APRIL 8, 2016--The Record of Decision for remediation of the lower 8.3 miles of the Passaic River was issued on March 4 after years of collaboration between federal and state agencies.

The Passaic River Superfund Site, which is heavily impacted by a variety of contaminants including dioxins, includes the lower 17.4 miles of the Passaic River and Newark Bay as well as portions of the Hackensack River, the Kill van Kull, and the Arthur Kill. A team of agencies including NOAA, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection, New Jersey Department of Transportation, and EPA agreed to partner to integrate remediation and restoration at the site.

This portion of the site is being addressed early because it is the location of about 90 percent of the volume of contaminated sediments. The decision includes removal of 3.5 million cubic yards of contaminated sediment with off-site disposal and bank-to-bank capping of 8.3 miles of the river. The remedy will support primary restoration of NOAA trust resources in this section of the river and the estuary. NOAA’s technical input on the potential long-term adverse consequences that would have been associated with disposal of the contaminated dredged material in proposed Confined Aquatic Disposal cells within Newark Bay formed the basis of the decision to dispose of these sediments off-site. OR&R staff collaborated with staff from NOAA National Marine Fisheries Service Habitat Conservation and Ecosystem Processes Divisions in developing the technical input that led to this protective decision.

For further information, contact Reyhan.Mehran@noaa.gov.

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