Day: July 3, 2007

State Files Lawsuit Against Gloucester City Titanium…..and other polluters

STATE SEEKING COMPENSATION FOR DAMAGES POLLUTERS CAUSED TO NATURAL RESOURCES

TRENTON – The state has filed approximately 120 lawsuits that could result in hundreds of millions of dollars in compensation from polluters who have harmed New Jersey\’s natural resources, including numerous manufacturers and marketers of the gasoline additive MTBE, Department of Environmental Protection Commissioner Lisa P. Jackson announced today.

\”We are committed to holding accountable those polluters whose actions have sullied our rivers, land and ground water, diminishing public enjoyment of these natural resources,\” Commissioner Jackson said. \”Working closely with the Attorney General\’s office, we will aggressively pursue these claims through the court system until the public has been justly compensated for its losses.\”

Attorney General Anne Milgram added: \”We are working with DEP to ensure that contaminated properties are cleaned up and restored, and that, where appropriate, polluters compensate the residents of New Jersey for the loss of precious natural resources.\”

The lawsuits, known as natural resource damage claims, seek compensation above and beyond cleanup costs and fines that DEP levies against polluters. DEP uses money from natural resource damage settlements toward ecological restoration projects, typically in the same watershed or general area where resource damages occur.

One of the lawsuits specifically targets scores of designers and manufacturers of the gasoline additive methyl tertiary butyl ether as well as major-brand refiners and marketers of gasoline that used MTBE, including Amerada Hess, Atlantic Richfield Co., BP America, Chevron, ExxonMobil, Getty, Shell, Texaco and Valero Energy.

With this particular lawsuit, New Jersey becomes the third state to file complaints seeking natural resource damages for the recovery of all past and future costs to investigate, remediate and restore natural resources damaged by the discharge of MTBE.

Among other companies facing natural resource damage lawsuits are Ciba Geigy Specialty Chemicals in Dover, Ocean County; the Bayway refinery in Linden, Union County; Gloucester City Titanium in Gloucester City, Camden County; Landfill & Development Co. in Lumberton, Mount Holly and Eastampton, Burlington County; as well as Dow/Union Carbide in Middlesex Borough and Piscataway Township, Middlesex County.

The state\’s lawsuits take a special focus on polluters that have damaged river resources. Lawsuits have been filed against ISP Environmental Services and G-I Holdings Inc., located in Linden along Piles Creek near the Arthur Kill; Mallinckrodt Baker, along the Delaware River in Phillipsburg, Warren County; Genstar Gypsum, located along the Delaware River in Camden, Camden County; and Rhone Poulenc along the Raritan River in Middlesex Borough.

\”These companies have left a legacy of pollutants in sediments ranging from PCBs and pesticides to volatile chemicals and hydrocarbons,\” Commissioner Jackson said. \”Clean rivers are vital to a vibrant economy and a healthy environment.\”

Since its inception in 1994, DEP\’s Natural Resource Damage program has recovered more than $51 million and preserved approximately 6,000 acres of open space as wildlife habitat and ground water recharge areas as compensation for pollution resulting from 1,500 contaminated sites and oil spills.

Under DEP\’s technical rules, all parties responsible for polluting a site must conduct a thorough analysis to determine the nature and extent of pollution. Once this remedial investigation is completed, DEP has 5 ½ years to file a lawsuit to recover damages to natural resources if the responsible party does not restore the injured resource before then.

The Legislature recognized that remedial investigations were completed at some sites many years ago without the filing of natural resource damage lawsuits. Consequently, the Legislature provided a mechanism that required filing of lawsuits within 5 ½ years of Jan. 1, 2002. The lawsuits include sites evaluated by DEP and the Attorney General\’s office as being affected by this deadline, which expires Saturday.

DEP and the Attorney General\’s office continue to file new natural resource damage claims as remedial investigations are competed.

For a listing and electronic versions of individual lawsuits, go to: http://www.nj.gov/oag/newsreleases07/NRD-lawsuits-07/.

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Three firemen, 3 children perish in Gloucester City Blaze

In memory of those who gave the ultimate sacrifice….Originally published Friday, July 05, 2002

By Dwight Ott, Elisa Ung, Kaitlin Gurney and Kristen A. Graham
INQUIRER STAFF WRITERS
The six deaths came in the worst way, just hours after a joyous pre-July Fourth celebration: three small children killed, three firefighters lost trying to rescue them from an early-morning house fire in Gloucester City.

They came early yesterday after one of those firefighters, Thomas Stewart III, 30, of Gloucester City, had ascended a ladder during the festivities Wednesday and proposed to his girlfriend over a public-address system. (photo)

They sent two close-knit Camden County towns into mourning yesterday, for Mount Ephraim\’s two top-ranking volunteer firefighters – 41, a Camden County fire marshal with three young children.

And they reverberated throughout a region where many towns were celebrating the first Independence Day after Sept. 11 with parades honoring rescue workers.

