Advocates host meeting on emissions concerns
Residents, officials hash out issues with steel mill
BY MICHAEL ACKER
Staff Writer

SAYREVILLE - Residents shared concerns they have about a steel mill that is at the center of a controversy over dust emissions, during a meeting June 13.

An area environmental group known as Edison Wetlands Association (EWA) hosted the public meeting at the American Legion Post 211 building on MacArthur Avenue. Representatives of the group said that they held the meeting at the request of residents who live near the Gerdau Ameristeel mill on Crossman Avenue.

The plant's neighbors are finding dust on their property, and are concerned about reports of violations that the state Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) have fined the mill for in recent years.

In an EWA press release dated June 13, the organization wrote that the Department of Environmental Protection has issued over 140 violations to the steel mill in the past seven years. One of these violations was for the release of over 530 pounds of mercury into the air in a single year.

Last week's meeting was the first official gathering of the newly formed Residents for a Clean Sayreville (RCS) group. RCS President Timothy Eppinger said that the group is focusing on contaminated material that is being found on residential property in the area of the steel mill, which has operated in Sayreville for roughly 30 years under various owners.

The dust problems emerged roughly 18 months ago, Eppinger said, when he began to notice damage to the paint on his vehicle from the dust material.

"It has gotten to the point of being a problem that has to go away," Eppinger said.

"We are not trying to chase the steel mill out of Sayreville," Eppinger added. "They need to step up to the plate and just clean up their act."

The EWA hired Chapin Engineering to test samples of the dust from Eppinger's home. Those tests determined that the dust is an iron-based compound with mercury, arsenic, zinc, lead and nickel content in it as well.

"Edison Wetlands was instrumental in helping me out," Eppinger said.

Others who spoke that evening include Robert Spiegel, executive director of the EWA; Richard Chapin, of Chapin Engineering; and environmental attorney Michael Gordon. They spoke before an audience of roughly 40 people.

Chapin said that the dust is 25 percent iron by weight. He said that the mill is permitted to discharge a certain amount of pounds per hour of a variety of materials.

"The dust is a potential hazard, because of what is in it," Chapin said.

Spiegel told those in attendance that his organization focuses on issues involving toxic material throughout central New Jersey. He added that the Horseshoe Road Superfund Site, which is located in the area where emissions concerns from the steel mill have been raised, was an issue for his group before this issue came to their attention.

Spiegel said that it is time for the mill to implement a better management plan to address these issues.

"They have been saying they are going to do better, but I think that it is past due that they be held accountable," Spiegel said.

Spiegel said that the EWA was asked by residents of the community to come and present their findings, adding that the violations of the plant involving mercury deserve attention.

"Mercury is a highly toxic neurotoxin," Spiegel said.

Spiegel extended an offer from the environmental group to test selected water and dust samples at no cost to the residents and without signing a waiver, which the steel mill asked residents to do in order for their hired laboratory to collect samples on their property. The environmental commission asked the steel mill to change the language of the waiver to protect residents, which has delayed the testing process.

Michael Gordon, an environmental attorney from the law firm Gordon and Gordon in Springfield, called on the mill to do more to address the concerns of residents.

"Ameristeel should do everything in its power to eliminate dust in the community," Gordon said. "We know they can do better."

Spiegel brought up allegations that the borough's water has higher than permitted levels of the chemical PFOA (perfluorooctanoic acid) in it when he offered to have residents' water tested. This remains a point of contention between borough officials, who say that the chemical is not in borough drinking water at unsafe levels, and the environmental group.

The EWA has said that they are concerned about the potential hazard that PFOA poses in the borough's various bodies of water. Officials pointed out at the meeting that the borough gets its water from outside sources, which are filtered in the borough's water plant.

After Borough Council President Thomas Pollando pointed out that the mill may have paid the fines on some of the violations that the EWA were citing, Spiegel rebutted, referring to some of the borough officials in the audience as "hostile detractors."

"We are here to make a presentation and discuss this with the community, who asked us to be here," Spiegel said.

"We are not here to argue with you," Spiegel added, "We are here to help the community."

Environmental Commission Chairman Patrick Walsh spoke from the back of the room, saying that he lives in the neighborhood by the mill. He added that the commission has been working with the steel mill for a year on this issue.

"We are not against you," Walsh said, "We are for Sayreville."

Walsh said that his personal experience with problems related to the mill began with noise. He added that he now finds dust emissions on his house as well.

"If that turns out to be toxic and harmful to the people of Sayreville, I want it stopped right away," Walsh said.

Commissioner Kenneth Olchaskey said that any perception of the borough as being complacent in regard to the steel mill's allegations is false. He added that any residents or groups who are concerned are welcome to help.

"We welcome anyone to come in and help us," Olchaskey said.

Borough Councilman Stanley Drwal expressed frustration with the environmental group, saying that their contentions that there are greater than permitted levels of PFOA in borough water are false. He added that the water is tested regularly in one of the best treatment plants in the state.

"Why all of a sudden is Sayreville in the news?" Drwal asked. "Because it's convenient?"

Drwal, who heads the council's Water and Sewer Committee, said that of the borough's contaminated sites, the majority of them have been cleaned up.

"Fear-mongering isn't going to help the town," Drwal said.

Resident Patty Birmingham interjected, saying that this was the first meeting that she has attended related to this issue.

"I didn't come here to hear you argue," Birmingham said. "I live in Main Street Town homes, I have been reading about this in the newspaper, and I came down here to find out what is going on. There is no reason for arguing. [The EWA] were asked to come here to the town to speak."

The EWA said in their press release that they organized the meeting so that residents could also discuss a potential link between the alleged cancer cluster that the state health department is assessing and the steel mill's emissions.

Resident Pat Boccassini raised doubts about whether the steel mill may be responsible for the potential cancer cluster. She told the Suburban that she has met with representatives from the steel mill on several occasions.

"The steel mill acts concerned, they say that they want to be good neighbors and they want to resolve these issues, but [I am] still finding whatever residue that is coming out of their smokestacks and from time to time there is a noise problem," she said.

"I do feel like the [Environmental] Commission is doing what they can right now," she added.

One resident, who did not provide his name, said at the meeting that he thinks that there is nothing linking the suspicions of a cancer cluster in town to the steel mill, noting that the initial reports of the cancer cluster were in the opposite end of town from the steel mill.

"It is deceiving to everybody here," the resident said.

Spiegel responded by reiterating that the investigation into the potential cancer cluster has not started yet.

The RCS group predates the concerns raised about the alleged "cancer cluster" that is being assessed by the state health department, and no link has been made between the potential cancer cluster in the borough and the emissions coming from the steel mill, according to Eppinger.

Edward Strek, a lifelong resident of Sayreville, said that he feels sorry for the residents in the area of the steel mill who are waiting for dust samples to be collected and tested to confirm or deny the test results of Chapin Engineering.

"I don't think it should go this long," Strek said, "If it involves the health of children, these tests should be done immediately."