Environmental Protection Commissioner Shawn M. LaTourette today joined U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Regional Administrator Lisa F. Garcia, U.S. Rep. Donald Norcross and other dignitaries at a park on Pitman’s once-badly polluted Alcyon Lake to mark the deletion of the Lipari Landfill from the National Priorities List of Superfund sites.
Once ranked as the nation’s most hazardous toxic waste site, the Lipari Landfill underwent decades of extensive on-site and off-site cleanup efforts that resulted in EPA formally deleting the site from the National Priorities List as of Aug. 16. The EPA determined that remediation efforts are protecting the public and the environment, and that no further work is needed beyond ongoing monitoring and maintenance by the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection.
The revitalized Alcyon Lake and surrounding parks now offer a range of recreational activities, including baseball, soccer, walking trails, fishing and boating. These improvements have provided significant economic and health benefits to the local community. The parks generate $101,000 annually in direct use value, according to EPA. The area supports minor league professional athletics and offers amenities such as disc golf, playgrounds and picnic facilities.
“I applaud the EPA for their commitment to helping us build a cleaner and safer Garden State,” said Governor Phil Murphy. “The decades-long transformation of the contaminated Lipari Landfill and Alcyon Lake has revitalized critical community recreation spaces and will provide a boost to the local economy. By restoring this Superfund site, we are taking another important step forward to ensure the well-being of our residents and advance our mission of making New Jersey the best state to live and raise a family.”
“It is with the deepest sense of pride and accomplishment that we stand here today to celebrate the deletion of what was once considered the nation’s most hazardous toxic waste site from the Superfund list,” Commissioner LaTourette said during ceremonies at Betty Park. “More than 40 years ago, New Jersey’s legacy of toxic waste dumping helped spur the creation of Superfund. At the time, the DEP emerged as a national leader in taking aggressive actions to clean up toxic waste sites like the Lipari Landfill. Today, the DEP and EPA remain steadfast in our resolve to clean up legacy industrial pollution across the state. Together, we thank and congratulate local leaders and the public for their dedication and hard work that have led to this historic milestone for the Lipari Landfill.”
“The transformation of the Lipari Landfill site showcases the immensely positive impact the Superfund program can have in communities,” said EPA Regional Administrator Garcia. “For decades, the Lipari Landfill has been a household name in South Jersey, looming over the community of Pitman. Today, this once contaminated area is now a thriving community asset, setting a benchmark for other projects nationwide.”
“The story of the Lipari Landfill and its cleanup is so intertwined with the story of Superfund, which is why it’s so gratifying to be here to close the door on a long, difficult, but ultimately successful journey,” said Rick Kessler, Senior Advisor in EPA’s Office of Land and Emergency Management that oversees the Superfund cleanup program. “Today, we open a new door on a promising tomorrow for both this community and the Superfund program.”
“New Jerseyans in Mantua Township and the Borough of Pitman can finally breathe easy today knowing work to address dangerous levels of pollution at the Lipari Landfill is now successfully complete,” said U.S. Senator George Helmy. “I am very proud of what the Environmental Protection Agency and New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection have been able to accomplish; removing decades-worth of toxic industrial chemicals from the surrounding areas and waterways. I am confident we can look back at this moment to ensure something like this never happens again. I applaud EPA Regional Administrator Lisa Garcia, NJDEP Commissioner Shawn LaTourette, and local leaders for their efforts in seeing this massive undertaking through to the end to keep New Jerseyans safe.”
“Today marks an important day for all of New Jersey as we celebrate removing the Lipari Landfill Superfund site from the EPA's National Priorities List,” said U.S. Rep. Norcross. “After decades of hard work to clean up this contaminated site, we can now say that we've delivered on our commitment to protect the health and safety of families in our community. It's a monumental achievement and testament to what can be done when we make Superfund clean-ups a priority.”