\”Today is an example of courage, selflessness, and the supreme sacrifice,\” said Gov. McGreevey, who visited the scene yesterday morning.

McGreevey said the state will fund the college educations of the firefighters\’ children.

The fire in the 200 block of North Broadway is being investigated by the New Jersey State Police arson unit and the Camden County Prosecutor\’s Office. A cause had not been determined yesterday.

It was among the largest local losses of firefighters\’ lives: The One Meridian Plaza fire of 1991 in Center City Philadelphia killed three firefighters, and in 1975, eight died in a Gulf Oil refinery blaze in the city.

Little was known yesterday about the three young victims, 3-year-old twins and their 5-year-old sister. Their parents escaped, though their mother was in critical condition at Crozer-Chester Medical Center in Upland, Delaware County. Their names were not released.

The fire was reported shortly after 1:30 a.m. in a 2 1/2-story duplex that had recently received a certificate of occupancy. Neighbors said that the victims had lived there about a year, and that the residents of the other unit were on their honeymoon.

\’Flames moved quickly\’

Former firefighter Harry Tomlin, 41, who lives across the street and was a friend of Thomas Stewart\’s, said he was among the first to report the fire.

\”I heard a ruckus outside, people yelling; it sounded like a fight,\” he said. \”I went out, saw the fire. I went and got my pants on and my wife said there were people trapped. \” He called 911.

\”When I went outside, the father was screaming that his children were inside. But by that time, there was no way we could get in. The heat was pushing us back. \”

Tomlin said a woman appeared on the roof. \”I was begging her not to go back inside. But fire does funny things to people. She went back inside.

\”The flames moved quickly. It was hot as a frying pan on the roof where she was. I felt helpless,\” Tomlin said.

Next-door neighbor Bobbi Ann Dieterich, 31, also saw the mother screaming for help and called 911. After fleeing her home, Dieterich said she watched the blaze engulf the duplex\’s first floor, spread to a tree, then to the top floor.

Monique Gagliardi, 34, noticed the blaze when the heat level rose inside her home, and took to the street. \”There wasn\’t a window that there wasn\’t a flame coming out of,\” she said.

Fire officials said the house partially collapsed, and workers sounded an emergency evacuation. But suddenly, the entire structure fell, trapping eight firefighters under burning debris.

Gagliardi said the house fell \”like a deck of cards. It looked like everything was under control, and then it just collapsed. Everybody was running. \”

Five of the eight were rescued. They and three other firefighters were treated at area hospitals and released.

The fire was left burning hours longer than normal, officials said, to prevent forcing hot gas into the debris, where the victims were trapped.

The fire was out shortly after 5 a.m., and rescuers used backhoes to clear rubble while they searched for victims. When a firefighter\’s body was removed about 8 a.m., police and firefighters lined up and saluted.

\’We were that close\’

\”The most painful thing in this process,\” Camden County Fire Marshal Paul Hartstein said, \”was the hope they were still alive. Just to know we were that close . . . but they were pinned by so much debris. \”

Throughout the sweltering day, demolition crews sorted through the ruins, seeking the third child, who was found about 1 p.m.

In a scene reminiscent of the aftermath of the World Trade Center collapse, firefighters doffed their hats as they were led in prayer by the Rev. Michael Manion of the Roman Catholic Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception in Camden. Then they gently lifted the last body from the ruins and carried it away.

Hundreds of rescue workers helped throughout the day, including fire companies from Camden and Gloucester Counties as well as Philadelphia. U.S. Sen. Jon S. Corzine (D., N.J.) also visited the scene.

West joined the county Fire Marshal\’s Office in 1990, Hartstein said. An eager, thorough investigator, he rose to head of the county canine unit and was rarely seen without his Labrador retriever, Raider.

He and his wife, Angela, had three children – a toddler, John Jr., and daughters Alyssa and Nicole.

Sylvester and his wife of three years, Marilyn, were expecting their first child next month.

A lifelong resident of Mount Ephraim, Sylvester seemed born to be a fireman – as a child, his favorite place was the fire station, where his father was chief.

Everyone in town assumed Sylvester would follow his father. \”He was a great kid, and he grew up to be a great guy,\” said Mount Ephraim Commissioner James Weist Jr. \”But always, his hobby was firefighting. \”

Both West and Sylvester, who was the borough\’s public works director, taught at the Camden County Fire Academy.

Stewart, son of a prominent Gloucester City family of firefighters, was remembered as kind and helpful.

\”He was always the one who took care of people when something like this happened,\” said Gagliardi, a friend. \”I was told he went back in after the mom. He was yelling for everyone else to get out. The mom went back after the kids, and he went in after the mom. \”

Wednesday afternoon, Stewart was anxious but obviously overjoyed as he prepared to propose to Danielle Ruggiero, mother of his 2-year-old son, Nicholas. He told an Inquirer reporter that he was \”great, but I\’ll be a lot better when this is over. \”

He said he had planned every detail, and had even obtained the fire chief\’s permission to bring a fire truck to the holiday event, an unusual circumstance. Stewart climbed the truck\’s ladder, then proposed to Ruggiero.

