It really is worthy of mention that it is likely that many metals...not just chromium, as mentioned here, at present regulated levels are problematic. A recent article highlights the risk with developing brain...

http://www.newsday.com/news/health/ny-hslead0206,0,3014503.story?coll=ny-leadhealthnews-headlines

Just because science has had difficulty in making ever more sensitive measurement does NOT mean that there isn't a problem with metals at existing standards.

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I'd rather side w/ caution then find out 20yrs later that my home is the reason I'm developing a tumor. Good job Lisa. Lets see how long the rules last before lobbiest force her to capitulate.

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I'm pretty slow and I been in jc since 1981.

PS - Recoded is not good.

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Return of Whitman Lies Redux!

JUDGE FINDS NYC AND SILVERSTEIN MUST ANSWER TO SENDING WORKERS INTO TOXIC ENVIRONMENTS
Source: www.nyctv.com

Published: Oct 18, 2006

NEW YORK

Government Will Have to Answer With Silverstein New York City and State officials along with a slew of Larry Silverstein contractors were knocked back a loop as they tried to deny any culpability in sending workers into toxic laced environments during the months of cleanup in NYC after 911.

We can all recall Christine Whitman telling all of New York city and the world that day and the next that the air quality was just fine and everyone should get back to work. Nothing more than mere drywall masks were provided to most workers along with this fraudulent synopsis of the air quality.
[...]

A newly released report showed that 7 out of 10 workers on the site that day are now suffering respiratory illness. Other reports show the regular civilian populations of Brooklyn and lower Manhattan are showing a vast increase in new cancers and scaring of the lungs.

When the toxins in the dust are factored into the lungs of some 14 million daily workers, and those that passed through the zone of poisons those days following the demolitions there is no doubt that the toll of deaths related to 911 in NYC will be in the millions

You think it is related to NJ's autism rate being the highest recoded in the US?



Article Here

Chromium cleanup standards stiffened
DEP calls the new rules the toughest in nation

Sunday, February 11, 2007
BY MARY JO PATTERSON
Star-Ledger Staff

The state Department of Environmental Protection has come up with a tough new standard for removing chromium waste from soil, three years after critics complained the agency had weakened cleanup standards for the toxic substance beyond safe levels.

Sites to be developed for housing or schools may not contain more than 20 parts per million of hexavalent chromium, the strictest such standard in the country, according to DEP Commissioner Lisa B. Jackson. The old state standard had been 240 parts per million.

"Some will say we went too far and some will say we didn't go far enough, but I challenge them to say this doesn't go pretty darn far," Jackson said in an interview last week. "We're erring on the side of caution."

Environmental activists had high praise for the DEP's action, although most expressed concern about the manner of implementation.

"The old standard was based on political science," said Jeff Tittel, director of the New Jersey Sierra Club. "Lisa is standing up to not only previous commissioners, but also a lot of developers and politicians,"

The new cleanup rules were expressed in a written directive that also lifted a moratorium on approving chromium cleanups. A copy of the directive was obtained by The Star-Ledger.

Former DEP Commissioner Bradley Campbell issued the moratorium in March 2004 after an article in The Star-Ledger documented how outside scientists hired by companies responsible for chromium pollution influenced state policymakers to drastically weaken pollution rules during the 1990s.

A few projects have been approved by special waiver despite the moratorium, including part of the Port Imperial development in Weehawken and Liberty National Golf Course in Jersey City. In both cases, the DEP allowed up to 100 parts per million of chromium waste to remain under a seal, officials said.

Jackson said she issued the directive, rather than promulgate regulations, because she is waiting for additional input from the federal government. A U.S. Department of Health study on chromium toxicity is ongoing.

"We don't know when they're coming up with their results, but we believe they will come up with lower numbers, (though) I'm not sure as low as 20 (parts per million)," she said.

Once the study results are in, the DEP will formulate final chromium standards for soil, Jackson said.

