[CPEO-BIF] Pompton Lakes (NJ) plume and property taxes

[Lenny Siegel <lsiegel@cpeo.org>]

This article illustrates what community stakeholders were saying at the 
Philadelphia Forum on Vapor Intrusion. In most locations there is no 
mechanism for compensating property owners for lost value due to 
underlying contamination with volatile organic compounds from nearby 
industrial facilities. There is not even a routine mechanism for 
adjusting property taxes.

They recognize that it's not the job of environmental regulators to 
address these issues, but it's difficult for regulators to gain the 
trust of communities unless they help residents deal with this problem.

Lenny


'Plume' residents seek help

BY ELAINE D'AURIZIO
NorthJersey.com
February 10, 2009

POMPTON LAKES - Hundreds of residents alarmed by chemical pollution are 
looking to federal lawmakers for help, and to their local officials for 
a tax break.

The effort by residents living in the borough's northeastern section, 
where up to 400 homes may have chemical vapors from contaminated soil 
rising toward, and potentially into, their basements, is taking the form 
of a petition drive and overtures to Washington, D.C.

The pollution was discovered in May when the state Department of 
Environmental Protection directed DuPont to test for soil vapors under 
the homes. The testing found elevated levels of industrial chemicals 
under five of the seven homes tested.

...

For the entire article, see
http://www.northjersey.com/environment/plume021009.html

--


Lenny Siegel
Executive Director, Center for Public Environmental Oversight
a project of the Pacific Studies Center
278-A Hope St., Mountain View, CA 94041
Voice: 650/961-8918 or 650/969-1545
Fax: 650/961-8918
<lsiegel@cpeo.org>
http://www.cpeo.org



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