After she accepted before cheering crowds, Stewart spent the night calling friends to tell them the news.

Firehouses in Gloucester City and Mount Ephraim became shrines yesterday, and holiday festivities were canceled. It was a second recent tragedy for Mount Ephraim, traumatized from a May disaster in which a car plowed into a McDonald\’s on Black Horse Pike, killing three workers.

And in Gloucester City, a blue-collar dock town under the Walt Whitman Bridge, shaken residents yesterday recalled the joy of the night before, the parade with string bands, floats, and fire-engine rides.

\”The firefighters drove by this very site,\” said Bob Gorman, Gloucester City\’s mayor. \”They just weren\’t thinking they\’d be back so quickly. \”

Last night, a firefighters\’ group announced it would seek national and state inquiries into the blaze.

In a statement, the Professional Firefighters Association of New Jersey said \”an inadequate number of trained and equipped firefighters\” may have contributed to the six fatalities.

Gloucester City fire officials were not immediately available for comment.

Inquirer staff writers Martha Woodall and Juliet Chung contributed to this article, which also contains information from the Associated Press.

from the archives of the Philadelphia Inquirer

Photos provided by Bill Bates. Photo one Firefighter Tom Stewart, Photo two Chief James Sylvester Photo Three Deputy Chief John West 

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Pet Tips: The Command to Come when Called

Dog Quote: A dog is the only thing on this earth that loves you more than he loves himself…..Josh Billings

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The Command to Come when Called by Allan

One of the most basic and important commands that you will need to teach your dog is to come when called. No matter what else happens, if you have taught your dog this command you will always be able to maintain control whether at home or in public.

Should your dog ever get off it\’s leash or escape from your property you will know that when you call it that it will come back and this certainly makes life a lot easier for the dog owner.

For working dogs, this is a vital skill as a handler needs to know that at any time they can get the dog back beside them and ready for their next command. When you are comfortable that your
dog knows the commands of \’stay\’ and \’come\’ you no longer have to be as concerned that it needs to be kept on a leash at all times. This allows both the owner and the dog to have a lot more freedom.

Generally, this command of \’come\’ is incorporated when teaching the dog to stay, as these two lessons work hand-in-hand with one another. The dog is first taught to stay and then the owner
will teach the dog to come, while still on an extended leash.

After gaining success in getting the dog to come, while still on a leash, the owner can then teach it to do so without the leash. Obviously for an untrained animal this would be better taught in an
enclosed area until the dog has learned to respondto that command.

http://AboutDogs.info

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Welsbach Superfund Site Remediation Reports

During the last few weeks, the crew working on the Welsbach Superfund Project has worked safely and nearly 215,261.5 project man hours to date, and there have been no lost time injuries or illnesses.

Residential property remediation is continuing with the following:

116 North King Street continues the remediation of contaminated soil in the basement of the property.

217 Burlington Street-the home owner will continue removing personnel property out of his basement.

The Klemm/Highland remediation is ongoing. The prime contractor continues the excavation of contaminated soil.

The soil that they are excavating will be trucked to the Trans-shipment Facility (TSF) located at Stinsman and Brick Roads via the approved shipping route.

Work on area (4b) Klemm Avenue will continue. The road has been closed to all traffic.

The 100 gpm waste water treatment plant will continue to process and discharge water while meeting the states discharge permit criteria.

Backfill of the Highland/Klemm has started at the north side of the site.

The 75 gallon waste drums that were found during excavation has been safely removed from the site and disposed of properly.

Load out and shipping of rail cars with radiological contaminated waste is continuing at the TSF.

Waste will be transported to permitted disposal facilities at either US Ecology of Idaho or Energy Solutions of Utah.

The 50 gpm waste water treatment plant at this facility will be on line by mid June.

Any questions or concerns can be addressed to Brian Duffy or Rick Robinson at the Welsbach project site, 856-742-5630, ext. 315 or ext. 308.

 

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In Memory of Tom Stewart III, Jim Sylvester, John West Sr.

 

As we celebrate and enjoy parades this Fourth of July, we also remember the 5th Anniversary of July 4, 2002. We reflect back and remember the courageous attempt and sacrifice that three brave local residents and firefighters made in an attempt to rescue three little girls who were trapped in their home that was consumed by fire. These three firefighters, Mount Ephraim Fire Chief Jim Sylvester, Mount Ephraim Deputy Fire Chief & Camden County Fire Marshal John D. West Sr., & Gloucester City Firefighter Tommy Stewart III. \”We Shall Never Forget…\”…….Bill Bates

On Wednesday, July 4, a Blue Mass in honor of fallen firefighters will be held at 10 AM at St. Mary\’s Roman Catholic Church, Monmouth and Atlantic Streets Gloucester City. The ceremony is sponsored by FMBA Locals 51 and 251. The public is invited to attend.

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