Sites containing residue of hexavalent chromium have been a vexing toxic waste problem in New Jersey for years.

Hexavalent chromium, a byproduct of industrial processes, is hazardous to humans. Long-term exposure to the compound in the workplace has been associated with lung cancer.

Max Costa, a nationally recognized expert on metal toxicity who testified for the plaintiffs in the chromium case made famous by the movie "Erin Brockovich," said the new chromium standard is assuredly "a good thing."

"It's not good to have chromium around. It's a very dangerous carcinogen. Unfortunately, a lot of northern New Jersey was built on it," said Costa, chairman of the Department of Environmental Medicine at the New York University School of Medicine.

WIDESPREAD IMPACT
The new DEP policy affects 184 sites in Hudson County, where waste from companies that refined chrome ore was once given away for use as construction fill. The plants operated from 1900 to 1976. Some of those 184 sites have been cleared; others house parking lots or abandoned property.

What is not clear is how the new standard will affect already-developed properties. A number of redevelopment projects in Jersey City and Bayonne have already been constructed on or near high concentrations of treated chromium waste.

"If we determine any site requires additional remediation, we have the right to ask for remediation," said Elaine Makatura, a spokeswoman for the agency.

Jackson was careful to say that science behind the old standard was "still good."

"But because we know new (federal) standards are coming, and may eventually be tougher, I'm adding a safety factor of about 10," she said.

The new standard, in addition to reducing the allowable chromium residue to remain in the soil, requires developers to excavate to a depth of 20 feet when cleaning the property for residential use, child care centers or schools.

Asked if people who live in homes constructed under the old standard are safe, officials answered yes.

The old standard of 240 parts per million "is absolutely protective," said Irene Kopp, DEP assistant commissioner for site remediation.

Jackson said she hoped the new standard would get cleanups of contaminated sites moving.

"We don't want to miss the boat on redevelopment. You don't want to sit here and think about it for another four years, and then the market changes."

Jackson also said she expected the new chromium standard would help prod a settlement of litigation between her agency and the companies responsible for most of the Hudson County chromium problem -- Honeywell International, PPG Industries Inc. and Tierra Solutions Inc.

"If we don't reach settlement with these parties, so they come in and settle the liability and clean up, we haven't moved the ball forward," she said. "Not making a decision, not making the sites move forward, is as criminal as making them dirty."

Joe Morris, an organizer with the Interfaith Community Organization, a Hudson County group that successfully sued Honeywell over one chromium site, called the new standard "a really important" development.

"If this is implemented, it will save lives in Hudson County," he said. "But companies may find a way around it by proposing an 'alternate remediation standard,'" he said.

Brownfield redevelopment law, which covers land used for industrial purposes, gives developers that option.

"It's a loophole, and in the past it has permitted the governor's office and other outside political entities to intervene in these kind of decisions, where they have no business," Morris said.

'SIGNIFICANT CHALLENGES'
Honeywell International greeted news of the new standard by pledging to continue cleaning up sites. However, it sounded a warning that there is difficult work ahead.

"We are committed to continuing to work with DEP and local officials on remediation plans that will protect human health and the environment and encourage redevelopment," the company, based in Morris Township, said in a statement released by spokeswoman Victoria Streitfeld.

But, she said, the new standards "will present significant challenges for companies completing remediation."

New Jersey City University, meanwhile, was thrilled to hear about the new chromium standard.

The university is about to double in size by developing an 18-acre parcel, acquired in pieces over the past 20 years. Some of the land has been contaminated by chromium leaching off an adjacent property, where a chemical company once stood.

"We have a design, and now we can move ahead," said Howard Buxbaum, vice president for finance and administration.

Buxbaum said most of the cleanup costs will be handled by Honeywell, which has been designated the responsible party for cleaning up the site.

Mary Jo Patterson may be reached at mpatterson@starledger.com or (973) 392-4215.