struggle involving toxic landfill sites in Gloucester County, N.dJ., may well be repeated around the country. There, a company called Soil Safe, Inc., has been charged with dumping contaminated materials at two county sites. Many other U.S. counties, it’s believed, face similar circumstances. Oneof the sites is a public park called the Dream Park. The other is a landfill in Logan Township. In the words of the Delaware Riverkeeper Network, the company’s “handling, storage and disposal of solid waste” at the sites “may present an imminent and substantial endangerment to health or the environment”—something it’s already been caught at twice. In 2003, it entered into a consent order with the state and settled a $120,000 fine for, among other things, placing unpermitted contaminated soil in the City of Salem landfill closure. In 2007, Soil Safe was fined for importing over one quarter of a million tons of contaminated soils over their permit limit, a 40 percent overage. Delaware Riverkeeper says the companyhas: *Exceeded the permitted height of a capped portion of the Logan Townshipfacility by adding soils that violate standards. *Used a supposedly safe process for neutralizing contaminated soil that is in fact ineffective. Dumped “process soil materials” containing elevated levels of a hydrocarbon linked in numerous studies with cancer. *Had its company executives make campaign contributions to By reducing soil contamination in one county, Americans may be protecting their own environment. New Jersey legislators for years and even retained one who oversees environmentalissues. What You Can Do Fortunately, in addition to emailing Congress about this issue at www.house.gov and www.sen ate.gov, there are several steps you can take to protect the environment. According to the experts at the United States Environmental Protection Agency, these include: Practice the three R’s—first, reduce how much you use, reuse what you can and then recycle the rest. Finally, dispose of what’s left in the most environmentally friendly way. Turn off appliances and lights when youleave the room. *Use the microwave to cook small meals. It uses less power than an oven. Have leaky air-conditioning and refrigeration systems repaired. *Insulate your home, water heater and pipes. Learn More For further facts about the contaminated sites and what can be done, visit www.delawareriver keeper.org.
