WORK ON EDGEWATER TOXIC SITE HALTED

Honeywell expects work to be halted for a week while it looks at methods to get the fumes under control.

The company cleaning up the Quanta Superfund site in Edgewater has halted major work as it looks to reduce elevated levels of a chemical that has been emitted into the air almost every workday for nine months, state officials said Tuesday.

Work was stopped last week after the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection discussed ways to control fumes from the site with Honeywell, the international conglomerate. The agencies intervened after receiving complaints from residents.

The stoppage also comes shortly after a story in The Record and on NorthJersey.com documented the high naphthalene levels.

Environmental regulators reiterated that there is no health threat from the amount of naphthalene wafting from the property on River Road, even though it has exceeded the site's "risk screening level" on 90 percent of the days since work began in May.

The agencies "asked Honeywell to ensure that the odor issues are being addressed through a combination of material handling improvements, additional air quality/odor control measures, increased air monitoring in offsite residential areas and better communications of air quality data to the public," said Larry Hajna, a DEP spokesman.

Honeywell expects work to be halted for a week while it looks at methods to get the fumes under control, Hajna said.

"EPA has directed Honeywell to take a number of steps to address the concerns, and pausing the solidification work helps Honeywell focus on those measures," said David Kluesner, an EPA spokesman.

A Honeywell spokeswoman said work was halted for only one day last week and has not resumed because of a planned move of operations to a different part of the 5.5-acre site.

"When we start again, we will be doing the work in a smaller area, which will help manage odors," said Victoria Streitfeld, a Honeywell spokeswoman. "Beginning Friday, there will be additional offsite air monitoring that will determine if, and to what extent, volatile organic compounds associated with the Quanta site are migrating offsite."

Naphthalene is "reasonably anticipated" to be a human carcinogen after studies showed that lab rats formed lung and nose tumors when breathing in the chemical daily, according to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.

Hajna said the site's risk screening levels of 4.62 micrograms per cubic meter are based on a person standing at the site perimeter for 10 hours a day, five days a week, for 18 months. "DEP has no evidence of anyone standing at the perimeter of the fence for extended periods," he said.

While that is true, the Quanta site is surrounded by condos, apartments, restaurants, offices, stores and a hotel, some of which are just 200 feet away. Hajna said offsite air monitoring in neighboring residential areas showed no naphthalene or levels that did not "exceed risk-based screening levels."

But Dr. Peter deFur, who had been an EPA-funded technical adviser to an Edgewater community group on the Quanta site, reviewed the air reports earlier this month and said work should be halted until officials can ensure that naphthalene is under control.

The amount of naphthalene being detected by air monitors on Quanta's perimeter was elevated on 130 of 145 days through early March, the latest records show. Readings have ranged from just slightly above the screening level of 4.62 micrograms per cubic meter to more than 200 times that level on Sept. 15.

The most recent results from late February and early March still show elevated levels of naphthalene every day air monitoring took place. Monitors recorded 300 micrograms per cubic meter of naphthalene on Feb. 28 and March 1 -- more than 60 times greater than the risk screening level. The lowest level during this time period -- 10 micrograms per cubic meter recorded on Feb. 26 -- was still twice the screening level.

Pollution at the River Road property dates back to the 1870s, when the site was used to process coal tar for roofing. Arsenic produced next door at a chemical plant migrated onto the property over half a century. The pollution continued in the 1970s, when the property was used to recycle waste oil, the last operator being Quanta Resources Inc. Honeywell inherited the liability of the site after a business merger.

When it was approved by the EPA in 2011, the $78 million cleanup project generated criticism among many residents because it leaves the pollution in place instead of excavating it.

Honeywell is entombing the pollution through a process called in-situ solidification, which hardens the coal tar, arsenic and oil byproducts so they won't come in contact with humans or continue to seep into the Hudson River.

On Tuesday morning, one backhoe was moving material into a dump truck at the site while four other backhoes and an earth mover sat idle. Hajna said air monitoring, some movement of materials like crushed concrete, and grading portions of the site that have been solidified will continue during the shutdown.

Regulators are discussing with Honeywell ways to limit cleanup efforts to small areas along with increasing water misters on the Quanta perimeter to control odors, Hajna said.

The EPA said it will establish a special telephone hotline for residents to call with odor complaints and concerns, Hajna said.

Honeywell expects work to be halted for a week while it looks at methods to get the fumes under control.