[First Reprint]

ASSEMBLY CONCURRENT RESOLUTION No. 60

STATE OF NEW JERSEY

INTRODUCED FEBRUARY 15, 1996

By Assemblywoman WEINBERG and Assemblyman ZISA

A Concurrent Resolution memorializing the United States Department of Energy, the United States Environmental Protection Agency, and the Nuclear Regulatory Commission to take every expedient action, in conjunction with the officials of this State, to continue to effectuate the permanent removal of all thorium-contaminated soil from sites in Maywood Borough, Rochelle Park Township, and Lodi Borough, New Jersey.

Whereas, The radioactive metallic element thorium, a waste byproduct of certain manufacturing processes that occurred on-site from 1916 to 1959 at the Maywood Chemical Company in Maywood, New Jersey, was mixed with other substances and used as fill in several locations in residential areas of Maywood Borough, and had contaminated some properties in Rochelle Park Township and in Lodi Borough; and

Whereas, Because of the imminent danger this situation posed, the United States Department of Energy in 1984 began a cleanup that removed approximately 40,000 cubic yards of contaminated soil from several of the affected properties, and constructed the Maywood Interim Storage Site to hold the contaminated soil on the site of the former Maywood Chemical Company; and

Whereas, ¹[This] The¹ contaminated soil is now stored on-site, shielded only by plastic coverings, ¹and while the initial contaminated soil has been removed, initial sites still exist throughout the area,¹ which ¹[are not adequate to reduce] increase¹ the risk of injury to the health of the citizens residing in the vicinity of the Maywood Interim Storage Site and to reduce the risk of harm to the environment; and

¹[Whereas, Thorium-contaminated soil still must be removed at the site of the Maywood Chemical Company, which was purchased in 1959 by the Stepan Chemical Company, and at several other sites in Maywood, Rochelle Park, and Lodi that were contaminated by thorium waste from the Maywood Chemical Company site; and]¹

Whereas, This widespread contamination threatens the public health, safety and welfare of the citizens of these communities; and

Whereas, Although the United States Department of Energy has been slow to develop a plan for the removal of this contaminated soil and the United States Environmental Protection Agency has not as yet decided on a final strategy for the removal of the thorium- contaminated soil from these sites, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission has recently licensed a site in the State of Utah to accept this type of waste and the Department of Energy has made a commitment to remove all the contaminated soil to that site; and

Whereas, Removal of the existing soil piles has begun and that it is imperative that the removal of the thorium-contaminated soil from all these sites continue unabated and that the federal government fully fund these remediations in order to permanently remove all thorium-contaminated soil from the Maywood, Rochelle Park, and Lodi sites; now, therefore,

  Be It Resolved by the General Assembly of the State of New Jersey (the Senate concurring):

    1. The United States Department of Energy, the United States Environmental Protection Agency, and the Nuclear Regulatory Commission are respectfully memorialized to take every expedient action, in conjunction with the officials of this State, to continue to effectuate the permanent removal of all thorium-contaminated soil from the Maywood Interim Storage Site and other sites in Maywood Borough, Rochelle Park Township, and Lodi Borough, New Jersey.

    2. A duly authenticated copy of this concurrent resolution, signed by the Speaker of the General Assembly and the President of the Senate and attested by the Clerk of the General Assembly and the Secretary of the Senate, shall be transmitted to the United States Department of Energy, the United States Environmental Protection Agency, and the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, the presiding officers of the United States Senate and the United States House of Representatives, and to each of the members of the Congress of the United States elected from New Jersey.

Memorializes U.S. agencies to remove thorium-contaminated soil in Maywood, Rochelle Park, and Lodi, NJ.