Last month the US Government Accountability Office released a report of those toxic waste sites deemed most “at risk” of disaster from climate crisis. The report identifies a total of 945 problem sites in the United States, 24 of which are in the 352-square mile Lower Raritan Watershed. That is, an incredibly disproportionate 4% of the nation’s total at-risk superfund sites are in our Lower Raritan (see list below).

At-risk Superfund sites in the Lower Raritan Watershed include:

Federal Creosote, Manville

CPS/Madison Industries, Old Bridge

American Cyanamid, Bridgewater

Fried Industries, East Brunswick

Kin-Buc Landfill, Edison

Global Sanitary Landfill, Old Bridge

Renora Inc., Edison

Brook Industrial Park, Bound Brook

JIS Landfill, South Brunswick

Chemical Insecticide Corporation, East Brunswick

Monroe Township Landfill, Monroe

Sayreville Landfill, Sayreville

Chemsol, Piscataway

South Brunswick Landfill, South Brunswick

Myers Property, Franklin Township

Evor Industries, Old Bridge

Horseshoe Road, Sayreville

Higgins Farm, Franklin Township

Cornell Dubilier, South Plainfield

Atlantic Resources, Sayreville

Franklin Burn, Franklin Township

Raritan Bay Slag, Old Bridge/Sayreville

Woodbridge Road Dump, South Plainfield

Burnt Fly Bog, Marlboro

Concerns of risks posed by legacy pollutants, particularly in light of sea level rise and climate change, have long been on the LRWP’s radar. These concerns motivate our grant-seeking to protect inland communities from potentially toxic sediment deposition through tidal marsh restoration, and watershed partners will receive support through the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation to develop an engineering plan with a permit-ready design to start to protect vulnerable South River residents from riverine flooding and storm flows, and what we already know are toxic flows of sediment into their neighborhoods.

In coming months the LRWP will analyze the GAO and other data, prioritizing focus areas, and wrestling with what the Superfund report means in terms of restoration and resiliency planning for our watershed going forward. We will also be working to develop a strategy to best position ourselves to hold state and federal entities accountable for clean-up, protecting our communities, and similar.