[CPEO-BIF] DuPont Pompton Lakes (New Jersey) history

[Lenny Siegel <lennysiegel@gmail.com>]

DuPont danger was hidden away

BY JAMES M. O'NEILL
The Record (NJ)
June 1, 2010

When John Sinsimer made his long-shot bid in 1987 to become Pompton 
Lakes' first Democratic mayor in 20 years, he won by promising to 
address an infestation of starlings and limit development.

He never mentioned a far more dire issue: contamination at a DuPont 
explosives plant and the fact that groundwater laced with toxic solvents 
was spreading under a nearby neighborhood.

That's because Sinsimer never knew the pollution existed. Hardly anybody 
in town was aware, even though documents show DuPont and state 
environmental officials had been discussing it for several years.

Three months into his term, Sinsimer learned about the contamination — 
by accident – when he found documents about DuPont locked in a Borough 
Hall file cabinet.

His discovery led to the first public hearing about the contamination. 
Outraged borough officials and residents pressured the state Department 
of Environmental Protection to broaden the scope of testing, which 
helped uncover evidence that the pollution had spread much farther into 
a nearby neighborhood, poisoning wells, contaminating yards and 
threatening the health of residents.

...

For the entire article, see
http://www.northjersey.com/news/95293749_DuPont_danger_was_hidden_away.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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