[CPEO-BIF] DuPont at Pompton Lakes, New Jersey

[Lenny Siegel <lsiegel@cpeo.org>]

Old Story of Pollution; New Urgency This Time

By PETER APPLEBOME
New York Times
February 1, 2010

POMPTON LAKES, N.J. - It seems every decade here has its own restaging 
of the same environmental horror story. It began with the old DuPont 
munitions plant that left behind a trail of lead and mercury, 
contaminated soil and water and a plume of toxic vapor still capable of 
leaking into at least 450 houses. The story has no end in sight.

There was the initial wave of concern in the 1970s, the first serious 
opposition by the borough's government in the 1980s, the $38.5 million 
settlement from DuPont in the 1990s, a smaller suit and ruling against 
the company in 2002.

Still, the toxic legacy is as real now as it was decades ago. Hence the 
volatile mixture of newfound hope, raw anger and pent-up frustration 
Thursday night when residents gathered at the local Elks Lodge.

"DuPont will try to get away with as much as they can get away with 
anytime they can," John Sinsimer, the mayor of Pompton Lakes from 1988 
to 1992, told the group. Citing advice he was given back then, he added: 
"First they try to buy you. Then they try to bully you. Then they try 
and bury you."

...

For the entire article, see
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/02/01/nyregion/01towns.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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