous stew of chemicals. Over 100 years of industrialization left a legacy that nobody wants to claim. The river’s sediment is a toxic cocktail – dioxins, PCBs, mercury, lead – a veritable who’s who of substances you definitely don’t want in your drinking water.

The chief culprit? Diamond Alkali Company, later Diamond Shamrock, which cheerfully produced DDT and Agent Orange in the mid-20th century. They weren’t alone. More than 100 industrial facilities decided the river made a convenient toilet for their chemical waste. Standard business practice until the 1970s. Just dump it and forget it!

The lower eight miles contain 90% of the river’s most toxic sediment. Fish and shellfish are swimming in chemicals – literally. Local communities suffer the consequences, with increased cancer risks, immune diseases, and developmental problems. Guess who bears the brunt? Lower-income neighborhoods near Newark. Shocking, right?

In 1984, the EPA finally declared a 17-mile stretch a Superfund site. Better late than never. The cleanup cost? A cool $1.82 billion. That’s billion with a “B.” But here’s the twist – a 2022 settlement with 85 companies would collect just $150 million. Math isn’t my strong suit, but that seems a tad short. OxyChem has offered to design and implement the EPA’s clean-up approach at no cost to taxpayers, but their proposals have been ignored.

Meanwhile, actual cleanup moves at a glacial pace. A 2024 project allocates $20 million to dredge near Lyndhurst – a drop in the contaminated bucket. The Cooperating Parties Group sounds helpful, until you realize they’re mostly arguing about who pays what. The Christie Administration controversially proposed diverting $40 million from the settlement funds to the General Fund instead of river remediation.