Toxic Legacy and a Call to Action
Located amid peach orchards in Mantua Township and bordering Pitman, Glassboro and Harrison, the Lipari Landfill site accepted household waste, liquid and semi-solid chemical wastes, and other industrial materials between 1958 until the DEP ordered its closure in 1971. These wastes were disposed in trenches originally excavated for sand and gravel.
Approximately 3 million gallons of liquid wastes and 12,000 cubic yards of solid wastes were disposed at the site. Wastes included solvents, paints and thinners, formaldehyde, dust collector residues, resins, and solid press cakes from the industrial production of paints and solvents. Contaminants seeped into the underlying aquifers and spread into nearby marshlands, Chestnut Branch, Rabbit Run, and Alcyon Lake. Pitman residents living close to the landfill and downstream around Alcyon Lake reported vapors and seeing chemicals leaching from the landfill into local streams and Alcyon Lake. The lake, an adored recreational resort lake dating back to the early 1900s, was closed to recreational use.
The pollution at Lipari and other massive toxic waste dumps in the area spurred then-South Jersey Congressman and later Governor James J. Florio to spearhead passage of the federal Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation and Liability Act of 1980, also known as Superfund. This groundbreaking law provided a mechanism through a tax on the chemical and petroleum industries to fund and prioritize cleanups, pending cost-recovery actions by the government.
After initial actions to protect human health and the environment, and preliminary investigations, EPA placed the Lipari Landfill on its National Priorities List in September 1983. Based on a scoring system the EPA used at the time, Lipari was ranked as the most hazardous to public health and the environment of 546 hazardous-waste sites across the nation that were named to the Superfund list. New Jersey had 85 sites on that initial list – more than any other state – in part because of the aggressiveness of the DEP to address the contamination and threats these sites posed to the public.
A Monumental Cleanup
EPA first began work at the Lipari Landfill site in the 1980s by securing the site and installing wells to determine the extent of contamination in the groundwater underneath the landfill. The EPA also constructed an underground wall, called a slurry wall, to keep contamination in the groundwater from spreading. The EPA covered the landfill with a membrane to reduce the chance of rainwater spreading more contamination into the groundwater.
In the early 1990s, the EPA installed a system to pump contaminated groundwater to the surface and treat it before re-injecting it into the ground. This system included wells to monitor the progress of the cleanup. To tackle contamination outside of the landfill area, the EPA extracted contaminated groundwater, treated it, and discharged it to the local wastewater treatment plant.
The EPA also dug up contaminated soil in Chestnut Branch Marsh, and dredged and treated contaminated sediment from Alcyon Lake, Chestnut Branch, and Rabbit Run. The EPA treated the sediment using a low-temperature volatilization system that uses heat to remove contaminants from the sediment and monitored these areas to ensure the effectiveness of the on-site cleanup. Over nearly four decades of extensive cleanup efforts have facilitated the restoration, expansion, and revitalization of the community’s recreational resources, including the reopening of the Alcyon Park and Alcyon Lake in October 1995.
In addition, the community restored an adjacent racetrack property formerly used by EPA to manage the contaminated lake and marsh sediments during cleanup of Alcyon Lake. The property is now part of Alcyon Park and features baseball fields, softball fields, a football field, two tournament-sized soccer fields, a picnic pavilion, bike path, concession stand, wildflower meadow, open play area, a nature trail, a paved and lighted parking lot, and restored streams and marshes.
Operation of the treatment systems and monitoring continued in the ensuing years, and additional contamination found outside of the original slurry wall was addressed by the installation of an additional slurry wall and a new cap over the landfill in 2011. In 2019, the EPA turned over to the DEP the ongoing environmental monitoring and daily operations of the groundwater treatment system, soil vapor extraction system and cap maintenance.
Resources
Learn more about the positive impacts of the Lipari Landfill cleanup by reading the Economic Case Study. Visit the Lipari Landfill Superfund site profile page for more information and site documents.