| DEP ANNOUNCES
NATURAL RESOURCE DAMAGE SETTLEMENT
SP Industries Settles
Liability for Injuries to Ground Water at Vineland Site
(05/66) TRENTON -- New Jersey Department of Environmental
Protection (DEP) Commissioner Bradley M. Campbell today announced
the voluntary settlement of natural resource damage (NRD) liability
with SP Industries for injuries to ground water at their Peach
Street facility in Vineland. The company has agreed to pay DEP
$65,641 to be used toward a restoration project.
"Once again, corporations are getting the message,"
said Acting Governor Richard J. Codey. "New Jersey will not
permit companies to threaten our environment or jeopardize public
health."
"Through the initiative of business leaders like SP Industries
that resolve their liability without litigation, New Jersey is
compensating residents for the lost use of shared natural resources,"
said Commissioner Campbell. "Other businesses should recognize
that they will be held accountable for NRD injuries and should
step up now to make amends."
The settlement resolves the company's NRD liability for a 1.2-acre
volatile organic compound (VOC) plume in the groundwater at its
laboratory glassware site in Vineland. DEP will use the settlement
money for an as yet to-be-determined restoration project, pooling
this money with other settlements toward the purchase of land
protecting ground water in Vineland's watershed.
This is the second NRD settlement executed by DEP and SP Industries.
The first settlement in January of this year was for $56,586 to
compensate for a 2.5-acre plume of chromium contaminated groundwater
at the Wilmad Glass site in Buena Vista, Atlantic County.
New Jersey's Spill Compensation and Control Act makes any entity
that has discharged hazardous substances onto the land or into
the waters of the state liable for both cleanup and for natural
resource injuries. NRD claims are separate from the costs associated
with cleaning up contamination. NRD claims compensate the residents
of New Jersey for the injury and lost use of natural resources
due to contamination. Injuries can refer to both ecological injuries
to wetlands, wildlife, ground water or surface water and to human
use injuries such as the closure of a waterway to fishing, a beach
to swimming or an aquifer for use as drinking water supply.
In the past three years, DEP and the New Jersey Attorney General's
Office have filed NRD complaints against more than 50 companies
alleged to have polluted more than 300 sites. In all, the state
has negotiated more NRD compensation, including protection of
more than 2,200 acres, from polluters in the past three years
than the previous 10 years of New Jersey's NRD program.
The proposed NRD settlement with SP Industries appeared in the
May 16, 2005 New Jersey Register and is subject to a 30-day public
comment period.
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