Hazard NJ

The chemical company Diamond Alkali, one of the nation's main producers of Agent Orange, spent years dumping chemical waste into the Passaic River and polluting Newark's Ironbound neighborhood. In the early 80's, state and federal authorities pledged to clean the mess up but today, nearly 40 years later, toxic mud still lies beneath the water. Now the cleanup is facing a $1.8 billion price tag, an...

Growing up in Bridgewater, New Jersey, Peggy Fussell has fond memories of ice skating on a local pond—that is, until she discovered that the pond was a toxic waste site.   Decades after chemical producer American Cyanamid ceased its Bridgewater operations, and was declared a Superfund Site, its toxic legacy is precariously contained in local waste ponds. As climate change fuels more intense storms...

New Jersey is home to the largest number of Superfund sites in the country – and while federal cleanup is underway – the bigger threat to them now is climate change. Flooding, fires, and rising sea levels could make life even harder for those who live nearby. Hazard NJ digs through the muck of each contaminated site to give a clearer picture of what the threat is and what it will take to clean it...