By RICHARD PEARSALL
Courier-Post Staff
CAMDEN
New Jersey Transit did not plan to dispose of excess dirt from its light rail project by piling mountains of contaminated soil along the tracks here and in Florence.
The original plans, submitted to the state Department of Environmental Protection in 1998, called for contaminated dirt to be reused only under asphalt, buildings or the railbed itself.
But last year the DEP approved a "modification" proposed by NJ Transit - to dispose of some of the contaminated dirt by building "berms" along the tracks, then capping or covering them with clean soil.
The dirt contains low levels of benzenes and other volatile organic chemicals; polychlorinated biphenyls, or PCBs; and lead, cadmium, arsenic and other heavy metals that can be harmful if ingested or inhaled.
The DEP says the berms are safe, but residents in East Camden and the Roebling section of Florence say they want to know what "low" means and say they're upset that they were not notified before the dirt was trucked in.
The Camden-to-Trenton rail line is expected to start operating in the fall.
At a meeting of the Eastside Civic Association Thursday night, East Camden residents demanded some answers and chastised NJ Transit for not consulting residents.
Referring to a comment by an NJ Transit spokeswoman that "It's not customary" to hold public hearings before trucking in dirt or building berms, resident Jerolyn Cook said, "She makes it sound like it's a courtesy to tell us. It's not a courtesy; we have a right to know."
City Councilman Frank Moran, who represents East Camden, promised to launch an investigation into how the dirt got there and said he would ask the city to do its own testing to find out what's in the soil.
"That dirt shouldn't be there," Moran said.
In recent days, in response to inquiries about the dirt, NJ Transit officials have said the berms are intended, in part at least, to shield the neighborhoods from the sight and sound of the railroad.
But in documents submitted to the DEP asking for permission to build the berms, the transit agency justifies them in economic terms, noting the additional cost of landfilling the dirt, without alluding to their utility as sound barriers.
"It's a quiet line," Moran said Thursday night.
The contaminated dirt is believed to come mainly from excavating the railbed along a right of way that has been used for freight and passenger train service since the mid-19th century.
NJ Transit contends 85 percent of the dirt in the Camden berms originated there.
Asked to provide a detailed inventory of where the dirt came from two weeks ago, NJ Transit said this week it is still working on that account.
The contaminated dirt in Camden and Florence falls into two categories, DEP records show.
Some of it is classified as unsuitable for residential areas without controls.
But other parts of it are contaminated to a greater degree, being classified as not suitable for nonresidential as well as residential areas.
DEP regulations call for the berms containing contaminated dirt to be capped with an 18-inch layer of clean soil, including enough topsoil to support a vegetative cover such as grass.
The requirement for a clean soil cap, however, applies only to the side of the berms facing neighborhoods.
The side facing the tracks can be capped with dirt contaminated to the lesser degree (not suitable for residential areas, but OK for nonresidential).
Asked if the city did not bear some responsibility for not stopping the berm construction, city planner Ed Williams said he personally was not aware of the berms but would join Moran in trying to get to the bottom of the situation.
Meanwhile in Roebling, Andy Napolitan, a lifelong resident, said he used to work at the steel mill there and is knowledgable about hazardous materials.
"I don't understand why they built those berms," the 49-year-old said. "Why did they have to pile up that stuff in a berm?"
"If it was to create a sound barrier," he asked, "why not on both sides?"
The berms line only one side of the track in Roebling and Camden, the only two areas along the 34-mile line where they have been created.
Reach Richard Pearsall at (856) 486-2465 or rpearsall@courierpostonline.com
